'The Hobbit' pitch document
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This document outlines a UK press campaign strategy for the film "The Hobbit". It identifies the target audience as females aged 30-55 who are fans of Lord of the Rings or Tolkien. The strategy focuses on using four male actors from the film - Martin Freeman, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, and Richard Armitage - to attract the target audience. A timeline of tactics from June to December is provided, including press conferences, features, competitions, and tracking press coverage. Fees for the campaign services are also specified.
'The Hobbit' pitch document
- 1. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR The Hobbit – UK Press Campaign Arranged by: JWPR Client: Warner Bros. Entertainment 1
- 2. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR Contents; 3. i. Consumer ii. Audience iii. Messages iv. Strategy (Primary) 4 - 6. Male Talent 6. ii. Implementation 7. i. Tactics ii. Channels iii. Strategy (Secondary) 8. i. Press Materials ii. Competitions 9. i. Competitions(cont.) ii. Timeline 10. Timeline (cont.) 11. Appendix 12. i. Fees ii. Evaluation 2
- 3. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR Consumer 1. Females / ABC1C2 / 30-55 2. Existing Lord of the Rings and Tolkien fans Audience As above, the female market within the demographic ABC1C2 between the ages of 30-55 years old, and the secondary audience would be the current fans of Lord of the Rings and its author, J. R. R. Tolkien. Messages 1. The storyline, conveying the story to the audience for which you’re trying to cover, as The Hobbit is told differently to Lord of the Rings 2. Ensure the audiences know that the film has a well-known and trusted director in Peter Jackson, and was filmed using the latest filming and audio technology 3. Give awareness to the filming location, that it took place around the beautiful country of New Zealand and it’s amazing landscape 4. Show the wealth of talented actors who will be in the new film, from the ones who are reprising their roles from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the actors brought in for The Hobbit. Strategy (Primary) As suggested, the male talent in the film should be used to allure the female cinemagoer. The difficult part of deciding who should be chosen, as many strapping men are in this epic adventure through Middle Earth, there had to be compromise between looks and how major their role in the film was, in the next section, I detail our choices and why we chose them. 3
- 4. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR Male Talent These four actors give a good rounding of the characters played within the film; Man, Elf, Dwarf and, of course the Hobbit. Martin Freeman, who will be the lead role as the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, whose roles in The Office and Love Actually have seen him rise to fame, and this link with Love Actually is key to his use with the female market Orlando Bloom who plays Legolas the Elven Prince in the LOTR trilogy Luke Evans who plays Bard the Bowman, The last King of Dale and is new to The Hobbit and starred in the 2011 film Immortals Richard Armitage, who plays the role of ThorinOakenshield, a Dwarven king of Middle Earth I will now go into more depth, as to why these actors should be utilised to attract our primary target audience. Martin Freeman, our leading man in The Hobbit, could be described as a dark horse, long gone are the days of his time in The Office starring next to Ricky Gervais. Since then Martin as had roles in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Love Actually, and it’s this latter film which is our key to the female market. Love Actually has quickly become a stable part of festive viewing, the many storylines woven together make this a film like no other, and Martin’s quirky yet adorable part, may not be a leading role, but had him recognised for his parts thereafter. What we must be aware of is, Love Actually is a festive film and The Hobbit is released over the festive period, December 14 th. Martin will be watched by more people over this time, in this film, than any other, so when promoting The Hobbit, his face, in theory, would be more recognisable, therefore attracting the sought-after female audience. Other than The Hobbit, Martin is only rumoured to appear in any other productions. Although, this leaves the problem that is, Martin isn’t your typical ‘eye-candy’, this is where his three co-stars in The Hobbit come into play. 4
