Social Media and Hype - Unfulfilled Promises

Quite obviously, hype about a movie in social media can be a great thing.  It has propelled many movies to solid box office performance.  Rarely, however, does the hype not follow through.

That was the case, however, for movie Kick-Ass, released April 16.  Because of the positive buzz in social media, the movie was widely expected to open around $30 million, but it opened only at $19.8 million.  The movie was a hot topic on Twitter -- people were tweeting about the movie... but were too lazy to actually go see it.  One blogger wrote, "movie geeks were more excited to rave about [it] online than audiences were excited to see it."

So how do you avoid this pitfall?  Studios should ensure that their marketing campaigns will market to more than the fanboys.  Movies like Star Trek and Iron Man do well because they are marketed as movies with broad appeal.  These movies gross incredible dollars, but they have the same roots as Kick-Ass and Daredevil. 

Understanding that your target market is likely to go see the movie whether the ad campaign reaches them or not... should lead marketers to a more segmented marketing plan.  We should keep a lookout on movies like Tron and others which may fall victim to the hype of social media.