Chapter 12 'Star Wars' marketing apocalypse

"Our advertising costs are almost zero." Xiang Ming, Director of China Affairs of 20th Century Fox, described the marketing promotion of "Star Wars" to the author in this way.With zero advertising costs, "Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" set off a wave of star wars in China.As of July 2, 2005, the box office revenue of "Star Wars Episode III" in China has reached 75 million yuan.In addition, "Star Wars Episode III" also broke many records. For example, the box office of "Star Wars Episode III" in the first weekend in mainland China reached 28 million yuan, surpassing "Lord of the Rings". 3" won 27 million yuan in the first weekend box office last year, making it the highest domestic first-week box office for imported films this year.

Globally, "Planet III: Retaliation of the Sith" received even more enthusiastic responses.As of July 11, 2005, the box office revenue of "Star Wars Episode III" in the United States has reached 371 million US dollars, and the box office revenue outside the United States has reached 395 million US dollars.Recently, it entered the Guinness Book of World Records next year with three new records: the number of 9,000 copies of "Star Wars III" played in theaters, breaking the record of 8,517 copies of "The Matrix" in 2003, becoming the most copies played in American theaters in history On May 20th, "Star Wars 3" was released simultaneously in 115 countries, breaking the record of "The Matrix" and setting a box office record for the US premiere day in history.Midnight show, 16.5 million US dollars, more than 50 million US dollars on the first day, 158 million US dollars on the first weekend.

Taking "Star Wars" as a business case, from 1977 to the present, every "Star Wars" will monopolize the lead in certain film technology fields until it becomes the wind vane of the film industry. Their most outstanding contributions are not Only the box office and economics are second to none in terms of marketing. In fact, the promotion of "Star Wars" has become a marketing case for well-known business schools. According to some media estimates, the total value created by the Star Wars franchise will likely exceed $20 billion. The commercial success of "Star Wars" has also proved that film director George Lucas is worthy of being a Jedi in the business world.The key to guerrilla marketing is to focus on attacking firepower, rather than mass advertising.A guerrilla guerrilla figure who uses a series of low-cost promotions to turn a movie into a galaxy of money-making opportunities.

How 'Star Wars' built a $20 billion brand empire with guerrilla marketing In March, Xiang Ming met George Lucas for the first time at a film world event called showwest in the United States.Xiang Ming's first impression was that Lucas was not like a great director, but more like a rigorous scholar.At that time, Lucas first raised a question: Can "Star Wars Episode III" be released simultaneously globally?Xiang Ming replied: It must be done.Lucas expressed his appreciation: It is a miracle in itself to be able to release simultaneously.Because "Star Wars Episode I" was released half a year late in China, and "Star Wars Episode II" was released two and a half months later.

Lucas’s rigorous spirit continued until before the screening of the film. According to Xiang Ming, a few days before the screening of “Star Wars Episode III”, Lucas also specially sent emails asking companies all over the world to adjust the screening volume to 7. degree, as this is the sweet spot for debugging. On May 14, the day before the premiere of "Star Wars Episode III" at the Cannes Film Festival, George Lucas turned 61. Twenty-five years ago, when Lucas was filming "The Empire Strikes Back", he had the creative motivation for "Star Wars Prequel", but after filming the "Star Wars" trilogy, he did not immediately start "Star Wars". "Pre-Wars" preparations, his reason is that "the current conditions are not yet able to turn the inspiration in my head into a reality on the screen." If the outline is relatively clear, then from today's point of view, Lucas does have superhuman vision.

In fact, Lucas' extraordinary business vision has also brought him huge benefits. In 1975, when Lucas was filming the first "Star Wars", after experiencing rejections from several film companies, Fox finally accepted his script.From the beginning, Fox tried every means to reduce the director's remuneration paid to the little-known Lucas. Lucas resolutely agreed to reduce the remuneration and obtained "the right to sell related products and the ownership of the sequel" which was considered to be worthless at the time.However, since 1977, "Star Wars" related products have created nearly 4.5 billion sales profits.He unexpectedly became a billionaire and a powerful man in Hollywood.

