Summary

With an overall powerful and consistent marketing campaign, the movie was an incredible success, as seen in my previous blog, the sales produced from the movie were MASSIVE!

The billboards, TV advertisements, co-marketing, movie premier event, Iphone Game and Social Media platforms all played an important part in capturing the target audience.

In my opinion, the strength of the media used with the adaptation of the 'Minion' characters, were fundamental elements to the fans being involved. Generating excitement from the previous movie 'Despicable Me', and creating a positive atmosphere towards the brand identity of the animated family film, through all the possible marketing communication streams, meant for a larger audience for the second movie to be released.

Through the connection between the 'Minion' character and the audience, favourable attitudes were developed and thus, the humour of the 'Minions' flowed through to the overall perception of the film.
Overall, it is a great film to see and from the marketing used, my expectations of the second film matched what was communicated to me.

Reference: Big Time Rush - Popular

Available: http://despicableme.com/stars/

Accessed: 14 July 2013

Movie Premier

As seen in newspapers in Sydney, 'The Daily Telegraph' published a section on the premier of 'Despicable Me 2' in Bondi Junction, Sydney. This was a huge publicity event, featuring Steve Carell (the voice of the lead character) and once again supported by people dressed up in 'Minion' outfits getting photos with fans.

 This event increased awareness for the target audience and also increased sales, as proven by the animated family film winning the holiday weekend at the Box Office with $82.5 million compared to the winner the week before, 'Monster's University (animated family film), only getting $19.6 million. As we can see the major marketing campaigns definitely paid off, through awareness and further on, the main aim, SALES!

Reference: Box Office Despicable Me 2
Available: http://www.buzzsugar.com/Lone-Ranger-Box-Office-Numbers-30945859
Accessed: 10 July 2013

Reference: Despicable Me 2 - Australian Premier
Available: http://www.spotlightreport.net/slider/on-the-spot-despicable-me-2-australian-premiere
Accessed: 10 July 2013

'Minion Rush' Game

The consistent work of the integrated marketing used absolutely, in my opinion, covers all bases for their fans and using their loyal fans as drivers for the release of the movie. 


As we know now, the 'Minions' are the main characters from the movie that help get the fans involved and to promote a positive attitude towards the movie, thus making the brand identity of the movie one that people want to be involved with. 


To take things further, a 'Minion Rush' game has been developed as I spoke previously in my other blog about. This game is an adventure game with themes from the movie and is linked into the Facebook page. Here is where fans can comment on their high scores and also share tips with each other.

Despicable Me: Minion Rush

Bee-do!Bee-do! The Magician Costume is now in the Shop!



Check out our time-limited promo too & get the costume you had your eye on!



What's the costume you want the most?

A quick video of the launch trailer for the game.....

On the Facebook page, the players can post comments to ask for help on 'Missions' and also see the costumes that they can buy with 'Tokens' for their 'Minion'. 

The addition of this game to the integrated marketing campaign is a clever idea as it helps have your target audience indulged with the game and to consistently remind them to promote the movie to friends through Facebook and invite them to play as well.  



Reference: Minion Rush Facebook

Available: https://www.facebook.com/DespicableMeMinionRush

Accessed: 12 July 2013 

Reference: Minion Rush Launch Trailer
Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4HclOqb4D4
Accessed: 12 July 2013

Promotions & Co-Marketing

As we have seen previously, the integration of advertising and social networking platforms, has been consistent and achieves a high level of awareness and action from the target audience. Promotions for the movie are also featured around the use of the 'Minion' characters. 

These characters have been adapted into the current 'Happy Meal' promotions for McDonalds. The use of co-marketing is effective in the two companies helping each other both achieve awareness and  further on, possible sales for their products. On the 'Happy Meal' box it has the words 'Only at Cinemas' to remind the audience to see the movie and also games to play on the box. Also the toy inside the box is based on the loveable 'Minion' characters. To enhance the positive attitudes and humorous appeals to the target audience about the movie. 

Reference: McDonalds Happy Meal Toys - Despicable Me 2

Available: http://www.mcdhappymealtoys.com/2013/05/despicable-me-2.html#

Accessed: 10 July 2013

Social Media

To also increase the favourable attitudes of the target audience and other viewers the marketing campaign adapted well to the available two-way communication vehicles found on the internet, at a much less costly price then the cost of advertisements. These include the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the 'Despicable Me' website for the fans, like us.

Facebook was one example that I had come across where it has been overly powered by connecting with the fans, especially having a competition called 'Fan of the Week', as seen below.............

On the 'Despicable Me 2' Twitter page there are loads of comments by fans and in this instance McDonalds, as they are also promoting the movie and it's characters. Below is an example of a comment.........

McDonald's Corp. ‏@McDonaldsCorp2 Jul

Wait…that’s not a french fry! More #MinionMadness at McDonald’s! @DespicableMe 2 http://mcd.md/lTTYE 

 Retweeted by #DespicableMe2

 View photo

Also as you stroll through the Twitter page there are comments to promote the soundtrack by 'Pharrell Williams'.

As for the website, 'Despicableme.com' this absolutely blows my mind. It has thousands of links and tabs to guide you through. Definitely a great website for dedicated fans!!!

