International Theatrical Marketing Strategy Main Genre: Action Drama Brad Pitt Wardaddy 12 Years a Slave, World War Z, Killing Them Softly Moneyball, Inglourious Basterds, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Shia LaBeouf Bible Charlie Countryman, Lawless, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Eagle Eye, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Logan Lerman Norman Noah, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Stuck in Love, The Perks of being a Wallflower, The Three Musketeers Michael Peña Gordo Cesar Chavez, American Hustle, Gangster Squad, End of Watch, Tower Heist, 30 Minutes or Less CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Jon Bernthal Coon-Ass The Wolf of Wall Street, Grudge Match, Snitch, Rampart, Date Night David Ayer Director Sabotage, End of Watch Target Audience Demographic: Moviegoers 17+, skewing male. Psychographic: Fans of historical drama, military fans. Fans of the cast. Positioning Statment At the end of WWII, a battle weary tank commander must lead his men into one last fight deep in the heart of Nazi territory. With a rookie soldier thrust into his platoon, the crew of the Sherman Tank named Fury face overwhelming odds of survival. Strategic Marketing & Research KEY STRENGTHS Brad Pitt, a global superstar. Pitt’s star power certainly is seen across the international market and can be used to elevate anticipation of the film. This is a well-crafted film with standout performances. Realistic tank action is a key interest driver for this film. A classic story of brotherhood in WWII that features a strong leader, a sympathetic rookie, and three other entertaining, unique personalities to fill out the crew. 2 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE KEY CHALLENGES Typicality is a common concern for WWII movies. Fury needs to focus on this specific tank, the squad, and the importance of their mission in order to differentiate it. War is an overpowering element that can overwhelm the other aspects of the film and place it in a box. Breaking out of the “war movie” box requires sharp story points and character details. We cannot appear too sad or depressing, or make it seem like all of our characters fates are sealed when they make their stand Broadening out the audience. Selling the emotional drama of the film will be the best way to broaden out the audience to females and those not interested in war themed films. Gritty war films can have limited results internationally (LONE SURVIVOR, ACT OF VALOR, ZERO DARK THIRTY). But when big names are attached, it is a much more promising picture (INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, WAR HORSE). RULES OF FURY Lean toward battle scenes and spectacle in action markets. Push a high quality war drama everywhere else. But regardless of the territory, FURY should be seen as a Brad Pitt film first and foremost. Raise the stakes. The rag tagged crew now faces their greatest challenge: They are vastly outnumbered, 5 against 300. Give the crew a clear mission and reason for their actions. Get the tone right: Like a tank rolling into the thick of battle, we want to communicate a sense of a serious mission and real human drama. But make sure the film is not seen as only full of intense and noisy battle scenes. Inject some quiet, even solemn, moments, along with an occasional dose of fun camaraderie (ie, the crew poking fun at one other). Carefully position Wardaddy and Rookie Soldier. This relationship is the heart of the film. Through this father-son, mentoring relationship, the key themes of solidarity and fellowship are conveyed. It is also how we bring in drama fans. Give the crew of Fury a clear and important mission. It is not enough that they have survived the war up to this point and continue to press into Germany. The audience wants to know what their specific objective is. Deliver memorable and unique action moments. This movie has tank action unlike any other, and can distinguish itself from other WWII movies by highlighting that While it is okay to be serious, we should never tip the scale towards bleak or depressing. Small doses of levity, especially camaraderie among the crew, go a long way. Position Brad as the father figure and leader of the crew. He is the reason they have stayed together, and will ensure that Norman becomes part of their family. 3 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE The crew fights as one in battle, but when they get respite from the war they are unique, diverse personalities. The audience craves moments where they can find out more about the guys, and see them bond. Logan is the audience’s eyes and ears. He is new to the crew just like we are. He should initially be portrayed as green, but never dwell too long on moments where he’s scared, or fails to perform. 4 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE POP POLLS In the below graphs, awareness and popularity are indexed against the average scores for each territory. Stars’ awareness and popularity scores are mapped out so that they land in one of four quadrants based on whether they have high or low awareness and popularity relative to the norm for that territory. The ideal marketing scenario for a territory is for a star to land in the top right quadrant: “Superstar”, which would indicate that the star has both high awareness and high popularity. The Brad Pitts and Will Smiths of the world occupy that very top right corner. Conversely, if a star lands in the bottom left quadrant – “Underperformer” (low awareness, low popularity) – it would indicate that the star is challenged from a marketing perspective. Note that not all graphs are presented at the same scale – please reference awareness and popularity index scores along the axes. Please also note fielding dates. Popularity score = “one of my favorites” + “very good” 5 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Brad Pitt 6 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Shia LaBeouf 7 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Logan Lerman 8 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Jon Bernthal 9 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Michael Pena 10 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL Positioning Position Fury as a broad-based, cast driven, action film appealing to core broad audiences. Unofficial Official Synopsis April, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theatre, a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany. Targets Generate awareness and interest about the film through online media stunts and online features to reach target demographic: Primary Target: Broad Moviegoers (15-54) Secondary Targets: Fans of the cast (Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña), Fans of the filmmaker (David Ayer) Tertiary Target: Fans of the war genre Objectives and Strategic Approach Objective 1: Highlight the great action that surrounds these epic battles to engage broad audiences Highlight the cast and filmmaker pedigree to broad moviegoers with the immersive site in video and socialized assets. Work with editorial partners to publish the articles and social posts we will create surrounding “Life Of A War Hero” and “Civilian War Heroes” to reach broad moviegoers. If applicable in your markets, work with influential social media personalities to push the “Fury Graphic Instagrams” we will be creating. Objective 2: Highlight the intense drama to engage fans of the cast, especially females Emphasize the high drama and inclusion of female acts of bravery with the “Civilian War Heroes” social assets to be distributed via Instagram/Twitter/Naver/Line etc… Engage fans of the filmmakers and the cast, (Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña), in particular, through the use of digital greetings on social media and editorial sites. Leverage the “Fury Graphic Instagrams” to soften the story and get females and younger audiences engaged with the content to give context to the grittier action of the trailer(s). Objective 3: Highlight individual pieces of content to reach younger fans of the war genre Emphasize shareable content on discreet subjects via the Tumblr site. Reach younger and more male with the “Tanks Of Fury” features that delve into the astounding facts about these machines of war. 11 CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE Create personalized social graphics with our “Tank Your Profile” generator. Easily generate social graphics with your personalized name on an actual tank. Put your face into it and create a profile graphic to match. Promote the “World of Tanks” MMORPG to increase awareness of the film to the 10mm monthly users of the game. Use the Fury WAP mobile game to get younger gaming audiences involved in the campaign. Digital Campaign Overview Sliderocket Please visit the link below to view the Digital Campaign Overview for this title. The presentation lists all assets and features for this campaign as well as any available EAGL file names and timing. Link: http://portal.sliderocket.com/SonyPicturesWorldwideDigitalMarketing/Fury-Intl- Campaign-Overview Social Media: Use social media to distribute content and increase word of mouth. Upload video clips to your local viral video sites and Sony Pictures specific video channel. Feel free to create your own local pages with social networking and social media sites where users can subscribe, watch the trailer, post comments and see photos from the movie. The below U.S. Social Media Strategy is to offer examples to consider for local plans. U.S. Social Media Strategy Further develop the existing Facebook and Twitter community of Fury fans, broad moviegoers, fans of the talent and filmmaker Build a Fury community that can act as marketers for the film.