Executive Summary
#LOTR Live is a social media project that aims to awaken a new wave of interest in the Lord of the Rings universe within the existing fanbase and within the people who have not yet engaged with the franchise. The major target audience is preteen and teen white males from English-speaking countries and families with an average income. The project already has a strong fanbase which indicates its potential to attract mass attention. The promotion will be conducted through various social media channels, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tik Tok through social media targeting. For consumers, it is a free-of-charge project, as it serves as a part of a larger marketing campaign for the whole franchise. Thus, the main goal of this project is not to generate revenue but to encourage a new breath of interest in the LOTR legendarium.
5Cs Analysis
The target customers of #LOTR LIVE are young teens, young adults and children, predominantly males. The demographic is likely to be predominantly white and English-speaking – it encompasses both the millennial and the Z generations. The target audience is expected to have a steady market growth rate.
The company that produced the Lord of the Rings franchise is the New Line Cinema, which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros corporation. Thus, some of the obvious strengths include a strong and growing financial position; 8000 people employed with the brand; global acknowledgment; numerous global awards; and a leading position within the movie production industry. The main weakness is high risk probability, as it is impossible to predict if which media-project will become successful. Another weakness is a high social responsibility in the media-space (addressing social issues, characters representation issues). The opportunities include expansion of the means of digital distribution of the products and further increase of revenue. As far as the threats are concerned, some of the most prominent ones are increasing piracy and popularity decline of traditional formats of movie distributions (such as DVDs).
Lack of female characters in the original series may pose a social challenge in regards to the contextual environment. As far as political or legislative factors are concerned, there seem to be no visible threats. The four major competitors of the company are Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney, Columbia Pictures, and Newscorp. The main collaborator of Warner Bros is Netflix – the companies signed an agreement that significantly broadens Warner Bros’ audience reach opportunities.
Market Analysis and Strategies (STP)
The consumer segmentation can be described as follows: demographic, psychographic, behavioral, and geographic. The target audience of #LOTR Live can be demographically segmented according to age, gender, income, ethnicity, and education. Psychographic segmentation includes interests, lifestyles, beliefs, and personality traits. Behavioral segmentation of the target audience can be conducted according to individual’s purchasing habits and brand interactions; geographic segmentation implies the area where the customer resides (Dolnicar, Grun, Leisch, et al., 2018). Preteen boys of average-income households from English-speaking countries are the major segment of the target audience for #LOTR Live (Hoffmann & Kirner-Ludwig, 2020). This segment coincides with the main segment of the TA for the LOTR movie trilogy and the books.
The positioning is free, as it is a social media project that is part of a larger marketing campaign for the whole franchise. Anyone can interact with the Instagram account #LOTR Live and the characters without any payment. The aim of this project is to re-awaken interest within the target audience to Tolkien’s legendarium.
Tactical Plans (4Ps)
The distinctive feature of #LOTR Live is real online interaction and non-conventional non-linear storytelling. Expanding the network of social media channels, for example, onto Tik Tok, potentially can improve the initial audience engagement feature. The main strategy for distribution is social media targeting. The promotion channels include all of the possible social media: Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, and Twitter. In promotion, the accent will be made on the link of the storytelling methods used via Instagram to other stories and characters within Tolkien’s legendarium besides the Lord of the Rings, as well as interaction with the characters.
Reference
Dolnicar, S., Grun, B., & Leisch F. (2018). Market Segmentation Analysis: Understanding It, Doing It, And Making It Useful. Springer Open.
Godin, Seth. 2003. “How to get your ideas to spread.” [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Hoffmann, C., & Kirner-Ludwig M. (2020). Telecinematic Stylistics. Bloomsburry.