Avatar and TBTR - Marketing Comparison

• Avatar and TBTR had different marketing campaigns with similar aspects
• Created a sense of an 'event' film
• TBTR £6.1million in 12 weeks
• Avatar $3million opening weekend, total gross $2.78bn

So what made Avatar so successful with it's marketing? Firstly, Avatar was released at a better time than TBTR. Not only was Avatar was released around the time when 3D cinema was more avaliable, which meant the film could be marketed as a 3D film, but TBTR was released at the same time as films such as 17 Again, Monsters vs Aliens and Fast & Furious. This meant there was heavy competition for the secondary audience of the film. Avatar was released in November, which meant the target audience (families) had time to watch the film.

Avatar also had more viral campaigns to appeal to its audience than TBTR. Although TBTR had websites, iPhone apps and online playlists, Avatar had symbiotic relationships with Coca-Cola and McDonalds (Avatar yourself website), film websites with clips and teaser trailers, video games and much more. This ensured that all areas of the target audience were appealed to and that the film had a strong narrative image. By ensuring that the audience knew what the film was about and when it was going to be released, they could get the largest possible audience range to watch the film.

Both films had marketing campaigns which appealed to their respective audiences, although Avatar's campaign appealed better and reached a larger amount of people, as was shown by their large profit. TBTR's campaign tied in with the film, as the playlists contained 60s songs and the iPhone app was based on an old card game, but unfortunately the release was at the wrong time which meant they didn't make as much money as Avatar.