"You have come to this course at exactly the right time."
We are going to explore the sweeping changes and complexities that are causing the entertainment, and specifically, the motion picture industry, to reexamine its fundamental business and marketing strategies.
Our job, moving forward, will be to recognize the challenges ahead. The business has a long history of brilliant adaptation to crisis. It is, after all, an industry of total self-invention that has survived the underlying vagaries of tribal conduct that are reflected in the veneer of a cultural tradition and a communal experience.
We sell and tell stories about universal feelings:
Love and hate, alienation and prejudice, sociological and racial allegories, power and hope … and that’s the short list.
As marketers, we influence not only popular culture but a global economy. We create awareness and “want to see,” we manage expectation and we measure satisfaction against strategies intended to ignite curiosity, inspire imagination and empower self-discovery.
The business is complex, compelling and immersive. The magic that it embraces is recognized in its collaborative and creative process, matched only by its aptitude for marketing and monetizing content.
Throughout this course you will repeatedly hear overlapping strategic themes about change, consumers, content, context and community.
That’s where we will begin … with a perspective that comes from within and without the industry and from twelve formidable executives who are shaping its future.
"Marketing Entertainment: Strategies for the Global Marketplace" is
offered every fall quarter at UCLA Extension with Ken Markman.