Xiang Ming was also deeply impressed by Lucas's ability, "He is very perfectionistic. "Star Wars Episode III" will be released worldwide on May 20, and the cut of the film will be completed on April 20. He’s not satisfied at the last minute. He’s very detail-oriented and has a big vision, and he’s been thinking about Star Wars for a long time, so he’s very visionary.” Not only is he good at grasping big strategies, but Lucas also pays more attention to the details of execution. Lucas is not a prolific director. He arranges a film almost every few years. He places great emphasis on fine planning, from screenwriting, actor selection, Story editing, audience psychological surveys, marketing promotions, public relations strategies, etc., are all used to the extreme.

In addition, Lucas is good at concentrating firepower on important links. As the godfather of Star Wars, Lucas vents his fiercest firepower on the three major guerrilla battlefields: Star Wars audiences, the film industry, and Star Wars culture. "First of all, Lucas should be said to be a very famous director, but he has directed no more than ten films. He is small but fine, but fine and big. He is very prestige, very strong prestige. He is twenty When he was shooting Star Wars at a young age, he could think that I would shoot the first episode, and there would be a second and third episode. He could think of decades of stories. The second is that he is very persistent. Persistence is performance In terms of his patience and his pursuit of paying attention to many details, for example, if I can’t achieve such an effect, he will definitely set up a company or recruit a group of industry experts to do it. So he only took a few years To make a movie, he made a movie with a very fine plan. I think these two areas are the most critical to his success."

Each of the six "Star Wars" episodes is like an important episode in a period of history. As the finale of "Star Wars", "Star Wars Episode III" is excellent in all aspects. The gesture completed a dazzling business legend.With newer technology and more dazzling graphics, Star Wars has always been ahead of the times. In fact, Lucas is not only a great director, but also a business master.Consider the case of the 1997 digital re-release of "Star Wars."At that time, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the advent of "Star Wars", Lucas invested 40 million US dollars to digitally restore the "Star Wars" trilogy, and modified and added some new content for re-release.Star Wars fans treat re-screenings like festivals and watching them like carnivals.What is surprising is that the three old films were so powerful that they won a total of 250 million US dollars at the box office.At the same time, he also used the income from the rescreening to create a brand new "Star Wars Episode I". The re-screening of the "Star Wars" trilogy can be described as a fairly successful classic case of marketing. It not only accumulated funds, aroused people's enthusiasm for "Star Wars", but also made the best "Star Wars prequel" Marketing.

Lucas' experience is to focus his offense on the three major battlefields: Star Wars audiences, the film industry, and Star Wars culture.Xiang Ming made a summary of this, "If Star Wars is the heart, Star Wars as a brand, or a symbol, it has three related things: one is the audience; one includes people in the film industry; one is The culture of Star Wars includes the story of Star Wars, the history of Star Wars, this fictional history. In addition, there are many extensions of Star Wars, or called movie spin-offs. Lucas compiled such a network, Star Wars in these three It plays a very interesting role in the middle."

