Marketing Woes in the Film Industry – Invisible Shows, Spoiler Filled Trailers and More
Where do we go from here?
It’s been a minute since I’ve done a deep marketing dive, but I’m circling back to my OG film job roots for my latest hyper-fixation. And it’s VALENTINE’S DAY so double the love, double the posts!
If you know me at all—you know I spend an absurd amount of time dissecting the woes and conundrums of this industry. This week? We’re talking about the never-ending struggle to reach, engage, and—most importantly—keep audiences hooked.
We’ve all heard the complaints - “Why is apple so bad at marketing their shows?” “Why did they SPOIL the movie in the trailer?!” “Wait it’s already out of theaters?? where do I watch it then?” “I’ve never heard of that show”
Are marketing and distribution teams failing to keep up with the times? Are they playing it too safe out of fear for their jobs? Is there just not enough budget? Sure, all of the above is true to an extent. But there’s also a storm of external factors making an already massive problem even worse.
We exist in one of the most cluttered media landscapes ever, where your dream audience’s attention is being yanked in three million different directions. Cutting through the noise? Harder than ever.
What’s causing it and is there anything we can do about it? Let’s get into it.
CAPITALISM: THE ROOT OF ALL REBOOTS
OF COURSE, this is where I was gonna start. Let’s get this one out of the way because it explains an awful lot. It’s the reason there’s a reboot every week. It’s why you’re not seeing big pushes for small indie films. And it’s why marketing feels less about the art and more about the algorithm.
Money is the motive. Every studio, streamer, and distributor is chasing a surefire success—whether it’s to meet sky-high shareholder expectations, justify their existence to corporate overlords, or simply avoid getting axed in the next round of layoffs. This means that every decision, from which movies get made to how they’re marketed, is dictated by what has worked before that successfully drove awareness and frequency rather than what’s fresh or interesting or what’s true to the film, it’s themes and the creators wishes. Because marketing’s loyalty isn’t to the creative team or the story, it’s sadly to their company bottom-lines.
Marketing in Hollywood isn’t about selling the story—it’s about selling a sure thing. And thanks to the internet and endless analytics, marketing execs are now often forced to live and die by the numbers, especially with tight budgeted projects.
They’re not creating just a marketing campaign—they’re making data-driven, A/B-tested, audience-optimized content designed to maximize box office potential, even if it completely betrays the movie and the audience.
Data-Driven Marketing vs. Creative Marketing
I say all of this as someone who has worked in marketing: sometimes the data is right. There are proven tactics that work—certain teaser and poster timeline drops, behind-the-scenes assets that always drive engagement, and certain structures that make trailers more effective. But the problem? Data doesn’t comprehend originality.
This is why so many trailers now look identical. This is why entire plot twists get spoiled in marketing materials. This is why you’ll see the “epic slow-building cover of a classic song” in every big blockbuster promo. Because the numbers say that’s what works and because trailers aren’t made for us FILM FANATICS… we’re going to the theater no matter what, it’s for the regular folks who could been convinced.
The latest example of trailer rage? COMPANION.
