Presented to: Universal Studios & Professor Tomlin Promotions Marketing 430 Presented by: Hannah Tran, Jennifer Hart, Jimmy Borland, Ashley Oliver & JJ Holen
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Table of Contents Situation Analysis
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Company Background
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Opportunities and Threats
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Competitive Analysis
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TV Spot
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Newspaper Ad
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Size of Target Market
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Browser and AdWords
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Demographics Characteristics
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Website
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Psychographic Characteristics
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Social Media
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Out of Home
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Brand Name
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Sales Promotion Program
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Package Considerations and Pricing
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Trade Objectives
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Channel of Distribution
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Consumer Objectives
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Target Market Specifications
Product Evaluation
Marketing Objectives
Partnerships Advertising Program & Strategy
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Consumer Promotions
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Budget
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Timeline
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Situation Analysis Company Background Illumination Entertainment is an American film production company, founded by Chris Meledandri after he left his post as President of 20th Century Fox Animation Studios in 2007.
In 2008, Illumination Entertainment struck a deal that would position it as NBC Universal’s family entertainment branch that would produce one or two films a year starting in 2010. It is co-owned by Universal, who exclusively distributes the films, but Illumination Entertainment retains creative control as an independent production company.
Illumination’s world headquarters and main production office is based in Santa Monica, California. The company subscribes to a philosophy of global filmmaking and contracts independent studios all over the world on a film-by-film
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basis. By 2011, Illumination Entertainment acquired the animation department of the French animation and visual effects studio Mac Guff.
Opportunities and Threats The success of operations results from correctly delivering public tastes and preferences, while understanding the opportunities and threats within the market segments which Illumination Entertainment competes. Opportunities Despicable Me 2 is supported by its fans. There is a large and loyal fan base to Despicable Me that serves as an aspiration group for new fans to Despicable Me 2. These new fans are attracted because of the popularity and excitement produced from the Despicable Me film and its fans. The opportunity to distribute through various types of channels of distribution allows Despicable Me 2 to be readily available to any consumer, anytime, anywhere. Finally, the theme park Universal Studios Orlando serves as a backbone for interactive entertainment for the film. Consumers can visit the theme park to enjoy the interaction with the film’s cast.
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Threats Illumination Entertainment is not the only studio in the market segment in which it competes. With Illumination Entertainment being in its infancy its competing with better established brands. During the time of the DVD/Blu-Ray release of Despicable Me 2, other studios will be releasing DVD/Blu-Ray copies as well. In addition to the release of DVD/Blu-Ray copies to consumers through the various types of channels of distribution, piracy and illegal downloads also exist.
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Competitive Analysis Illumination Entertainment plans to release the DVD/Blu-Ray for Despicable Me 2 in December of 2013, and will not be the only studio launching the DVD/Blu-Ray of a theatrical film. Competing studios, who share the same target market of Despicable Me 2, plan to launch theatrical films for November, 2013 and December, 2013. These films and studios include: ● Phase 4 Films: The Legend of Sarila ● 20th Century Fox: Turbo ● Walt Disney Pictures: Planes ● Columbia Pictures: The Smurfs 2 ● Walt Disney Pictures: Monsters University ● Warner Brothers: Pacific Rim ● 20th Century Fox: Wolverine ● 20th Century Fox: Epic
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Target Market Specifications Size of Target Market
We estimated to have 165 Million people that make up the entire target market. Demographics Characteristics
Our primary target market for Despicable Me 2 DVD/Blu-Ray is Despicable Me fanatics. This includes fans of the original Despicable Me movie, who can’t get enough of the Minions army. This group consists of children, ages 5-12, and their parents. Since the kids are the main resource to drive our DVD/Blu-Ray sales, we also understand that the parents play an important role in the purchasing decisions.
Our secondary target market for this movie is animated movie lovers. This group already has a strong interest in other well-known animated movies such as Coraline, The Tale of Despereaux, ParaNorman, and more. It may consist of teenagers, young adults, and adults.
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Psychographic Characteristics
We want to target towards family-oriented groups. This is when the adults come into play and make up a fair amount of our target segment. Not to mention, they hold the power for all the purchasing decisions. The medium income families (aka middle class) consists of working parents, or at least one of them provides for the family. Their moderate income allows them the luxury to spoil their little ones; by taking them out to dinner, buying popular toys, and of course taking them to the movies.