In May 2005, 31-year-old Jason William Moss waited in line for 5 hours at an auction for "Star Wars" fans in Indianapolis, USA, and finally bought Darth Vader for $15. A battle figure of Darth Vader in "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith". At the same time, a 21-year-old Nice University student rushed to a Wal-Mart store at night to buy an apple pancake, just hoping to get the spoon-shaped lightsaber in the package. This is just one example of the enthusiasm young people in America are showing for Star Wars-related products.According to some media estimates, the movie "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith" alone, plus income from DVDs, game discs, toys, etc., is estimated to generate $2 billion in revenue.The first five Star Wars films have generated $6 billion at the box office, with associated toy and merchandise sales of about $9 billion. Star Wars viewers have become a unique phenomenon. For example, some Star Wars fans not only watch movies over and over again, but also desperately buy Star Wars series books, games, toys and other related products. The total amount reaches the total box office revenue. one and a half times.Lucas himself said, I like Star Wars fans, they are very loyal, it is good that people have enthusiasm for the film, they have become a community. The Star Wars audience is becoming a huge gold mine, and more and more well-known companies are beginning to participate in it. "Star Wars Episode III" also triggered such a wave of upsurge.Globally, Burger King, Kellogg Foods, PepsiCo, Cingular Wireless, AMD, M&M's chocolate, etc. have all signed relevant promotion agreements with Lucasfilm.In China, Sony Ericsson, AMD, Master Kong, Kellogg's, Netease, Baleno, Wal-Mart, etc. have all carried out bundled marketing with Star Wars. "Star Wars fans are divided into two groups: over 25 years old and under 25 years old. Most of the audience over 25 years old like the old three episodes. This group of people is now the backbone of society and has the right to speak out in the media. But if you look online, 25 The younger generation is talking about the later trilogy. It’s like liking rock or hip-hop, two different groups; I think the trilogy will be judged 10 years later.” Lucas's genius is not limited to the Star Wars series, his influence and promotion on the film industry is also great. In Hollywood, Lucas not only promoted the progress of the film industry, but also cultivated and promoted by Lucas There are wave after wave of young directors. This revolutionary master of film technology, in the production of "Star Wars Episode III", fully adopted a general-purpose graphics workstation based on AMD 64-bit processors, using a total of about 100 AMD Opteron (Opteron) processors.This choice has aroused the attention of Hollywood, and Millimeter, a professional Hollywood film magazine, made a special report on the visual preview animation effect and 64-bit AMD Opteron computing technology in "Star Wars Episode III".JAK Films, which is responsible for the post-production of "Star Wars Episode III", revealed that the visual preview team made a total of about 6,800 shots, while only 4,500 shots were made in "Star Wars Episode II". Lucas has long dominated the world of visual effects in Hollywood.Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), which created a new visual scene with "Star Wars", is still one of the top special effects production companies in the world. Super blockbusters such as "Terminator 2" and "Jurassic Park" are masterpieces of ILM. ILM has won 14 Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects. The digital editing system was also invented by Lucasfilm engineers in the 1980s to replace the original complicated scanning system.It has the function of querying documents and the interface of dragging and dropping at will, which is favored by many directors.This achievement was later sold to Avid.Today, Avid's digital editing system has become the core technology of film and television post-production. Another masterpiece that Lucas used technology to change Hollywood is the THX certification standard.Lucas initially came up with this idea after noticing that the audio equipment in movie theaters didn't sound good, and the sound effects were not the same in each movie theater. THX certification also followed. In 1982, Lucasfilm established THX studio, specializing in video recording projects, and actively assisting movie theaters to improve their sound systems; in 1986, Lucasfilm fully cooperated with audio manufacturers and invested in research on the quality specifications of home theater equipment. And put forward THX certification service in 1990. According to 20th Century Fox, when "Star Wars Episode III" was released, many places in the United States almost became a Star Wars carnival, and many people even waited in line for several weeks to watch the premiere.In China, during Operation Zero held by "Star Wars Episode III," the majority of viewers were Americans.Why are Yankees so obsessed with Star Wars, which has spread into a global cultural movement? This article has no intention of exploring the reality of Star Wars culture, what is important is how Lucas promotes this Star Wars culture. First, Lucas captures what people want.He constantly realized people's fantasies