Synergy and cross media convergence re-do

How do companies use cross-media-convergence and synergy to promote media products and to what extent does that cause a film to be successful?


In the media industry, it is quite popular and successful to use cross-media convergence and synergy as a promoter for movies written and used by, the big 5, who have a larger target audience. Who are Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros., Universal, Lionsgate. These companies are considered to be an oligopoly, which is limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers. This pretty much is talking about how the major 5 has the majority of the market, making it harder for smaller businesses to get an edge or make any real effect on the viewer compared to this massive media conglomerates. Whereas on the other hand, smaller, 'less successful' companies will use these strategies on a smaller scale than other big companies like the big 5 for example. There are a few differences between cross-media convergence and synergy, but the biggest would have to be that, cross-media convergence is highly based around the fact of merging two media forms to promote their form of the product/products this results in the two companies/forms of media agreeing to benefit both of them. Cross-media convergence can also be used in any stage of the film-making or process, as well as also in production, distribution, and or marketing.on the other hand Synergy is when a company releases lots of different products that are similar and linked in some way or other to show distinct company branding. An example to show what I'm trying to say is when Star Wars The Force awakens, under the Star Wars franchise, under Disney was released they also released, action figures that were able to be distinguished through the logo of the Star Wars franchise, as well as various video games and a soundtrack for people to listen to. Although Synergy is helpful it is often used after the movie/series has come out, and or in the marketing phase, meaning they do not get much publicity before the movie, but more just extra income and afterward anyway. in this sense, I do see how both of these strategies seem to be successful and important but they are not crucial to the survival and potential making and breaking of the movie.


With advances in technology these processes have also become a lot easier with things like the internet allowing them to advertise online and sell the idea to large audiences. An important example of successful marketing using synergy would be the recent Ant Man (2015) which was produced by Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of one of the major media conglomerates in Hollywood (The Walt Disney Studios). This gave them the ability to use higher budgets to produce, market, and distribute their products efficiently. Through synergy, several products were released simultaneously, such as the Marvel Ant-Man Deluxe Collectible Figure Set or Wasp action figures linked together through branding, or the DVDs released soon after in different formats (DVD, Blu-Ray, CD, etc). Another example is Jurassic World (2015), one of the highest-grossing films of all time and thus highly successful. This was because of the high budget ($150 million in total) used towards all the stages of film-making, including distribution; the film was distributed by Universal Pictures to over 66 territories worldwide. As for marketing, Universal spent a total of $34.9 million on TV advertisements for the film. As a demonstration of cross-media convergence in real life - various partnerships helped with the promotion of this film, including Kellogg's and Dairy Queen. This clearly highlights the importance of the role of cross-media convergence and synergy in successful marketing. Lots of companies also use online and interactive ways to advertise their product/ movie, for example on Facebook or even blogs, one of the many movies who have used this as an advertisement scheme to raise awareness for the movie was the dark knight and their "why so serious?" campaign. This is what it was in a summary "Why So Serious?" was designed as a 360° alternate reality experience that played out over 15 months leading up to the release of The Dark Knight. Spilling out over a multitude of different platforms, this deep immersive campaign recruited the audience to become real citizens of Gotham City. Over 11 million unique participants in over 75 countries fueled the rise of the Joker as henchmen, campaigned for Harvey Dent to get elected as District Attorney, and even took the law into their own hands by becoming copycat Batman vigilantes. From calling phone numbers written in the sky to hunting down GPS coordinates to find mobile phones baked inside of birthday cakes, "Why So Serious?" was an experience like no other. As these fans collectively scoured the globe in search of clues, their incredible passion generated billions of impressions in the press and blogosphere setting a new benchmark for immersive entertainment." Sourced by Los Angeles Times.