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Product Evaluation Brand Name Universal Pictures has an exclusive partnership with Illumination Entertainment, an American animation film production company. Illumination is known for their first Despicable Me movie and has recently developed a sequel, Despicable Me 2. Hence, they are able to develop their Despicable Me brand name. Despicable Me 2 continues to tell the story of an ex-super villain that is trying to adjust to family life, and is faced with difficult obstacles along the way trying to balance career and the family. The brand has chosen popular voices for the characters such as: Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie Fisher. They’ve secured these superstars to market their film to a diversify fan base. Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment are certain to continue producing popular movies for generations to come.
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Package Considerations and Pricing Despicable Me 2 consists of six different DVD and Blu-Ray configurations. The first option is a standard DVD for $19.99. The second contains both the DVD and the Blu-Ray at a price of $24.99. The third option has a DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital copy for a price of $29.99. For the movies enthusiast, the fourth option consists of the DVD, 3D Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray, and digital copy for a price of $34.99. The fifth option is a collectors’ edition which includes everything from option four but with stylish 3D Minion glasses. The final option is a combo package with both Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 for the late minion followers. This package will cost a total of $28.99 and has fun features on each of the discs. Below is a list of the features for each media types listed above:
DVD Copy: Include with entertaining features such as, Gru’s girls, gadgets galore, winner’s contest script and feature commentary with directors Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin. Blu-Ray Copy: This combo pack includes three special mini-movies, the making of the mini-movies, deleted scenes, the minions, evil Minions, a Gru-some transformation, El hombre malo, Gru’s girls, gadgets Galore, winner’s contest script and a feature commentary with directors Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin. Digital Copy: This package contains the same features as the DVD and Blu-Ray combo with an extra bonus of the digital copy for tech savvy target market. Blu-Ray 3D Copy: Films in created for home 3D enjoyment.
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Channels of Distribution There will be three main channels of distribution for the Despicable Me 2 film, which include: brick and mortar, online, and digital. The primary channel of distribution is our in-store retailers consisting of Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy with an addition of grocery stores. These three retailers will give the consumers the option to purchase the DVD or Blu-Ray instore or online through their websites. The movie will also be available to purchase from digital retailers such as iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play. This will make it easy for the consumers, particularly the busy families, to purchase the movie and have instant access to it. The third and final channel of distribution is rental through Netflix, Redbox, and OnDemand. Our rental options make it enjoyable for consumers to rent the movie at their own convenience without having to commit to owning, which is often popular amongst Gen X and Millennial.
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Marketing Objectives Partnerships The goal for our marketing and promotional campaign for the release of the Despicable Me 2 DVD/Blu-Ray is to generate sales of approximately 4 millions units and $60 millions in revenue. We will partner up with Target, Kodak, Hostess, AMC, NBC, and Macy’s to accomplish these goals.
Advertising Program and Strategy The purpose of our advertising program is to increase awareness, generate sales, and revenue for the Despicable Me 2 DVD/Blu-Ray release. The execution consists of multiple platforms of advertising. For our advertising strategy, we will use advertising banners on the internet via popular search engines, Google AdWords, the www.despicableme.com website, and various social media platforms to communicate our message to our target market.
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TV Spot Universal is owned by NBC, and NBC is owned by Comcast. So, to avoid any conflicts of interest, we plan to have our commercials for Despicable Me 2 air on the NBC channel. Our Target Market enjoys watching television, specifically on the NBC channel, during specific times during Sunday – Saturday. We plan to heavily advertise our Despicable Me 2 commercials for the DVD/Blu-Ray release during the time zones in which the largest viewing audience of our target market will be present. These commercials will be aired nationwide during their respective time zones. The time zones are as follows: • Monday – Friday: 5:00pm – 8:00pm (EST, CST, and PST) • Saturday and Sunday: 7:00am – 10:00am (EST, CST, and PST) Newspaper Ad Part of our target market enjoys reading Sunday newspapers. We will launch ads in the Sunday LA Times and New York Times for the release of the Despicable Me 2 DVD/Blu-Ray. Also, we will place a large ad on the Sunday Wrap to catch the eye of our target market reminding them.
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Browser and AdWords Internet advertising banners will launch at the start of the campaign on June 3, 2013. The advertising banners will appear on popular internet browsers that include google.com, yahoo.com, and bing.com. These ads will deliver our message about the video script contest, Twinkies promotion and sweepstakes, other promotions with AMC, Minionization Sweepstakes, and release date of the DVD/Blu-Ray for Despicable Me 2. Also, the ads will direct our audience to our social media platforms and the www.despicableme.com website. In addition to advertising banners, we will use Google AdWords to attract our target market to our social media platforms and the www.despicableme.com.