about the "Third World War" on the screen during peacetime, making those physically and mentally bound and suppressed by words such as "peace", "environmental protection" and "survival crisis", Thorough indulgence and carnival, in the cinema, their desire for conquest and war fantasies are imaginatively satisfied and temporarily resolved in the virtual space world.And young audiences will be impressed by the incredible imagination of the "Star Wars" producers. Only in the "Star Wars" series of movies can they be continuously satisfied. Secondly, "Star Wars" has always influenced the audience in the interaction with the audience, and is also influenced by the audience.For example, in order to cater to the preferences of the audience, he did not hesitate to aggravate the role of the big villain Black Samurai, making him claim to be the father of Skywalker in "Star Wars 2", and even "Star Wars Prequels" are all creating the myth of Black Samurai Anakin : His life, his love affair with Princess Amidala and his anger and hatred. Third, transform the "Star Wars" element into a familiar symbol and promote it to the world.For example, Lucas used this visual symbol to promote the black warrior mask in "Star Wars" in the United States, Cannes, France, London, England, and Beijing, China. Xiang Ming also said, "I am more impressed by some Star Wars symbols. In the United States, Cannes, London, etc., Lucas used the images in the movie to appear in public to promote everyone's excitement. His The star is his Black Knight. There are also many white knights. In Cannes, everyone is familiar with the image of the White Knight, and then they will create some atmosphere, such as the hissing sound of the Black Knight breathing. Lucas made his debut in Cannes This background was used before the screening.” The most amazing thing about Lucas, who has "sharpened his sword for three years", is that he not only uses "Star Wars" to connect the audience, industry, and culture, but also interacts these three. "Because he knows that the Star Wars culture will have a long-term cultivation of the audience, "Star Wars Episode III" actually began to cultivate the audience two or three years ago. Lucas's investment promotion has been very smooth. Finally, due to the audience's requirements for audio-visual and shooting technology, it has greatly stimulated the film industry. The audience is the biggest selling point of Lucas. Not only did he sell a lot of movies to the audience, but at the same time, he sold his THX and other standards to the audience. Lucas has been sharpening his sword for three years. This sword is related to the previous sword, and they can produce rolling effect." Lucas puts a lot of emphasis on research on target consumer groups. He himself divides Star Wars fans into two groups: those over the age of 25 and those under the age of 25: most of the audience over the age of 25 like the old 3 episodes, and these people are now the backbone of society. Holds the right to speak out in the media; the new generation under the age of 25 discusses the later trilogy.These are two different ethnic groups. According to the survey, before the release of "Star Wars Episode III", Lucasfilm's research on the consumer market was more rigorous and detailed.In 2004, Lucasfilm launched a market survey on Star Wars fans to understand the image of Star Wars, what kind of brand image is it in different age groups in various countries around the world, and what needs to be done Brand renewal, which part needs to be strengthened.According to relevant survey documents, they divided the Star Wars audience into four categories: For audiences with clear needs, such as hardcore fans (Core), convertible audiences (Convert), and opponents (Anti), Lucasfilm saves marketing costs as much as possible, and puts the blockbuster on potential audiences (Latent) superior.In order to clarify the consumption needs of this potential audience, Lucasfilm has conducted a very detailed market research on the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Japan, etc.For example, in the United States, the number of potential viewers (Latent) is the largest, with more than 1/3 of them. According to the investigation, Lucasfilm determined that, according to the different age groups of the audience, Lucasfilm divided the Star Wars audience into four categories, and carried out corresponding attraction according to their respective needs. . According to the survey of customers, and then look at the characters of Star Wars, you will find that the characters in it have a very clear positioning.For example, the wise Master Yoda, he is an image suitable for all ages, and the "Star Wars" survey also shows that he is the audience's favorite image.There are also very distinctive characters, like Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan, etc., which are more popular among male audiences.There are also images that children love to see, such as some planetary monsters, spaceships, etc., and some robots such as R2D2, C3PO, etc. have also become children's favorite objects. According to Xiang Ming, "Lucasfilm has done a lot of research on "Star Wars Episode I" and "Star Wars Episode II", and no film can be done as carefully as they did. This is why Lucas only made a movie in three years. And when Lucas promoted the