- 5. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR Orlando Bloom, notorious for his parts in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean has gained quite a fan base amongst fans. Orlando has also been included in countless ‘top 100 sexiest male’ polls, such as ‘VH1’s `100 Hottest Hotties’ and ‘Empire Magazine’s 100 Sexiest Stars’. It has been widely published that Orlando has been taking time out from major acting roles, with the blockbusters of LOTR, POTC, Kingdom of Heaven and Troy taking up a lot of his time in the last 10 years and now has settled and has not long become a father. He’s recently come back into the limelight with his part in the 2011 film, The Three Musketeers as the main protagonist, the Duke of Buckingham. His only upcoming work include two films, ‘Cities’ and ‘The Laureate’, both of which are in pre-production but are filmed in the UK, increasing our access to him, if is to be filming when we require him. All these points make Orlando a great asset to have when looking to publicise the film to a female market. Luke Evans, after appearing in Clash of the Titans, he quickly gained parts in many films, such as Robin Hood, The Three Musketeers and Immortals, all of which show Luke’s natural talents, being in good physical shape and pleasing on the eye, this makes Luke a great candidate to put forward for features in women’s magazines. He also had a part in the ‘chick-flick’ Tamara Drewe, which he played the sexy farm hand Andy Cobb, another great reason for why Luke should be used. There may be a stumbling block around his availability, as he will be shooting his new movie ‘The Amateur American’ this coming autumn, which may hinder us slightly. Lastly, Richard Armitage.Little is known of Richard internationally other than his part in Captain America (2011) where he plays Heinz Kruger, sent to assassinate Captain America’s ‘creator’ but within the UK, Richard is known for his roles in the BBC drama North & South and Spooks, where he played in the last two series, including the finale. This is a big step up for Richard, going from small to silver screen, in such a big role which he plays, he may not be instantly recognisable, this could lead to concerns that he this won’t attract as many female cinema goers as you would expect, so it has to be made clear that he is in The Hobbit, in aprominent and important role. 5
- 6. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR When looking to get The Hobbit into women’s magazines and newspaper supplements, I can see these four as being key to gaining maximum coverage to the female audience and more importantly, getting them to the cinema. Ideally, I would like to use that the four actors play four different races in the film, and have them together in a Q&A section with black and white photos, of them out of character. Implementation As we are targeting UK print, this leaves us with a great detail of areas for which we can focus on. Below are the suggested avenues which, if we were to win the brief, they will be put into action. Photos of our ‘male talent’ Competitions/Offers for our target audiences Long lead magazines Short lead magazines Newspapers Sunday newspaper supplements 6
- 7. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR Tactics How will we be able to get your film into the chosen outlets? Features, use of the male cast will have a major part in enticing the primary target audience to watch The Hobbit As above, photo-stories may even prove to be more useful, as a picture can speak a thousand words, especially with the talent available Press releases Press Conferences Channels Where will the stories be shown? Newspapers Sunday newspaper supplements Women’s Magazines Film magazines Strategy (Secondary) Coordinate an effective press campaign by targeting the press which the secondary target audience is being covered. Achieve coverage within long and short film magazines and the films section of newspapers A televised press Conferences with the director and cast, two months before release Awareness of the film alone would be enough to entice the already abundant fan base of Tolkien’s work to the cinema Arrange a competitions, which will be to get people into the cinema and watch the film 7
- 8. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR Press Material Long Lead Long lead journalists will be invited to a press conference via special invite; Invited on parchment, hand-written in calligraphy An ‘aged’ copy of the map of Middle Earth Opportunity to have a feature or a photo-story with our ‘male talent’ Short Lead Short lead journalists will be invited, in the same way the long lead journalists, to a press junket at a London Hotel, around a month prior to the premiere. Each journalist will be able to spend up to 5 minutes with a selection of the cast, of which our male talent will be included (if available), as well as Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Stephen Fry, James Nesbitt, Andy Serkis and Christopher Lee, just to name a small selection. Competitions We have planned, and budgeted for two competitions within this pitch, these are as follows: Readers of The Mail on Sunday’s You Magazine will have the chance to be entered into the competition by answering a question, of three possible answers “Win the ‘hobbiday’ of a lifetime” o Go to the premiere in New Zealand o Two Weeks, all inclusive holiday at a 5* hotel for two people o Meet the case of The Hobbit o Visit to the ‘Hobbiton’ set o All this, with £2,000 spending money 8
