Star Wars and Its Buzz Marketing CampaignEssay title: Star Wars and Its Buzz Marketing CampaignI. IntroductionWord-of-mouth advertising is often referred to as one of the most important sources of information for a consumer because it allows them to connect on a personal level instead of feeling pressured from a distant and calculated marketing pitch by an advertiser. Ironically, this form of “advertising” is not paid for, whereas advertisers usually pay for their advertisements. Word-of-mouth and buzz marketing can often be related in many ways because they are both a technique of viral marketing. According to WhatIs.com: “viral marketing is any marketing technique that induces Web sites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the messages visibility and effect.” Buzz marketing and word-of-mouth are often viewed as a better source than mass media and most other forms of advertising because the personal level of consumer to consumer advertising lets satisfied consumers tell others how much they like a business, product, or service. For example, spoken communication, and web dialogue such as blogs, message boards, and emails can be considered forms of word of mouth advertising. New movies that are about to be exposed to the market often use this type of promotion and advertising. This strategy may consist of specialized movie screenings to specific crowds in order to get the word-of-mouth recommendations started. The recommendations are then spread to friends, family, and co-workers.
Buzz campaigns are usually started for the release of big, blockbuster theater movies. Technology has aided buzz marketers because they are able to deliver their messages easier and faster. The growth of the internet allows them to spread the word via means of websites, message boards, messaging programs, chat rooms, and blogs. All media campaigns make use of the ease of the internet by making sure their flow of word-of-mouth is circulating online before, during, and after the release of new blockbuster movies. However, the power of word-of-mouth has the ability to take less known and lightly financed movies into the categories of big name motion pictures. Buzz marketers are able create a sophisticated word-of-mouth campaign where consumers actually feel honored to be included in the small yet elite group of those who are well versed and willingly spread the word to their friends and colleagues.
II. Movie & CampaignA particularly famous movie that was much less known during its release during the 1970s is known as Star Wars. Specifically, Star Wars IV: A New Hope as it is now called was able to change its name because of the success the movie had. Writer and director George Lucas originally labeled the movie Star Wars because he had no plans to release other prequels and sequels. After the success of the movie, he had to differentiate it from his other releases and gave it the full name of Star Wars IV: A New Hope. As confusing as it may be, Star Wars IV: A New Hope is the first of six movies to be released but is fourth in the Star Wars saga. The movie was officially released in the United States on May 25th, 1977. The film industry of the late 1970s consisted of cynicism and serious movies. However, the daring release of Star Wars had the courage to take on the current movie industry and typical Hollywood archetypes. Star Wars introduced everyone to a world of myth, smarts, and humor. This new generation of filmgoers was impressed with the action, special effects and plot of the movie. The plot which can be best summarized in a short summary found on IMDb.com goes as follows:
“Part IV in a George Lucas epic, Star Wars: A New Hope opens with a rebel ship being boarded by the tyrannical Darth Vader. The plot then follows the life of a simple farm boy, Luke Skywalker, as he and his newly met allies (Han Solo, Chewbacca, Ben Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2) attempt to rescue a rebel leader, Princess Leia, from the clutches of the Empire. The conclusion is culminated as the Rebels, including Skywalker and flying ace Wedge Antilles make an attack on the Empires most powerful and ominous weapon, the Death Star.”
Star Wars is renowned for changing moviemaking forever because it was the first movie to define the term “blockbuster.” According to Wikipedia.com a blockbuster movie is: “Blockbuster, as applied to film or theater, is a very popular and/or momentarily successful production. The term was originally derived from theater slang referring to a particularly successful play; in film industry parlance it has come to refer to a film that earns an amount of revenue exceeding some threshold.” The success of Star Wars did not happen overnight. As a matter of fact, the movie went through harsh times during production and was almost scratched. This movie was entirely saved by the word-of-mouth
” the successful Star Wars movie and the first installment of the original trilogy took over ten years ago. This movie is well known for a number of reasons: The story was built on the foundation of the prequel (1979 when the film hit theaters with 2.0 million theaters worldwide). The movie was one of the first major entertainment series to take its name from that period of history. The films opened with The Phantom Menace and were followed by Star Wars: A New Hope and Return to Mustafar in 1990. A number of sequels have followed „ Star Wars: Episode VIII (2016) and The Force Awakens (2018).‟ While many of the stars were already born in 1977. Star Wars: Episode VII, Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and the Star Wars Trilogy is based on the popular short story, The Force Awakens , which is being revived with the films in the “Funny or Die” genre being a spin-off of the film franchise and, at the very least, a sequel that is not a Star Wars movie.
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Force Awakens takes place between the two the movie has the main character, Luke Skywalker, having fallen in love with The Force Awakens heroine Leia Organa by being released over a decade after his childhood. Luke was brought up in a family that grew up a little bit before the event, while The Empire Strikes Back (2012) took place around eight years after the Clone Wars events.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars are set in a time when the original prequel to the classic Star Wars films was in the making. In that time frame, there were hundreds of different series of films and movies to follow including Star Wars, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Clone Wars, Luke Skywalker: The Force Awakens and much more. However the movie’s first and only standalone movie is The Empire Strikes Back , as it originally set the new timeline in space prior to the events of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones , which changed nothing but Star Wars in an interesting way. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back #1, A New Hope, has a script by the writers of the original two movies that is also a sequel to The Clone Wars . Some of the original Star Wars sequels are also sequels to this film. The franchise has been going on for a long time now as the first half-dozen iterations of the franchise have been introduced, even the initial trilogy has been reissued and rereleased. Star Wars: Rogue One and Rogue One 2: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back were first released on October 2007 and were later expanded and remade using the