movie, I think he was promoting the culture of Star Wars, not just selling a movie. The global box office of the Star Wars series is 70 More than 100 million, but the value of the extended products of Star Wars has exceeded 10 billion. In this, the culture of Star Wars has made a great foundation." In 1977, when the "Star Wars" movie first appeared, there were a large number of loyal movie fans around the world.The release of each new Star Wars film can attract the attention of fans all over the world. Lucasfilm understands the mood of movie fans' expectations very well. Before the official release of a new movie, whether it is through the new movie trailer or the fast download on the Star Wars website, movie fans can feel the atmosphere of some new movies in advance.Before the screening of "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith", 8 million movie fans downloaded the trailer of the new film from the Star Wars website. Of course, the best way to promote a new product is to get the support of the media.For a film as high-profile as Star Wars, the biggest PR challenge is responding to questions from the media. After six Star Wars movies, Lucasfilm's public relations strategy has been perfected. During the shooting, after the shooting, and before the screening, they will release some rumors from time to time according to the situation to attract everyone's attention.For example, shortly before the screening of "Star Wars Episode III", there was a voice saying that the film actually implied some anti-war thoughts of Lucas. Since it was the first time to disclose such a voice, it immediately triggered a lot of media follow-up . Star Wars PR can be said to be everywhere.Prior to the May 19 movie screening, important TV programs and other promotional activities of well-known TV stations have been promoting "Star Wars" for several weeks for free.Many experts expressed their views on the film on television, and magazines followed suit.Almost every part of the United States has been swept by the "Star Wars" wind. For example, the cover of Teen People magazine in May 2005 featured Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker (later transformed into Black Knight) actor Hayden Christensen (Hayden Christensen).In the article, Kristen talks about his sudden rise to stardom after playing the Jedi Knight in Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and now it doesn't hurt that whatever the media says about him. In addition to strong public relations execution, Lucasfilm is better at adding creative elements to public relations communication, thereby attracting more attention. On May 15, 2005, "Star Wars Episode III" once became the highlight of the Cannes Film Festival. It not only held its Cannes premiere as a non-competition film, but also won a special award from the Cannes Film Festival Organizing Committee. On May 20, 2005, the F1 Monaco Grand Prix was about to start. The directors and characters of the "Star Wars" series of movies came to the scene to cheer for the Red Bull Racing Team. In front of a car with STAR WARS printed on it, some of the "Star Wars" Symbolic elements such as the Black Samurai, White Samurai, robots C3PO, R2D2, etc. all appeared on the stage, occupying a large amount of media coverage. During the Star Wars PR storm, one of the principles that Lucasfilm grasped was: Hire a capable PR manager with connections to as many media outlets as they want to cover Star Wars, and on that basis, get the message out as far as possible. to more places. Outside the United States, other countries have similar promotions.For example, "Star Wars" is also very popular in Moscow. George Lucas spent huge sums of money to cover Russian trams with "Star Wars" advertisements.In Belgium, a company called Mobistar is selling three different phones with Star Wars III packaging: the Samsung x450, Sony Ericsson's K700 and Nokia's 3100.The phones all have Star Wars covers, Star Wars logos and ringtones. In order to deal with piracy, Lucasfilm released the film on the same day all over the world except in Japan, and it will be broadcast in Japan in July.But around Star Wars, a number of counterfeit industries have grown up.Their products are cheaper and of course easier to break etc. It is hard to imagine that when the eBay auction website counts the top ten lots in history, items related to "Star Wars" top the list. Since there are so many Star Wars-related products this year, the price will naturally drop.In contrast, some cartoon character toys collected in the 1970s are now worth as much as $25,000. When the first "Star Wars" movie came out in 1977, little boys were carrying lunch boxes with cartoon characters like Howdy Doody on them.But the "Star Wars" movies have produced a series of distinct characters, such as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Darth Vader, etc. . Lucasfilm authorized Hasbro, the second largest toy manufacturer in the United States, to launch toys of various shapes based on the characters in the movie: some are drawing swords, some are in fierce battles, with different sizes and shapes, and the price starts from 5.99 It ranges from $50 to $50.As for the lightsaber of the Jedi Knight, it is widely sold as a toy. These toys appeared in retail stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys R