Introduction
“Don’t adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story.” – Bilbo Baggins (Tolkien, 1954, as cited in A quote from The Fellowship of the Ring, 2017).
The Warner Bros corporation, the producer of most of the movie and video-games adaptations, holds strong positions on the market. However, spread of piracy, and social and political landscapes provide a space for improvement. #LOTRLive is a social media project aimed at attracting interest within the existing and new fans of the Lord of the Rings legendarium. The target audience is predominantly introverted teenage Caucasian males. Creating a non-linear storytelling project by organizing a network of “real” Instagram accounts of the Lord of the Rings characters may prove to be useful.
Situation Analysis
Customers
#LOTRLive mainly targets movie fans, especially people of European descent.
Company (SWOT Analysis)
Most media was implemented by Warner Bros Corporation.
The Corporation has a strong financial position.
The weaknesses include high risks and having to adapt to local markets.
The opportunities include the expansion of digital distribution.
The threats are piracy and the governments’ policies.
Context
The entertainment industry has to follow the social trends.
Collaborators
Warner Bros signed a collaboration agreement with the streaming service Netflix.
Competitors
The main competitors of Warner Bros Corp are Walt Disney and the Universal Pictures.
Market Analysis and Strategies
Target Audience (TA) Segmentation
Demographic
#LOTRLive is targeted towards male, middle-class teenagers and young adults.
Psychographic
The TA are intelligent introverts enjoying visually and imaginatively stimulating activities.
Behavioral
The TA are regular users of social media with short attention span.
Geographic
The aesthetic within the series conditions predominantly English-speaking countries.
Targeting
Marketing will be applied through ads on interest-based communities on social media platforms.
Positioning
#LOTRLive is a part of a larger marketing campaign of the LOTR franchise, which includes high budget movie series.
Tactical Plans
Product
Most adaptations of the legendarium so far constitute the traditional linear way of storytelling. Nonlinear storytelling is a digital storytelling technique divided into parallel branches (Letonsaari, 2019). #LOTRLive aims to create personified Instagram accounts, each of them a platform for non-linear storytelling. The users will be able to see what their favorite characters do and interact with them.
Price
The main marketing goal is to re-awaken interest within the existent fanbase, as well as attract new customers. The cost of the project will include the spending on graphic design, social media management, and paid ads for traffic generation. For the customers interaction with the project is completely free of charge. #LOTRLive can hook the audience to wait for the film adaptation, as well.
Place
The original way of delivering the products of the franchise by Warner Bros are movie theaters, DVD discs, and Netflix subscriptions. #LOTRLive will be accessed by the audience directly on Instagram.
Promotion
In order to launch the marketing process, video commercials and digital graphic posters will be used on social media channels, such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter. In promotion, the accent will be made on the link to other stories within Tolkien’s legendarium, as well as interaction with the characters, with slogans such as “Become an active participant of the favorite legendarium!”.
Another possible way of promoting the project is a collaboration with a famous company. The poster ads with the links to the Instagram accounts can be printed on the packaging of the products.
Conclusion
Today, with the growth of piracy and governments changing their policies, the Warner Bros Corporation’s position may weaken, especially if a big movie fails.
#LOTRLive is a revolutionary project, the non-linear storytelling method of which may establish a future trend headlined by Warner Bros. It requires low spendings and, even if there is no overwhelming success, it will still increase LOTR fans’ interest for future products.
Thus, #LOTRLive is a “low-risk, high-reward” project, and I believe that it is in your best interests that you support it, both financially and via marketing.
References
A quote from The Fellowship of the Ring. (2017). Goodreads. Web.
Letonsaari, M. (2019). Nonlinear storytelling method and tools for low-threshold game development.Seminar.Net, 15(1), 1-17. Web.