Website The www.despicableme.com website will serve as a medium to communicate to our Target Market the details for our contest, sweepstakes, other promotions, and the DVD/Blu-Ray release for Despicable Me 2. As a strategy, the website
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will direct our audience to our Social Media platforms to drive traffic to our Facebook and Twitter pages, and our Social Media will direct our audience to our website. This will drive traffic and create a community for each of the pages and website involved. Social Media The social media platforms we plan to incorporate will include Facebook and Twitter. The Facebook fan page will announce the Mini Video Script Contest, Universal Orlando Sweepstakes, Twinkies Promotion, Twinkies Sweepstakes, AMC Promotions, and release date for the DVD/Blu-Ray release of Despicable Me 2. Facebook will launch at the start of the campaign on June 3, 2013, and run until the end of the campaign in December 31, 2013. Twitter will announce winners for the Minion Video Script Contest, Universal Orlando Sweepstakes, Twinkies Sweepstakes,and the release date for the DVD/Blu-Ray. Twitter will launch at the start of the campaign on January 3, 2013 and run until December 10, 2013.
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Out of Home Out of home advertising is a great tool to catch the attention of our target audience. This method will help increase the awareness of both parents and children while they are out and about. We will utilize billboards, busses and bus stops to reach our consumers.
Sales Promotion Program Trade Objectives Our trade objective is to successfully persuade retail stores to carry Despicable Me 2 DVD/Blu-Ray products, create brand awareness, generate inventory sales, and offer premiums values. In addition to retailers carrying the product we hope to obtain premium shelf space in entertainment, impulse purchase, and front of store sections which creates movement
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throughout the store to increase retailers sales. We’ve also created a specialized product by partnering with Hostess and obtaining space in food areas at retail stores.
Consumer Objectives Implement creative sweepstakes, contests, and promotional programs to encourage consumers’ participation and enhance interest in the product line. By doing so, we will utilize social media platforms to create a strong buzz in order to entice consumers to purchase Despicable Me 2 DVDs/Blu-Rays and additional related merchandise. Point of Purchase Program We implement the POP as a “Despicable You” end cap that is located in electronics section at Target. It is a compilation of Despicable Me 2 merchandise, and Kodak printers. What unique about this endcap is that there is a minion decale trail leading from the toy department to the endcap. The POP is designed with a minionization gun as a camera. A child can stand under the gun to take a picture of his or herself. The minionization gun takes dominant facial features and transforms the image of the child into a minion. They can review their minion image before they decide to print it out instantly with Kodak printer. With the “Despicable You” end cap, consumers have a chance to customize their DVD/Blu-Ray packages with the image of themselves minionized on the cover of the package for only $1.99 extra. Retail DVD/Blu-Ray pre-orders will run for
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three months from July 3 to October 3. Moreover, there will be the option to share their minionized image on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This gives the consumers a chance to enter into our sweepstakes program, with no purchase necessary.
Consumer Promotions The following promotions were designed to join the trade objectives with consumer objectives. We utilize our in store experiences with the growing digital marketing popularity to reach a full IMC program. We have created two sweepstakes, one contest, and a special event to achieve our goals. Minionization Sweepstakes As mentioned on POP program, consumers can upload their minionized image on social media sites. This will automatically enter them into our sweepstakes program with a chance to win a trip to Universal Orlando. The grand prize
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winner will receive; first class travel accommodations for four, a two nights stay in minionized suite, $5,000 cash, and a V.I.P. dinner with the Minions.
Twinkies Promotional Sweepstakes We integrate promotion and sweepstakes to create awareness for the DVD/Blu-Ray release. To accomplish this, there is a $2 off on-pack coupon for the DVD/Blu-Ray purchase on any Twinkies box that you buy. Moreover, there will be in-pack frosting in the Twinkies box, which consumers can use to create their minion Twinkies. Participants submit a photo of their created minion Twinkies on social media platforms using #despicableyou. Favorite minion pictures will be chosen randomly. Daily winners receive random prizes from between two AMC movie tickets (Golden Edition) and one $25 Target gift card. 19
Mini Movie Script Contest Participants can submit a funny script of Minions where they can be creative with their theme. The script should be submitted on despicableme.com from June 3 to August 3. Each submission will receive an email confirmation with a $10 off coupon to Universal Studios in Orlando or Hollywood. Winning script receives $500 gift card to Target and their script will be featured as a Bonus Feature in the DVD/Blu-ray release.
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Special Events: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Despicable Me 2 will be featured as a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade right before the DVD/Blu-Ray release in December. The float will include giant blow-ups of Gru and the little girls, followed by a marching band of Minions army. On the float, there will be a live performance of Pharrel Williams singing “Happy” from the movie soundtrack.
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