- 9. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR You Magazine was chosen for its readership, firstly, because it has more than 800,000 more readers than its nearest rival and secondly, its readership fits our target audience perfectly. o Female audience o ABC1 o 30-55+ o Celebrity focused Win ten tickets to see The Hobbit at any Odeon Cinema, as above, the winner will be chosen by answering a question correctly, as per the example given on the slide. o with refreshments o winners will be chosen at random, by getting the correct answer in a quiz Odeon Magazine is our chosen outlet for this competition, because has it will serve as the perfect partner in free tickets. Not only this, but Odeon magazine is almost on par with Empire magazine as being the most popular Film Magazine, shifting nearly 190 copies monthly. The reason for not picking Empire was simple, they lack of resources for holding the competition and the fact Odeon is one of the most popular cinema chains in the UK. Timeline Starting in June, all our team will be briefed on what is expected of them, and what they can gain from working with such a client as Warner Bros. Entertainment. Training will be given to all the staff, not just the team who will be working with you. Once this has been done, the schedule will be drawn up for the events which are coming up. Venues will be booked for both the press conference and junket. July and August will see the bespoke invites being designed, written and sent to the long lead journalists who will attend the press conference. Press releases will be collated and publications will be approached for a feature or photo-stories with both our ‘male talent’ and other actors. (Ian McKellen in a film magazine would be a great combination). 9
- 10. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR September will see following up on the press invitations we are yet to hear back on and near the end of the month, long lead journalist who weren’t at the press conference will be sent press packs, with the said press releases and discs of photographs. October will be a busy month, arranging the press conference happening mid-month, in time for their December issues. More following up in November, this time for the long lead titles, ensuring we have coverage in all titles we had hoped. The Press junket will happen near the end of the month for the short lead titles and the ‘hobbiday’ competition and Odeon ticket winners will be announced. Press releases will be sent to short lead regional newspaper titles, sent to their respective film sections. December will see the premiere and the competition winner will jet off to meet and greet the stars of the film and enjoy their ‘hobbiday’. After the premiere, thankyou’s will be sent out to journalists along with a plaque, of their name, with a translation in Elvish underneath. 10
- 11. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR Appendix Long Lead Short Lead OK! Celebrity Pictures/Feature/photo story Woman’s Weekly Celebrity Feature Section Closer Showbiz/feature The Sun Film preview/Interview/Feature Hello! Celebrity Section Daily Mail Film preview/Interview/Feature Heat Star Style/Celeb News Daily Mirror/Record Film preview/Interview/Feature Now Celeb A-Z Metro Film preview/Interview/Feature ASDA Magazine Entertainment Section/feature The Daily Telegraph Film preview/Interview/Feature Glamour Celebrity Section Daily Star Film preview/Interview/Feature Marie Claire Celebrity Section Daily Express Film preview/Interview/Feature Elle Star Style The Times Film preview/Interview/Feature Tesco Magazine Entertainment The Guardian Film preview/Interview/Feature Sky Movies Interview The Independent Film preview/Interview/Feature Cineworld Unlimited Interview i Film preview/Interview/Feature Odeon Magazine Competition - Feature Financial Times Film preview/Interview/Feature Empire Interview The Mail on Sunday Film preview/Interview/Feature Total Film Interview You Mag Competition - Feature/Photo story Sunday Mirror Film preview/Interview/Feature The Sunday Times Film preview/Interview/Feature Sunday Express Film preview/Interview/Feature The Sunday Telgraph Film preview/Interview/Feature The People Film preview/Interview/Feature Daily Stat Sunday Film preview/Interview/Feature The Sunday Post Film preview/Interview/Feature The Independent on Sunday Film preview/Interview/Feature 11
- 12. The Hobbit Pitch Document All Rights Reserved JWPR Fees Details of the fees are in the below table: Warner Brothers Entertainment Budget Breakdown. Monthly Retainer £3,000 per month Competition £4,000 Press Events £500 Stationary and calligraphy for invites £400 Expected Sub Total £23,900 Additional works £150 per hour The monthly retainer is based upon a maximum of 80 hours’ work per month, a cost of £150 per hour will then be put upon your account, when your limited is reached, you will be informed and any further work will commence upon approval from manager of both parties. The payment terms of your account will be net 30 days and must be adhered to. Evaluation Press clippings will be sought and collated, then presented to you in a portfolio, from which we can work out the advertising value equivalent. 12