In addition to youtube, other forms of social media were used, as it was deemed to and proved to be an extremely powerful tool to promote the film. Twitter was used and The Black Panther became the most tweeted about film in 2018 with over 35 million tweets, and over 5 million upon the release of the teaser trailer. In order to reach a younger audience, there was a Black Panther snapchat filter, appealing to a young and teenage demographic.
The use of social media also inspired people to ensure that the film got the audience it deserved, with Frederic Joseph starting off an online crowd funding campaign – the hashtag Black Panther Challenge, with the aim of sending an entire Harlem Boys and Girls Club to see the film. This, in turn, encouraged others to launch campaigns allowing children in underprivileged communities to se the film, with celebrities such as Snoop Dogg getting involved. This, although not an official marketing strategy, certainly helped the marketing of the film, and was talked about online, in newspapers and on television, thereby reaching an ever-wider audience.
Social media was also used to livestream interviews and question and answer sessions with the cast and crew, helping to build up anticipation of the film. The actors also appeared on chat shows on television, thereby arousing the interest of an older audience who still tuned into the television as opposed to social media.
To appeal to a female demographic, Disney had a synergetic partnership with New York Fashion Week and created a fashion show inspired by the costumes in the film. What is more, the fact that the lead female actresses were portrayed as being powerful and dominant was appealing for female audiences.
Disney also worked with the car manufacturer Lexus, to produce two limited edition cars that were linked to Black Panther. When the cars were marketed, the film was as well, thereby appealing to an older male audience, another target demographic for the film.
Disney also worked with Hasbro on synergetic products, such as toys and action figures to engage young children and family audiences as well as its usual adult superfans.
Undoubtedly, Marvel were safe in the knowledge that they had a pre-sold fanbase of their products, who would go and see whatever film they released. Black Panther was a lesser known character, but with the popular genre and famous actors, this was not a problem. To advertise to this fan base, and to fans of comics, films and gaming, the actors and crew of the film appeared at Comicon, a globally recognised event. By doing so, the fans of marvel comics may then go on to spread the word about the film through other media.
The cultural, political and historical context of the film, and the fact that the film had a predominantly black cast was, of course, extremely significant and allowed Marvel to appeal to a wider, black and ethnic minority audience. Disney was aware of the need to distance itself from the old-fashioned stereotypes of ethnic minorities in previous films, and had already produced films like Moana and Coco. This strategy was indeed successful. The North American audience for the film was 37 percent as opposed to around 15 percent for other Marvel films.
Part of this success was due to focussed cultural marketing. Kendrick Lamar was involved in the soundtrack, targeting young black urban males, and trailers were released during television broadcasts of sports that have a strong African American following.
The roles that the black actors portrayed was also a contributing factor, and meant that the film would appeal to black, ethnic minority and a modern unprejudiced audience. Whereas in the past, films with a black cast tended to be social realist films, depicting crime and poverty, or even comedy, Black Panther stands out for the positive roles that the black actors portray, with superheroes, Kings and Queens.
Finally, the timing of its release was no accident. It was released to coincide with the start of Black History Month. Despite the potential for risk, February being a weak month in terms of box office numbers, it was a risk that certainly paid off, as this cultural event known to celebrate black culture and hetitage, was the perfect backdrop in which to realease the film. In addition, other organisations promoting Black History Month mentioned the film in the run up to the release.
To conclude, the success of Black Panther was due to the wide range of marketing media, the current multicultural approach in terms of casting, and subject matter, as well as the well thought out timing of the release, all contributed to the huge success of the film, and enabled the film to reach audiences other than the traditional Marvel fan base.
by
mattiswan1gmailcom (student)
