What Avatar, Titanic and Harry Potter can teach you about advertising
Creativity. Storytelling. Emotion. The pillars of great advertising celebrated each year at the Cannes Festival. Looking along the street to that other famous Cannes festival, which celebrates all that is wonderful in the world of film, what can our noisy neighbours remind us of when it comes to brand building?
1. We both want influential properties that creates demand
Great stories stay longer in the mind, get talked about, get acted on. Some explore new frontiers, some explore the familiar. Movies can create paths in life that you would never have previously explored or simply remind us of what is most important.
People actively seek out movies, form large queues in fact. They achieve the ultimate end goal for any advertiser, to have an audience that's engaged and willing to pay a premium for the value the brand provides. And though that may sound simple, it's incredibly hard to do.
We're now seeing brands working increasingly hard to give value to customers outside of their core product offering. Brands such as Red Bull (disclaimer: our client) have established a content and event business to both build brand equity and as a revenue stream.
2. Technology makes great thinking better. It's not a substitute in its own right
Despite the race to embrace new technology, such as CGI and 3D, the story is still the key component for long lasting movie success. How many kids movies or sci-fi epics have forgotten the key ingredients of storytelling? None of the successful ones at least. How many brands have rushed to create apps or social media platforms without understanding their purpose in our lives?
3. Global properties recognise cultural archetypes
Movies can cut through local multi-cultural differences to appeal to people living very different lives in very different parts of the world. The highest-grossing movie to date is Avatar, which knocked Titanic off the top in 2009, ending a 12 year reign for Kate and Leo. The common thread between globally successful films is to tell a story that resonates across cultures.
Like the movies our brands and advertising increasingly have a global focus. Whether youre a global company like Unilever with presence in Asia, Europe and the US, or a local company like Barons Beer exporting all the way round the world, the story that connects your brand is at its strongest when it recognises cultural archetypesthat can appeal to mass audiences.
4. Planning for longevity makes more money in the long run
The movie world does franchises very well. The top 20 films of all time is scattered with them; Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Shrek amongst them. Great franchises have a plan for the future before they start and each new episode builds the brand. They have longevity because of their foundations. So many advertisements are relevant for a particular moment in time without planning for long-term brand appeal and consistency. If marketers took the approach of franchise-builders, each ad would simply be a new chapter for the brand rather than starting from scratch.
5. Engagement runs deeper than face value
The way movie studios measure a hit' has become more scientific, just like advertising. The practice of neurocinema, where brain feedback helps movie-makers evaluate, craft and refine the responses from a subconscious level is giving a wholly accurate picture of true engagement. Think of the developments in neuromarketing that understand brands as memory patterns and you're getting to another level of thinking and measurement.
Maybe if neuro testing had been available for Battlefield Earth they could have given us those two hours of our lives back. Maybe for Showgirls I would have wanted to see it anyway?
As marketers and advertisers these are things we know but often lose sight of in the rush for the now. Everyone's a critic of course. But only a few truly create. Great films tap into core human motivations. So next time you're faced with a new brief, take a moment and ask yourself what would Peter Jackson do? And go from there.
Ben Taylor
Head of Strategy
Vizeum Sydney
*This article first appeared in AdNews on Thursday, 25th October 2012.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
What Avatar, Titanic and Harry Potter can teach you about advertising 
