The Marketing of

Gravity

Institutional background
MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR GRAVITY (2013)
GRAVITY: Made a record-breaking $55.8m in its opening
weekend, the biggest October debut of all time, and $44m in
its second weekend in the US.
MARKETING: Warner Bros marketing chief Sue Knoll
became president of worldwide marketing and international
distribution at Warner Brothers during this campaign.
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Warner Bros. The film was
originally being developed by Universal Pictures LLC but they
dropped it before it went into production. Legendary Pictures
were going to co-produce, but they pulled out too. No other
financing partner could be found. The budget was $105m
which was mainly spent on two big stars and big technology.

Audience appeal
QUALITY: The audience and critics thought Gravity
was great and that word of mouth was quick over
the opening weekend, which is why this film pulled
in so many viewers.
AGE APPEAL: on the opening weekend, 59% of
the audience were over 35, due to the older actors
and a character driven story.
GENDER APPEAL: Slightly more men than women
attended the opening weekend, but not much of a
difference as the film appealed to both genders,
having the sci-fi element, good characters and a
strong female lead.

The Strategy
RELEASE DATE: US release early October, not
traditionally a strong slot for a film. Also released in
26 other countries at the same time, released in
the UK on Nov 8th and Japan on Dec 13th.
TRAILERS: The trailers dont give much away,
even after the main catastrophe. They showed
none of the best bits in it either. This gave the
audience lots to talk about when they came back
from the cinema which helped the word of mouth
campaign, persuading others to see the film for
themselves. Three trailers were made, Detached
Drifting and Ive Got You.

Key facts
DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron who also directed Children of
Men (which made a loss), and arguably the best Harry
Potter film (The Prisoner of Azkaban). Alfonso is known as
a great film-maker, however unstable at the box office.
ACTORS: Sandra Bullock (49) and George Clooney (52)
with no supporting cast. Was originally to be Angelina
Jolie and Robert Downy Jnr, but they were already
engaged in other projects.
PLOT: Space-walker stranded alone in outer space. Its
an action film with a woman in the starring role. Its just
two characters with one alone for an hour. Shes behind a
visor for half the film.
TECHNOLOGY: Filmed in 3D.

Audience appeal
OSCARS APPEAL: The constant talk about Oscar
nominations gave the film a prestige aura.
SELLING POINT: The audience feel as if theyre in outer
space along with Sandra Bullock. Gravity is a unique film
thats very intuitive. Youre put right in the middle of the
experience. Despite this being 3D, Cuaron had directed
for 3D rather than the technology needed to make it.
PRODUCTION PERIOD: The film community looked
forward to Cuarons first film in seven years. News of the
technology and visual effects was leaked and created
anticipation. Social media was full of discussion about the
film, including film fans looking forward to the effects.

Marketing Timeline
SPRING 2013: one minute of footage was unveiled during a presentation for the film
at CinemaCon in Las Vegas for exhibitors and press.
JULY 2013: Six minutes of footage were shown at Comic-Con. Cuaron, Bullock and
producer David Heyman appeared at the festival.
AUGUST 2013: The film was previewed at the Big Three autumn festival circuitVenice(Aug 28), Telluride and Toronto (Sep 8), where it eventually premiered.
Promoting a film at ComicCon and film festivals is very unusual.
SEPTEMBER 2013: Trailers were shown in cinemas and on tv with the same trailers
for all audiences, unlike most US films which segment their trailers for different
audiences. Gravity Official Movie website launched.
OCTOBER 4th 2013: Film is released in USA. Opened in 3,660 cinemas in the US.
OCTOBER 2013: Promotion continued through word of mouth and social media.
FEBRUARY 2013: Run up to the Oscars, the Gravity trailer had had 42 million views
online, 15 million more than its closest Oscar rival The Wolf of Wall Street.
OCTOBER 2013: The marketing campaign won the 2014 Key Art Award for an
integrated theatrical campaign.
TAGLINE: Dont Let Go.

