Marketing distribution for the King's Speech

Find out about the marketing campaigns for The King's Speech and your comparison film. (What was the marketing plan?)

The marketing campaign was made by word of mouth that has been generated by the press. The other marketing materials have served to keep those conversations going.

Who distributed the film in the UK and USA and what were the issues associated with the film’s distribution?

Momentum Pictures(US), Aegis Film Fund(UK), Weinstein Company and FilmNation Entertainment were the distributors. The issues associated with the film's distribtuion is the fact that one company is more famous than the other, for example the US company are bound to be more famous than the UK company.

Was the campaign a grass roots or mainstream big event? How was word spread about the film? Virally on the Net? Mass advertising campaign with poster, trailers, etc?

It was mainstream because there were posters, online adverts, trailers on Youtube, and things oniline like recommendations and blogs about the film to make it publicised. The word was spread by word of mouth, for example people telling friends about the film and when it is going to release and the adverts on TV, online adverts and posters also spreaded word about the film.

How was “the talent” used to publicise the film? For instance,
TV and radio interviews with members of the cast, director, etc.

Yes, the Telgraph interviewed the director and Colin Firth and they talked about the film and what it is about and how good it is so that people would be persuaded to watch it. Some of the actors put it up on Facebook and Twitter that they will be in a film and then fans see it and then they want to go and see the film.

Who was the main target audience for the campaign? Why?
The original target audience was the members of the Academy-The people who vote for the nominations in the Oscars. According to the statistics, the average age of Oscars voters is 57 years old. I think this is because most elderly people love the monarchy so it would be right that they would have been the main target audience for the campaign.

What were the release dates for the film in cinemas?
The UK cinema release date was Friday 7th January.


Were there any commercial tie-ins with other companies, i.e. supermarkets, food products, phone-apps., video games, etc.
There were no commercial tie-ins with other companies because the King's Speech would have had to agree with other companies that they would have clashes with them with commercials and adverts.


Find and identify the different types of film poster associated with the film’s campaign: its teaser poster, main theatrical poster, etc.

     This is the teaser poster                                      This is the main theatrical poster



Analyse the film posters for The King's Speech and your comparison film. (See blog post on how to do this on the class blog: as and a2 media studies).
For the teaser poster, the actors Helena Carter, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are the people on the poster which shows that they are the main characters, and they are famous actors, especially Colin Firth is a famous actor because he is in a lot of British films which will persuade people to watch it. The background with the cloud shows that the characters are very aspirational and 'on cloud 9' meaning they are day dreamers. The colour in the poster is important because the costumes the actors are wearing is dark and their faces are light which makes them shine and there is a contrast between the characters' faces and the costumes they are wearing. It makes the audience know that they are the stars of the movie. 


For the main theatrical poster, the picture of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush shows the audience that the two of them are the main characters. The comments on Geoffrey Rush's face is important because the comments make the audience know how great the film is and I think that is the producer's Unique Selling Point (USP). The statement 'God Save the King' is the interesting thing that will persuade people to watch the film because the British and American people love the monarchy and they have put a twist on it because this time it is 'the King' not 'the Queen' which will make the people be interested to watch the film.



Now do the same with various types of trailers for the film. How did they build audience expectations and appeal to audiences? Again there is help on the class blog with how to analyse film trailers.

• The first film trailer built audience expectations and appeal to audiences massively because in the first trailer, the language, for example the language that the king's wife speaks is very posh which elderly and middle aged people relate to because they are very well spoken. The fact that it is based on a true story is something that will persuade the audience to watch the film because the non-diegetic sound in the trailer is sad which makes you feel sad and feel sorry for the King and therefore some people would want to watch the film to see what happens to the King, whether he finally does his speech. 
• The dark setting with the elements of rain and in the background gives the audience the idea that the film has a dark side to it and actors in the film have a dark side to them.
• The fast track non-diegetic music when they showed the King with his brother could show to the audience that there could be tension, jealousy and hatred between the two brothers which could intrigue the audience because some people like a bit of tension in films especially films with the theme of the British royalty that The King's Speech has as it makes the film have a modern twist to it.

• The second trailer built audience expectations and appeal to audiences in a big way because the audience would probably expect the film to be very sad and have sad elements of it an it did because there is a part where the King is watching a film and he almost looks as if he is going to shed tears.
• The non-diegetic hopeful cheery sound when the King says goodnight to his kids is nice for the audience to see because they see that the King has feelings as he is happy every time he is with his kids.
• Also, every time the King is frustrated that he cannot make the speech he is required of, the non-diegetic music is slow and emotive which shows that Colin Firth is feeling nervous and angry as he screams.
• The light background and atmosphere near the end of the trailer is cheery from the dark background and setting of the beginning of the trailer.

How does the official website publicise the film? What is the USP? (unique selling point(s)?
The official website publicises the film because when you open the site, the first thing you see is them telling you what awards The King's Speech has won and what awards the actors have won and what they won it for which is a good information to know if you want to know how popular the film is. The USP (Unique Selling Point) is putting the trailer on the first page on the website so you know about the film especially if you haven't watched the film before. The comments about the film from newspapers also publicises and are a USP the film because they are comments that persuade you to watch the film, for example 'A masterpiece', 'one of the best movies of the year', 'irresistibly entertaining', 'an immense crowd-pleaser' and 'a film that makes your spirit roar'.


Was viral marketing on the Net, or elsewhere (at awards ceremonies, etc.) significant?
Yes, viral marketing on the Net was significant because 





Find out, if you can, about the marketing campaign for the Pay TV, DVD /Blue Ray releases.
How important is digital technology in marketing and distributing the film?