Exclusive: Alan Horn on The “Final Push” of The Force Awakens Marketing
Just weeks before the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney’s Triple M, shorthand for “Mouse Marketing Machine” for those unaware, has announced the details surrounding their “final push” of advertising for the upcoming film. After the jump, we reveal what you can expect during the last leg of uber-promotion by the Mouse House.
Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney studios granted FSW an exclusive interview this past weekend. We asked him what his marketing team has in mind for the “final push” before the release of the film.
FSW: Hi Alan, first of all, thanks so much for taking the time to be interviewed for our site. You must be insanely busy right now.
Alan Horn: Oh yeah, I am. But honestly I’ve been trying to get interviewed by your site for a really long time. It’s my favorite Star Wars news site.
FSW: Oh, that’s so kind of you to say, Alan.
Alan: It’s all true.
FSW: Alan, the fans are wondering, what kind of marketing push will we see these last few days before the release?
Alan: Well, we’ve reached what you might call a “saturation point.” The problem that we’ve encountered is ironic to say the least. We have simply run out of real estate to market the film. Every cereal box tie-in, toy campaign, and clothing merchandising strategy has peaked. There’s nowhere else to place The Force Awakens logos or pictures of Kylo Ren’s crossguard lightsaber. Nowhere… but for one last place.
FSW: Where is that, Alan? Please don’t say a Star Wars tattoo across Carrie Fisher’s bust line.
Alan: Been there, done that. [He laughs] No, the only marketing real estate we have left is actually in the film itself.
FSW: Oh, you mean product placement? Do explain more, please.
Alan: Well, Lucasfilm has come to a contractual agreement with the Walt Disney Company to allow images and posters from The Force Awakens to appear in their new upcoming Star Wars film entitled The Force Awakens. We did a lot of marketing research and we feel that this film has the best demographics to expose an audience to the new film we are releasing. First of all, it’s an audience of fans who are already paying money to see the film. Secondly, they are already actually at the cinema. Who could ask for a more perfect target market?
FSW: That’s ingenious! And meta-meta… an inside inside job!
Alan: We thought so. And on top of that we will also see posters for next year’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in The Force Awakens! The film itself will be a film produced in-universe so all films moving forward will be in chronological order!
FSW: So a film producer in the Star Wars universe is making a film titled Rogue One?
Alan: That’s correct! That way we can drop in advertisements for all future films within films.
FSW: Why didn’t anyone think of that until now?
Alan: Most people are focused on thinking out of the box… but sometimes you actually have to think so far inside the box, you create a box within a box within a box… and all of those boxes can help sell the prior boxes.
FSW: Whoa.
Alan: Yeah, it’s really going to redefine how films of this magnitude are marketed.
FSW: How the heck did you ever come up with such a strategy?
Alan: Much as I’d love to take credit for it, the entire plan was devised by Walt Disney himself, but we haven’t been able to execute it properly until now.
FSW: Well we look forward to seeing these new ads for The Force Awakens soon when the new movie comes out in a few days!
Alan: Great! We think everyone will really enjoy it!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens worldwide next week. Check back for your daily dose of the hottest news here at FakingStarWars!
