Does writing "Winner of an Academy Award" on a DVD cover really increase sales? (1 Viewer)

[Paul_D]

Every year, as the Oscar nominees and winners are rolled out on DVD, the amount of cover space devoted to cover space always surprises me: the huge banners and strips of text listing the nominated/qinning categories? But are there people out there who see that, and purchase the disc, even though they wouldn't have if the Oscar info wasn't there? Always puzzled me this one.

I guess it may tip them over the edge if they're not sure. But to purchase a DVD, for non-collectors, I think you'd have to be pretty sure you wanted it. No?

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Sure does. I don't really have the numbers to back this up, but if I know anything about Marketing and Advertising, there are a lot of tricks of the trade most people are unaware of. Labelling something as an Award winner is one of them.

 

[Paul_D]

Labelling something as an Award winner is one of them.

I'm sure it does work because the studios have been doing for as long as home video has existed. My question is: why does it work?

 

[Michael Reuben]

As I recall, sales of the Moulin Rouge DVD went up substantially after the Oscar nominations were announced.

I don't think it's just a matter of people viewing the films because of an award or nomination; I think it's a question of getting publicity to a whole new audience. It's hard to remember, when you're talking with a bunch of like-minded enthusiasts on the Home Theater Forum, that a lot of people out there pay no attention to movie ads and have no idea what's playing in theaters. The first time they may hear the title of some of these features is when there's a news story about the Oscars.

M.

 

[Mitty]

Although the Oscars don't necessarily pick the best films each year in whatever category, for the most part, Oscar winners are good films, well worth viewing.
For someone who doesn't pay attention to reviews and doesn't see a lot of films, you could do a lot worse as far as gauging your picks. Imagine going to the video store and picking things solely on the basis of box covers and self serving blurbs.
From this year's crop of Oscar winners (in any category, excluding those pesky, hard to find docs and shorts ):
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
LORD OF THE RINGS
MOULIN ROUGE
IRIS
SHREK
TRAINING DAY
BLACK HAWK DOWN
GOSFORD PARK
MONSTER'S BALL
MONSTERS INC.
PEARL HARBOR
Now, for the most part, based on those titles, it's unlikely that you'll go to the video store, blindly pick the one that has that little statuette on the box, and be stuck watching an absolute groaner. Based on my personal tastes, you have a 10/11 chance of seeing something that is, at the very least, worth 2+ hours of your time.

 

[Chad R]

And DVDs aren't exclusively sold. The banner of an Oscar win also drives rentals (probably more so than sales) so stores will buy more copies of it to rent. People tend to want to watch movies with some assurnace that its good, and an Oscar win is just that to some people (although I can't account for this year's winner).

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Imagine going to the video store and picking things solely on the basis of box covers and self serving blurbs.

Hey! I do that!

 

[John_Berger]

Sure does. I don't really have the numbers to back this up, but if I know anything about Marketing and Advertising, there are a lot of tricks of the trade most people are unaware of. Labelling something as an Award winner is one of them.

I don't know. I still wouldn't have the urge to buy "Gandhi" just because it had a sticker on it.

 

[David Lambert]

My question is: why does it work?

It falls under two marketing concepts: one known as "the Bandwagon approach" (everyone else likes it so I should too) and the "Associative approach" (someone as big and famous and important as *insert name of celebrity here* likes it, so it MUST be good).
In the case of the 2nd approach, in this case the *insert name of celebrity here* happens to be the Motion Picture Academy, which "everyone" knows is made up of whoever your favorite actors and directors are (i.e., if you think Tom Cruise is a talentless hack, but Tom Hanks is the epitome of acting, then you will associate the recommendation with Hanks rather than Cruise).
Bottom line, people buy into it because "a million satisfied Frenchmen can't be wrong". That's the essence of it.
I have always been convinced that High Schools ought to offer a basic course in marketing techniques, as an elective if nothing else, to teach the common person how marketing concepts work, what their approaches are, and how to recognize when you are being manipulated as a consumer.

 

[Dave H]

I'm sure it does work because the studios have been doing for as long as home video has existed. My question is: why does it work?

I think it works on people who tend to follow the sheep and not think for themselves. Many, without realizing it, sacrifice their own judgement and think that the movie must be good because "they" say it is.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

I don't know. I still wouldn't have the urge to buy "Gandhi" just because it had a sticker on it.

Just curious, have you even seen 'Gandhi'?

 

[Paul_D]

Just curious, have you even seen 'Gandhi'?

Check out the at the end of his sentence.

 

[Ash Williams]

Dave hit the nail right on the head. I have actually purchased a few titles because of one of those reasons. I didn't really think about it at the time, but have paused to reflect on it a time or two since. Most of the time I was not dissapointed with the product, but one time I was, so the studio's marketing research does work to a point.

 

[Robyn Young]

I'm sure it would drive rentals. Just the other day, a guy asked me how we picked the movies we rented. Well, I told him that our Corporate office sent them to us, and then he proceeded to kinda berate me because of all the Academy Award Winning movies, we only had 1(well, we had like 3, but that's beside the point). I had to explain to him that of the award winning movies, only 3 had been released(Shrek, Training Day, Moulin Rouge), and the rest were on the way.

Also think of this. I live in a city that got most of the Academy Award winning movies for maybe a week. I saw only two in the theater(as it happened, they both won best picture and animated feature.) Throw Academy Award winner on the box, and people here will see what they missed because our theaters suck.

robyn

 

[Mitty]

I think it works on people who tend to follow the sheep and not think for themselves. Many, without realizing it, sacrifice their own judgement and think that the movie must be good because "they" say it is.

Well, so, in order to decide whether or not to see a movie, one must first see the movie so that they can decide for themselves whether to see the movie?
Hmmm.