A fictional case study about Internet promotion of an American blockbuster movie to South African Internet users

1. Star Trek Beyond
ASP120T class exercise (chap 9):
Internet promotion

2. Star Trek Beyond is an upcoming American science fiction
action film and the sequel to Star Trek Into
Darkness(2013). It is the thirteenth film in the Star Trek
film franchise and the third instalment in the reboot series.
Principal photography began on June 25, 2015, in
Vancouver. The film is scheduled for a July 22, 2016,
release.

3. TASK
divide in groups and indicate how you can use eight (8)
Internet tools to promote the movie “Star Trek Beyond” to
the South African online audience.

4. 1.Paid search
Paid search can be defined as the practice of paying
search engines and portals to place ads near relevant
search results.
The movie’s marketing team should post the trailer
on their YouTube channel and use the services of a
search engine optimiser in order to direct Google and
YouTube search to the trailer.

5. 1.Paid search

6. 1.Paid search

7. 2. Display and banner ads
Display or banner ads can be defined as advertisements
placed on websites that contain editorial material.
The movie’s marketers should design a banner featuring
the main characters of the movie, a typography of the title
and the release date. Some websites that can be
considered for placement of these ads include:
livemag.co.za, gq.co.za, dstv.co.za, sterkinekor.com,
numetro.com.

8. 2. Display and banner ads

9. 2. Display and banner ads

10. 3. Sponsorship
Sponsorship in the context of online promotion
refers to a payment to maintain a section of a section
of a website and perhaps provide content for the site
in exchange for being mentioned on the site.
The movie’s marketers should sponsor the movie
section of Yahoo! South Africa (Yahoo! Movies) for
about one month around the release of the movie
(from the 15 June up to the 30 of July 2016).
They will pay for the maintenance (or any other
expense) of that section and in exchange articles on
the movie will be posted as well as visuals of the
movie.

11. 3. Sponsorship

12. 4. Pop-up and pop-under ads
Pop-up and pop-under ads are defined as Internet
advertisement that opens a separate window while a
web page is loading. An example of pop-up, splash
screen (Internet ad that appears briefly on a website
after a page has been requested but before it was
loaded) should be placed on YouTube, Imdb.com and
startrekmovie.com.
The page containing the advert (trailer in this case)
appears for a few seconds before the requested page
fully loads, therefore, the user is already exposed and
may desire to know more about the movie.

13. 4. Pop-up and pop-under ads

14. 5. Permission marketing
Permission marketing can be defined as sending
commercial email only to Web users who have agreed
to receive it.
The movie’s marketers should contact a Web
advertising firm which can access electronic mailing
lists of potential viewers and diffuse an email
containing the trailer and other relevant
documentation about the movie.
The mailing list consists of individuals who have
agreed to receive such commercial e-mails and who,
in theory, should not feel offended or invaded when
receiving those. The ideal situation would be to make
the e-mail viral i.e. forwarded to one and another and
another, etc.

15. 5. Permission marketing

16. 6. Rich video
Rich media, video and audio can be defined as the
use of streaming video and audio that plays when the
user’s mouse passes over an Internet ad. These
forms of video will have the advantage to capture the
attention of Internet users as they play instantly as
the page opens.
The movie’s marketers should place rich videos of the
trailer on Yahoo! South Africa homepage, on the
dedicated social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and WeChat.

17. 6. Rich video

18. 7. Corporate home page
Corporate home page can be defined as a website
where a business provides current and potential
customers about information about the firm and
usually its brand in great detail.
In the case of Star Trek Beyond, the producers of the
movie should create a dedicated website
“Startrekmovie.com” where users can find release
dates per country, cast interviews, press releases,
critics, behind the scenes, teasers, trailers, etc. A
splash screen containing the movie trailer can be
used on the website too.

19. 7. Corporate home page

20. 7. Corporate home page

21. 8. Video games
Video game in the context of Internet promotion
refers to the placement of advertisements in video
games.
The science fiction enthusiasts are traditionally
interested by technology among which video games.
The movie’s marketers should create Star Trek
versions of popular mobile games such as “Angry
birds” or “Candy crush” in order to connect with them
in a fun and efficient way but also capitalise on the
popularity and convenience of such games through
the established notoriety of the brand Star Trek.

22. 8. Video games