This is where I discovered there was a 'Minion Rush' App for my Iphone, which I downloaded and enjoy playing. It also recognises when you are logged into Facebook, and has your name at the top of the page. Here you can watch the clips from the movie and also find out the awesome creative works of fans on Instagram. For example, these cute cupcakes were posted onto Instagram and also these shoes a fan has painted, and these are also linked to the 'Despicable Me' website.....

Also clips from the movie have been adapted by the marketing team to be used to thank the followers on social media sites, continually keeping the two-way communication evident.....

                            

Also this is just a quick snap of the website, which I think is so cool.....

The use of these social media platforms is a very strong marketing tool keeping the fans connected to the campaign and to spread the news about the release of the movie. With the effort of making the platforms work together and sharing information between each of them, creates a much stronger world of excitement for the fans. The active involvement of the fans, on Facebook especially, can post their funny comments and lines from the movie, share humorous clips from the movie and express their excitement for particular characters.

Particularly evident across the campaign so far is the love of the 'Minions' and individual character 'Minions', such as Dave and Stuart. This is consistently integrated with the advertising campaigns on buses and billboards, building on the humorous and positive attitudes towards the audience.


Reference: Despicable Me 2 Facebook Page
Available: https://www.facebook.com/DespicableMeAu?fref=ts
Accessed: 6 July 2013

Reference: Despicable Me 2 Twitter Page
Available: https://twitter.com/DespicableMe
Accessed: 6 July 2013

Reference: Despicable Me Popular
Available: www.despicableme.com
Accessed: 6 July 2013

Reference: Despicable Me Website Image
Available: http://website.informer.com/snapshots/280x202/0a/e6/aefd0a08bde73240d0e67288783e109647f1. png?width=280&height=202&url=despicablemovie.com
Accessed: 6 July 2013

American Outdoor Advertising

As it is not linked in with the Australian release of the movie, I thought this is an excellent creative outdoor campaign used in America. It is a 'Despicablimp', which was scheduled to tour the US over 6 months of the movie being launched, created by Universal and Van Wagner Communications. This would definitely grab your attention and that of the target audience!

Once again, the one common element this 'blimp' has with the other advertising used in Australia, is that it is focused on the excitement for the 'Minions', not the human characters, and thus, consistent with the integrated marketing campaign. 

Reference: Despicable Me 2 Blimp Enters New Frontier of Movie Marketing
Available: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-despicable-me-2-blimp-20130327,0,3712206.story
Accessed: 3 July 2013

Advertising

The Integrated Marketing Communication developed is predominately based on the characters of the movie to have the target audience (i.e. children) engaged and bugging their parents to see the movie. It was to build awareness, knowledge and action with mainly the young children who were still thrilled from seeing the first 'Despicable Me' movie.

As a starting point, the advertising for 'Despicable Me 2' has been cleverly organised to target high traffic areas throughout the city of Sydney. These advertisements are mostly featured around introducing the characters, predominately the 'Minions' and also keeping the audience in touch with the release date on the 20th of June 2013. For example, below are pictures of bus stops, train stations and on buses which are advertising the release of the new movie.

Poster on a bus near Town Hall in the city introducing a 'minion' character.

A full length poster on a bus near Town Hall in the city

Introducing 'Stuart' on a bus in Bondi Junction train station

This is a slight introduction to the types of advertising methods, which have been used throughout the city of Sydney. Other billboard media types I saw were in the cinemas while lining up to get me ticket. 

I have also noticed the TV commercials on Channel 7 in the peak morning times (7-9am) of the trailer and the release date and also on Channel Go in the evening, around 5pm, was an advertisement of a McDonalds Happy Meal promoting the 'Minion' toys which you can collect. 

The consistency of billboards in public areas and on major television stations, strongly integrated in the two weeks leading up to the release date was a dominate and a well strategically planned marketing campaign used by the marketing team. 

Synopsis

Following on from the marketing used for the first instalment of 'Despicable Me', the second movie needs even stronger marketing interventions and communication networks to be as much of a success as the first.

The making of the second movie was a result of the huge success it had in 2010 with the first production. 'Despicable Me,' delighted audiences around the globe in 2010, grossing more than $540 million and becoming the 10th-biggest animated motion picture in U.S. history.

In summary the background to the second movie is about reformed super villain Gru (Steve Carell), the girls and the unpredictably yellow hilarious minions are back with a new adventure in this sequel to 'Despicable Me'.

This time, the Anti-Villain League consults Gru for help when they find themselves dealing with new super criminal Eduardo (Benjamin Bratt). In order to stop him, Gru teams up with Lucy (Kristin Wiig), a secret agent and his new love interest.

Reference: Despicable Me 2. Tribute Entertainment, 2013.

Available: http://www.tribute.ca/movies/despicable-me-2/30724/
Accessed: 20 June 2013

Reference: Despicable Me 2 Movie Database. Evolve Media, 2013.
Available: http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=67944
Accessed: 20 June 2013

Reference: You Tube - Despicable Me Trailer
Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwXbtZXjbVE
Accessed: 20 June 2013