iPhone Becomes a Cheap Way to Market Films

Preparing for the release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Warner Bros. played plenty marketing cards new and old: theatrical and TV trailers, websites, videogames and even YouTube.

Then, the week before the movie opened, it added a twist: a Harry Potter iPhone application. The free app lets fans access videos, posters and character information, as well as insert photos of themselves into the fictional newspaper “The Daily Prophet.”

Clearly the studios have taken notice: iPhone and iTouch apps are becoming increasingly popular, with more than 50,000 already available in the year-old Apple store -- totalling 1.5 billion downloads. But while most apps are there to make money, studios see them as part of another rapidly expanding industry -- interactive marketing.

“Everyone is trying to figure out what is the best way to bring in consumers without being overt in marketing,” said Trish Halamandaris, vice president of Worldwide Marketing and Mobile Publishing for Disney Interactive Studios. “The phone is an extremely compelling device. It’s personalized. It’s with you 24-7. It’s really viral. If you see something really cool, odds are you're going to tell your friend.”

Warners has been in the game from the start. Its “The Dark Knight” app, which launched shortly after Apple’s app store last summer, allowed fans to “Jokerize” pictures of the faces to resemble the Heath Ledger villain.

But this summer the studios have come aboard in a big way. Disney, which says it will be releasing an app for every new movie, created an “Up” game where players use balloons to move through the air, guiding the main character’s house over obstacles and collecting badges. (See accompanying story, "Meet the Apps.)

Warners launched multiple apps for “Terminator Salvation” -- a graphic novel (pictured below) and two versions of a game that gives users a choice of weapons to use in fighting any one of 11 enemies.

“Apps allow us to reach consumers in a mobile platform,” said Amy Powell, Senior Vice President of Interactive Marketing at Paramount, whose “Star Trek” app let users do battle with phaser weapons. “You are no longer forcing fans to come to our websites. We are saying we want you to interact with our brand and our movie wherever you are.”

Apple won’t release download figures, but “Fast & Furious,” which came out April 2, remains number 13 on Apple’s Top 25 list three months later. Unlike many of the free movie-based apps, “Fast & Furious” comes at a price -- initially it was $5.99, but that has since dropped to $1.99. Disney’s “Up” has a “launch special”: 99 cents.

Each app offers the consumer a different experience as studios tailor them both to the movie and the expected audience.

 

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