On a recent call with a film studio about a forthcoming film release, we asked the question “What is the perfect film partnership?” It’s a tough question to answer, much like “What is the best TV show of all time!?” (actually, that’s easy… it’s Frasier… but you know what I mean). It did, though, throw up the questions… What are the key ingredients for a perfect film partnership?
The film industry has had a wonderful shot in the arm with the huge box office success of ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’, and you could not have two more totally opposed films when it comes to brand partnerships.
Interestingly, talking to friends (who vaguely know what my job is), their view was that there were thousands of brand partnerships on Barbie. The truth is there were a lot of consumer product campaigns, there were a lot of fun advertising and media partnership executions. However, not too many pure brand partnerships. Nor should there be – as soon as a film gets too many brand partnerships the uniqueness, impact and creativity can be diluted.
Film partnerships & Barbie
I would argue that Barbie had the perfect amount with some fantastic brand partnerships; Propercorn to name just one and I would argue that this brand managed to creatively promote the film (and crucially their brand) far more than some of the licensing deals. Perhaps the first ‘ingredient’ for the perfect film partnership then, is that it’s not solely relying on licensing fees or indeed products. It’s a ‘partnership’ in the truest sense of the word (I am not suggesting that licensing deals are not – but this is about film partnerships). Both parties are more than happy to work with each other and not necessarily as a fee-paying deal for the brand.
Film partnerships & Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer, in stark contrast, gets released with (unless I am mistaken) no brand partnerships – it’s a film that centres around the making of a bomb, after all. Barbie is a bright, fun film which harnesses mass disruption rather than mass destruction – no surprise which film activated brand partnerships.
So, what is the perfect film partnership?
It is no secret that most film releases require ‘scale’ from a brand partnership, and this is not to be ignored, but it isn’t all about a brand putting media spend behind a campaign. It is more about ensuring that a brand fully embraces a partnership. Any brand partnership will have category exclusivity (you will not see McDonald’s and Burger King run a partnership with the same film) therefore, if you have this point of difference from your competitors, let as many consumers as you can know – through advertising, PR, social, events etc. It’s about promoting the partnership to the best of your ability. It doesn’t all rest on spend.
Learn all about how brand partnerships can benefit your business here, and be sure to contact our expert team today to discover how we can help bring brands together to deliver mutually beneficial and cost-effective partnerships.
The importance of relevance
Possibly the most important is relevance. You can have a film partnership with a category-leading brand, but if all consumers are left scratching their heads as to why the partnership happened, then you have fallen at the first hurdle. Having a shared audience profile is a given, but a synergistic link or a shared thematic route is essential. The link can be geographical, it can be through a similar ‘tagline’, or anything that makes the partnership make sense.
Some noticeable recent partnerships of this nature; are Gran Turismo and Nissan, the recent TMNT film and Pizza Hut, Elemental and The Met Office to name but three. One of my all-time favourite Lime partnerships was with the vampire film Blade 2 and an on-pack with garlic bulbs. It didn’t hit the ‘scale’ side of the perfect partnership, it possibly didn’t even hit a large percentage of the target audience, but it definitely made an impact when consumers realised the connection between the film and garlic! A partnership where the brand and the film enhance the storytelling aspect of the film is crucial.
The right creative
You can have scale and you can have relevance but none of this makes for a perfect partnership without the right creative. The film industry is one of the most creative industries in the world and the marketing staff at film studios I have always found to be geniuses at promoting films. Bear in mind that a film studio may release 15 films a year, 15 different campaigns, audiences, budgets, creative and somehow manage to market each film differently.
Film partnerships used to be trickier to execute with creative assets and materials for brands to utilise being fairly limited. However, it’s more common practice now for studios to have a wealth of materials that brands can use across their various touchpoints (advertising, POS, on-pack, social, influencer or website activation) meaning far more integrated and engaging creative. The film is such a visual medium that it is essential that the creative execution of partnerships is as striking and impactful as possible.
The common misunderstanding about film partnerships
There is possibly a misunderstanding with some brands that a film partnership is out of reach, too costly, too risky, too complicated, involves licensing and placement etc – this could not be further from the truth. There have been some perfect film partnerships in the last few years between studios and brands, and we look forward to many more!
We are Lime, an independent partnership and sales promotion agency based in London. We offer an end to end sales promotion service from idea generation to prize fulfilment. With our unique partnerships expertise, we are able to help brands unlock relevant prizes, incentives and offers from a wide range of sectors, including film and entertainment, gaming, as well as the travel and leisure sector.
If you’re interested in learning more about the partnership services that we offer, please get in touch with a member of our team today at 02073179280 or email Charlie@wearelime.co.uk.
And for more partnership insights, check out our other articles such as ‘The benefits of Partnership Marketing‘ and ‘The Power of Partnerships‘.
Written by Alex Ward (Lime CEO).