The Teaser Trailer/the

Trailer
To the left you will see some screen grabs taken from
the teaser trailer of Gravity. I thought that the teaser
trailer was breath taking and extremely effective at
drawing people into realising this is not just another
sci-fi space film. The Teaser trailer begins with soft
melodic music and a calm tone. It begins by explaining
how at 327 miles above the earth, the views are
incredibly beautiful. This equilibrium and peacefulness
is instantly disrupted with a loud crash. What was a
slow moving, harmonious looking scene instantly turns
into a very realistic, frightening action scene.
This part of the trailer depicts one of the main bits of
action in the film where their space shuttle is hit by
debris. I feel that this teaser trailer really captures the
best of both sides of the film. The slow and peaceful
beginning really gives the viewer time to appreciate
the amazing special effects, however the second half
of the trailer really shows there to be a lot of action
within the film. This dark, disturbed backbone to the
trailer really draws in the viewer in order to show them
that this is not a quiet and safe, space documentarylike film and that it really will take your breath away.
Overall Teaser trailers help boost the marketing of
gravity because they give the viewers a small look into
what the film is about without giving away as much as
a normal trailer. It really captures the audiences
attention and increases anticipation for the films
release.

What the public thought:

When Gravity's first teaser trailer
endeared itself to said movie fans, it
didn't quite hit the spot for everyone.
Many people today believe that their
first trailer certainly would not have
caused anyone to predict the films
massive success.
Despite its amazing teaser trailer, the
ambitious sci-fi flick with star power,
depth, and visual awe to it did not
attract many peoples attention at
first.
It was

Interviews with the Stars (star

power)
star power played a highly important role in the Marketing of
gravity. In an era where its importance is reasonably questioned,
Bullock and Clooney are two extremely talented and successful
actors who are at the top of their game. The former, fresh off her
(previous) best career opening in The Heat, plus Clooney, a nearperennial Oscar contender both in front of and behind the camera,
made for a one-two star punch that adult audiences couldn't resist.
As it was, gravity was already gaining a lot of attention and
excitement from fans because of The visual appeal. The amazing
visually dynamic side to the film really complemented the use of
star power and elevated Gravity to a new level of anticipation. For
months in advance, members of the film community buzzed about
Cuarn's first film in nearly seven years. The degree of creative
passion which bred technical accuracy and ambitious filmmaking
excited movie fans greatly. The use of social media also helped
greatly in Fuelling the buzz for the films release.
The Stars of the film, Bullock and Clooney, appeared in many
interviews with big firms, one of the biggest being the Guardian (as
it was classed as a British film). These interviews were broadcasted
on TV, In the news papers and magazines and online. The
Organisations that were interviewing the stars helped with the
marketing of gravity because they could reach a very large
audience all at once, allowing gravity to be advertised to a larger
fan base.

Social media campaigns

Social media played a significant factor in the
marketing of gravity. Social media marketing in a
highly effective and modernised way of marketing
films because online, people are able to share their
thoughts and feelings on content and express their
views freely which makes the target audience feel
like they are actively involved in the whole process
of the film itself. By going online, you can also
target a massive audience of people at once with
what you have to say.
Gravity had been posting strong numbers in
relation to comparison films across Twitter,
Flixster, and Facebook over the past few months.
That underscored the enthusiasm of movie fans
and, as online buzz continued growing, highlighted
the potential for mainstream interest to follow.

Showings at the films

festival
second-week performance of Warner Bros. space thriller may be even more impressive than
those box office previews on the first week. It brought in an estimated $44.3 million over the
weekend, just 21 percent down from its $55.7 million debut, the best retention rate ever for a
film that opened to more than $50 million.

To put that in perspective, look at the years three biggest movies.

Iron Man 3 fell 58 percent in its second weekend after opening with $174 million.
Man of Steel plummeted 64 percent from its $116 million debut.
Despicable Me 2 dropped 47 percent from its $83 million first weekend.
Marvels The Avengers fell 50 percent in its second week last year, according to Box Office
Mojo.

Gravity was previewed at two different film festivals: the first was the 70 th Venice international film
festival on the 28th of august in 2013. the second festival was the north American premiere (3
days later)at the Telluride film festival. It was released into cinemas in the US and Canada on the
4th October in 2013. film festival premieres are beneficial for the marketing of a film before its
release because many film critics and people involved in the film industry (including reporters,
actors, directors etc.) Attend them meaning you are able to get people talking. Reporters who
attend the festival may write up reviews etc. and post them online to reach a wide audience.
Because there is such a large gap between the film festival dates and the release dates of the
film, it offers a large time window for people to begin talking about the film and increasing the
anticipation on social media and in person.