Master thesis, Cand.Soc. in Management of Creative Business Processes
Master thesis, Cand.Soc. in Management of Creative Business Processes
Biozonen23, and Biozonen can be more direct in their marketing to this group by focussing more on reviews from respected media – having a favourite reviewer make the high users less likely to be interested in reviews from media less respected such as women's magazines and youth magazines.
They are also more active on the internet – user ratings and debate forums are of interest to this segment and general information and film buzz can be expected to be of equal interest.
Engaging them via internet sites such as facebook and kino.dk by inviting them to rate films and give their opinion could increase their interest in the film world even more. An investigation into the possibilities of reaching audiences in a meaningful way by mobile and internet should also be initiated.
For low users, advertising material posting a large number of positive reviews works whereas high users might be more interested in the verdict of a few important media.
11.4 Internet reviews and daily papers
Age does not seem to be the most important factor, when describing the users of internet reviews. The internet reviews are more important for high users and film enthusiasts, but not at the expense of other media; they are active information seekers in all media and are more affected by reviews than the average survey population. This suggests that marketing initiatives on the internet should not solely be directed towards younger segments, but towards the knowledgeable film enthusiasts and the culturally motivated segment as well.
Word of mouth is still the most important factor for the teenagers and again an exploration of the possibilities offered by social media sites should be initiated.
11.5 Mainstream, upmarket and art films
Upmarket audiences are more affected by reviews than are mainstream audiences. The upmarket audience is also frequenting cross-over cinemas like Metropol København and Falkoner Biograf and these cinemas should consider posting reviews as a service for these audiences. The audiences that favour art films are also interested in user ratings and debate forums on the internet, again indicating that distributors and exhibitioners of art films could benefit on increasing visibility on the internet. This is a more cost efficient way to build awareness in the minds of film consumers and especially culturally motivated high users are using the internet to gather information about films.
23 Nordisk Film’s loyalty programme
Master thesis, Cand.Soc. in Management of Creative Business Processes
Upmarket audiences are very much affected by individual reviewers and the collective opinion of reviewers, whereas the mainstream audience is not so concerned with the opinion of single reviewers. This suggests that upmarket film posters and advertising should be careful when choosing reviews to quote, whereas mainstream film posters and advertising do not have to focus on specific names. However, event films aiming at a broader audience should be aware of the importance of serious media and respected reviewers when choosing quotes and star ratings.
11.6 Education and the influence of reviews
Audiences at a higher educational level seem to be more likely to employ reviews in their film choice process, but audiences with a lower educational level are not at all uninfluenced by reviews. The higher educated also have a stronger preference for art and upmarket films.
Taking into account that people with a higher education are more likely to have an opinion about which media can be considered serious and reliable, distributors and exhibitors advertising in written media should be aware of which media is quoted. The composition of different readership profiles should be taken into consideration when placing advertisements.
Again social websites could be employed – especially a site like facebook where individuals can be segmented according to education would be an obvious choice.
11.7 Reviews and general audience taste
Only 10-12% of the survey respondents denied ever being influenced by reviews indicating that a majority of the survey population do not see a general divergence between reviewers and general audience taste. Some have their favourite reviewer, others rely on the collective opinion of reviewers and some go in the opposite direction of reviewers. Reviewers are not a homogenous group with the same opinions and audiences seem to be aware of this. Many of the survey respondents are aware of the selection of reviews on behalf of distribution companies advertising for a film, and there is a possibility that trying to avoid reviews in advertising material would be more damaging than admitting to negative reviews.
Reviews do matter for a large part of the survey population and should be part of the service offerings of cinemas and distribution should continue using them as part of their marketing efforts - although with an attempt to match the target audience of the film with the chosen star ratings and quotes from reviews. Furthermore, large parts of the audiences make use of
Master thesis, Cand.Soc. in Management of Creative Business Processes
reviews in the evaluation process, not so much to decide on a judgment of the film, but rather to see new perspectives and get a deeper understanding of the film.
In that respect, exhibitors and more specifically kino.dk24 could make use of this knowledge.
Kino.dk has information about audiences for specific films, which could be used to customize the experience of each individual audience. They could sent out text messages with links to reviews on the internet and allow for the cinema-goer to rate the film as well. Potential ways to engage the audience through mobile and internet-applications before and after the film experience should be looked into. This would increase the value of the film experience and furthermore, in the terms of Caves, increase their stock of cultural appreciation capital, which again could increase the consumption of feature films.
11.8 The influence of negative and positive reviews
Since audiences relying on the collective opinion of reviewers showed a potential to be more influenced by negative reviews than by positive ones, the distributors' strategy concerning choice of star ratings and quotes for advertising material (with a tendency to use positive quotes and stars from obscure media, rather than negative ones from respected media) makes sense. However, it should be taken into account that most audiences are aware that the reason respected media is not quoted is because they have reviewed the film negatively. But again the choice of media and single reviewers should depend on whether the film aims at an upmarket or mainstream audience.
In the USA, distribution companies sometimes avoid press screenings if the film is expected to receive negative reviews – this is not practice in Denmark and given the above indications there is no need to introduce it here.
24 Kino.dk is the online cinema ticket booking for the majority of major cinema chains such as Nordisk Film and Cinemaxx
Master thesis, Cand.Soc. in Management of Creative Business Processes