Academy Award Brand Development

The Story of a Lifetime

A low budget film took the Oscar for best feature for 2016 after a kerfluffle in the announcement of the winner.

Critics and reviewers were not surprised. Students of bold branding were sure the film was a winner regardless of the Academy vote. Beautiful work by a stellar cast and director was only part of the equation.

Positioning: Look at the words at the top of this poster.

THIS IS THE STORY OF A LIFETIME

Persona: Graphics reflect the position and add veracity to the promotion in the individual marketing posters showing a young man coming of age against great odds.

Trust Tools: The trailer for this product brand intrigues and invites not revealing the story but making you want to see more.

It did the job.

Released in1104 theaters versus La La Land’s 3236 on opening weekend it earned more than three other nominated films and only $72,000 less per theater versus La La Land that had a budget six times larger.

Marketing for this Product Brand

Social media

Social Media played a critical role in marketing to bring the film to the attention of audiences.

Chris Rock, comedian and actor shared this tweet with his five million followers.

He was one of several celebrities to take note of the this product brand.

On-line Spin

Social media

Spin Tools: Low budget means you have to take advantage of great reviews but find low cost ways to do so in your marketing.

Moonlight reviews were set in the same bold graphic style as the posters with source citations clearly shown. They were tweeted and posted on a Facebook page that amassed nearly 300,000 followers for the product brand.

Outcome

Social media

Outcome

Marketing of this product brand resulted in a well deserved Academy Award for Best Feature Film of 2016.