Us as early as April 2, 2005.Out of love for movies, many consumers were drawn to the counter. Of all the promotions featuring Star Wars characters, Darth Vader has made the most appearances, sometimes in burger joints and sometimes in supermarkets.This top representative of the ruthless dark forces turned warm and crazy at this time, and became a small peddler eager to sell products, which made people feel sorry for him. In the process of promoting Star Wars culture, Lucas also encountered many difficulties.Although Lucasfilm licensed Hasbro to manufacture a series of Sith toys.But sometimes it's bad news for Lucasfilm by making the image of Sith more human and deviating from the original character image. "This will bring them to the edge of darkness." A brand analyst believes. In addition, there is also the problem of unclear positioning of the audience.Lucas said that "Star Wars Episode III" is too violent for children (the US rating is PG13), thus dissuading some parents from taking their children to see this movie.But at the same time, Lucas was marketing products to preschoolers, and Hasbro's toys could be played by a 4-year-old.This illustrates Lucas' point: you can't be a Star Wars 3 fan, you can still be a Star Wars fan. In addition to appearing in the media, Lucas also licensed all Star Wars-related products to partners, allowing Star Wars products to appear in various forms, such as toys, cereal boxes, lightsabers, etc. .As long as there are consumers, there will be products related to Star Wars. According to Lucasfilm, "Star Wars Episode III" has more partners than the previous five Star Wars movies.And this is the first time that Star Wars characters have begun to appear outside of the movie screen.This time, Howard Roffman, the president of Lucasfilm's specially established "Licensing Department", said: "This is the first time that we have allowed companies to go further in the use of Star Wars character portrait rights in a real sense. This is the basis of the entire promotion plan." The companies that have obtained the authorization to use the characters in "Star Wars Episode III" have signed tens of millions of dollars in promotion agreements with Lucasfilm. In addition to Hasbro, Lucasfilm has partnered with PepsiCo, Kellogg Foods, Burger King, Cingular Wireless, America Online, M&M/Mars and the University of Cologne.After the alliance, these companies have the right to use the characters in Star Wars, and can use one or several characters in "Star Wars Episode III" to appear in their commercials, and carry out cross-promotion activities with the glory of Hollywood. For example, Pepsi won the exclusive rights to use the image of Master Yoda in "Star Wars Episode III".In the May 1, 2005 ad, the soft drink giant launched a humorous ad: Elder Yoda secretly uses "power" to refuse to eat Pepsi that is good for weight loss on the dinner table.PepsiCo also sponsors a "Visit Yoda" event at the same time, and 10 consumers will be awarded, each of whom will receive a prize of 100,000 US dollars.Cingular Wireless, on the other hand, hired Chewbacca the ape-man to record his cell phone ringtones. "Many consumers have shown strong interest. Things from pop culture always have a great influence on people." Frank Cooper, vice president of entertainment marketing at PepsiCo, said, "This is a grand event for movies, as well as advertising, retail and chartered pageant." When Woody Doodies cartoons started appearing on television in the 1970s, there were no VCRs, DVDs, or video games.But with the development of technology, Star Wars' product channels have also begun to expand, allowing Lucasfilm to sell related video products time and time again. Although Lucasfilm did not break out how much "Star Wars: Episode III" sold in home video systems, DVDs, and toy discs, Forbes estimated that those three categories generated an additional $4.3 billion in revenue. .LucasArts, the production arm of Lucasfilm, publishes a series of videos, manual games, and more.According to statistics, the sales of "Star Wars Episode II" related products are 1.2 billion US dollars, and "Star Wars Episode I" is 2 billion US dollars. All public relations planning, related product launches, and of course new film previews were all carried out before the release of "Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith". These massive activities have greatly attracted the attention of consumers and inspired them The interest of the film has accumulated a solid foundation for box office revenue. From 0 to 75 million, what are the killer features of the marketing strategy of "Star Wars Episode III" in China? In China, the preparation time for "Star Wars Episode III" is not long, about two to three months. In March, "Star Wars Episode III" passed the review, and on April 20, "Star Wars Episode III" was finally edited. Different from the three main battlefields of "Star Wars" in the world, "Star Wars" aims at two main battlefields in China: Star Wars audience and Star Wars culture.In order to attract more people into the cinema, Xiang Ming, who is the head of 20th Century Fox China, planned several key marketing activities. One event is Operation Zero on May 20, which was organized to coincide with the simultaneous global release of "Star Wars Episode III". Another event was the premiere of "Star Wars Episode III", which was held in Beijing Xingmei International Studios and co-organized by 20th Century Fox and China Film Corporation.The media gathered at the premiere, and the highlight was that it attracted many stars to join in the show. Xu Jinglei, Huang Lei and his wife, He Jiong, Wu Qilong, etc. all appeared at the premiere, waving lightsabers and posing enthusiastically.In addition, the organizer held a black warrior COSPLAY (role-playing) show, and arranged for people to pretend to be Jedi knights and hold lightsabers on stage to imitate the duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan. Build momentum. "Star Wars Episode III" is in charge of China Film Distribution Company and Huaxia Distribution Company. China Film is responsible for Beijing and Guangdong, and Huaxia is responsible for Shanghai and Sichuan.Xiang Ming said, "I think Chengdu is the one that is more distinctive. Pacific Cinemas has three relatively large-scale theaters, and their promotional focus is different. One is more modern, and it is just like Sony Ericsson. It uses mobile phones to take pictures. There are many young students around the other theater, so they put on an imitation show. The third one is near the university campus, and they made an aeromodelling exhibition, marketing it from an intellectual point of view.” In addition to conventional marketing strategies, Xiang Ming also relies on the secret weapon of "Star Wars Episode III" in the global marketing: public relations strategy. "I have very, very few resources at hand, and basically use my bare hands. Under such circumstances, I didn't spend a penny on advertising. I relied entirely on cultural operations, the cooperation of the press, and then I worked with publishers to do distribution. Work. It will be better if we can have resources like Taiwan and Hong Kong.” In order to maximize the effectiveness of public relations, Xiang Ming divided the public relations promotion of "Star Wars Episode III" into several stages.Before the screening, I mainly made a fuss about some plots and selling points of "Star Wars Episode III", so that the audience can know what they can get from the film; two weeks before the screening, some new content was added, and even a lot of tidbits began to come out , "Star Wars Episode III" was filmed in Guilin, China. There was even an article on the Internet about what "Star Wars Episode III" would be like if it was shot by different directors, which attracted everyone's interest; not long before the screening, there was It is to constantly create new tidbits, such as "Star Wars Episode III" which has attracted much attention in Cannes. In addition to dealing well with the media, "Star Wars Episode III" also played the role of network communication. Beginning in late April, Netease Entertainment Channel launched the official Chinese website of "Star Wars" in the first place.NetEase has been authorized by Lucas Corporation to become the only designated Chinese official website of "Star Wars" in China.The content of this official website is all-encompassing. It has the latest and most complete Star Wars information. At the same time, it has added a lot of entertaining activities for Star Wars fans.NetEase also took advantage of this to build momentum, not only launching corresponding outdoor advertisements in some big cities, but also actively responding to various departments, playing the Star Wars card. NetEase POPO provided Star Wars-themed avatars, expressions and background downloads; Star Wars theme greeting card station; built "Star Wars fan tribe" on the Netease tribe channel. In addition, "Star Wars Episode III" also signed brand cross-promotion agreements with Sony Ericsson, AMD, Master Kong, Kellogg's, NetEase, Baleno, and Wal-Mart to implement bundled marketing.For example, Sony Ericsson aimed at the topic of fashion and technology, and invited some actors to act as characters from Star Wars to perform in front of Sony Ericsson's promotional points.Master Kong launched corresponding black tea and green tea according to the characteristics of red lightsaber and green lightsaber in Star Wars.NetEase cooperates with the online "Star Wars" auction event. NetEase Entertainment Channel provides nearly a hundred exquisite "Star Wars" series products for auction on eBay. Buyers who purchase the products will have the opportunity to participate in a lucky draw to win a new Sony Ericsson mobile phone . In Xiang Ming's view, the strongest trump card of "Star Wars" is the Star Wars brand, "This is difficult for other movies to make, unlike Star Wars, which has a unique 28-year brand accumulation. At the same time, the wave of globalization is also The role of fueling the Star Wars brand, what happened in the United States and Cannes, will soon be known here, so you must be able to use international resources." Xiang Ming attributed the success of the marketing of "Star Wars Episode III" to three elements: the first is the score, which is to get the box office, which is the most basic.The second is to gain benefits, you and your partners need to gain benefits.The third is sympathy, that is, what the audience really likes about you, and they are even willing to watch the next movie directed by you. “星球大战比较重视消费者、重视观众，所以在市场的计划、媒体计划等方面，包括影片拍摄的题材，比较了解消费者想看什么、需要什么东西，什么对观众的胃口等。”