<< Stopping the Steady Slide | Blog Home | 'Transformers' Takes Over Retail >>

 

At the Starting Line

26 Sep, 2014 By: Stephanie Prange

---

As I nervously put my foot on the accelerator of a Ferrari to celebrate the Blu-ray, DVD and digital HD launch of Paramount Home Media Distribution’s Transformers: Age of Extinction, the home entertainment industry was also at the starting line for the most important season of the year, the fourth quarter. The adrenaline is likely flowing in home entertainment marketing departments.

As has been widely reported, the box office punch over the summer wasn’t as strong as it has been in past years, and that can affect performance on home entertainment. Still, what doesn’t take off with lightning speed at the box office can often make up ground in the home entertainment arena. Consumers distracted by vacations and summer pursuits often discover what they have missed at the box office on disc or digital.

The acclaimed Chef from Jon Favreau is a smaller-budget film about a man’s rekindling of his passion through cooking that many consumers will likely discover at home. Titles may become gifts to put under the tree, to stuff in a stocking or to offer up at the staff holiday party.

At the start of the fourth quarter, a lot is riding on the marketing acumen of home entertainment executives. In addition putting reporters in the driver’s seat of some very expensive and fast cars and staging cooking demonstrations by filmmakers (Favreau cooked up some Cuban sandwiches for Chef), marketers have designed an array of exclusive extras for retail clients. Look at any of our merchandising sections and you will see T-shirts, exclusive featurettes, toys and many other enticements rolled out at top retailers to draw consumers to buy discs or digital HD.

Home entertainment marketers are working closely with retail accounts to offer that something extra that will spawn an impulse buy. Here’s hoping their efforts help disc sales take off.

Bookmark it: