U.K. indie distribs seek wide auds
Larger marketing strategies pay off
Energized by its executive shuffle in the past year, Pathe's marketing strategy paid off big for the pic.
"We wanted to make sure we appealed as much to adults as we did to teens and kids," says Pathe distribution's new deputy managing director, Ian George. "The Aardman humor is a very specific type and it was important to reflect that. We wanted to get close to the chickens' faces because it's the eyes and mouth that communicate the character. The tagline 'This ain't no chick flick' emphasized the comic nature of the film.
"The tracking from Carlton screen showed that we were successful in reaching our audience. It was spiking in every demographic. The States went for the younger audience and they did a fantastic job, but for us, but we had an opportunity to market it older."
Momentum's David Kosse says the U.K. marketing strategy for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" also was to throw the net toward a wider share of cinemagoers.
"Coen brothers' films had previously been doing ($1.4 million-$2.9 million) here," says Kosse. "We've done ($4.5 million) and we went out before the U.S. We didn't look at that campaign. We just pushed all the buttons that we could.
"We pushed it to the Coen brothers audience, the George Clooney audience, we played up the music with a CD-ROM deal and I think we sold it to the comedy audience as well. We made it the most accessible Coen brothers film to date."
Nabbing Polygram's experienced marketing team helped Redbus enter the U.K. distrib pool, making it a hit in its first year on the road. There were no doubts its slate was off to a good start when "Maybe Baby" made the top 10 with $4.9 million.
Topper Zygy Kamasa says they'll be heading to the American Film Market looking to fill next year's 14 to 16 slots with pics "that will shoot before the strike. If it's later than February, they're no good to us. In case the strike does go in June, we need to make sure they're shooting now or soon so we get delivery later this year."
With U.K. indie distribs turning to bigger-budget pictures and the pool of American content starting to shrink slightly as the threat of writers and actors strikes looms, some exhibitors are banking on promo schemes to bring in the auds. The UGC chain's offer of unlimited movies for monthly fees of $14.43 to $28.88 initially made some distributors howl, but Pathe's George thinks that kind of creative marketing could boost audiences for smaller U.K. films.
