Funke Akindele has established herself as a marketing expert in the Nigerian film industry through effective film promotion and the success of her marketing strategies. In this article, we will take a look at all the ways she has promoted and continues to promote her upcoming film, “The Four,” set to be released in December.
Funke Akindele Documented Marketing Strategies
Funke Akindele’s marketing strategies are often rolled out months before the film’s release in cinemas. From cast rolls to teasers and even videos announcing the films, she has mastered the art of marketing them to the right audience.
She has implemented several marketing strategies for her films, which have played a key role in their success. Here are some of them!
- Creating Anticipation
One of Funke Akindele’s most effective marketing techniques is creating anticipation months before the film’s release. From behind-the-scenes footage of the filmmaking process to character spotlights, elaborate casting announcements, and campaigns introducing each character in her film, she ensures she keeps her audience engaged until the film is released in cinemas.
- Leaning Into Trends
Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of her marketing campaigns for her films is how easily she leans into trends. She not only caters to her audience but also engages with whatever is trending among the audience she is trying to attract, tapping into the internet culture of the time of her campaigns. During the marketing of “Behind The Scenes,” Funke Akindele participated in popular TikTok challenges and viral dances, and even collaborated with micro-influencers to build hype for her film.
- Merchandise Creation & Gifting
Funke Akindele has mastered the art of creating FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) for her films through merchandise. She starts by creating merchandise for her films and begins gifting it to cast members, industry peers, and fans who indicate interest. This pushes fans to campaign for her films while wearing the merch and to appreciate her for gifting it to them. This also works for her colleagues, who make content showing appreciation for the filmmaker, which in turn attracts another audience to check out her film.
- Content Scripting
Funke Akindele is a filmmaker known to go all out with the content she creates for her films. With “Behind The Scenes” and most recently, “The Four,” she created promotional videos with all of the cast members in the film that felt like a scene out of the movie, and while these content scripts end up having nothing to do with the plot of the movie being marketed, they draw the attention of the audience, who are awed by the film campaign videos.
- Strategic Release Dates
An underrated aspect of Funke Akindele’s marketing strategy is her use of festive seasons as release dates for her films, with an emphasis on December. This is important because the pre-Christmas and Christmas seasons are when audiences are primed to spend on leisure, turning cinema-going into a shared family tradition. When there’s more time for the family to spend in cinemas, viewership goes up, giving her audience enough time to engage with her movies. She has employed this strategic date concept for the past seven years, and it has proven successful for her each time.
How Does Her Audience Interact With Her Marketing Strategies?
Funke Akindele’s marketing strategies have become an increasingly effective and exciting part of her film rollout for fans, creating a culture of engagement. Here’s how:
- Participate In Viral Trends
Her fans join her in participating in viral social media trends targeted at promoting her films. Recently, after she shared the poster for “The Four,” fans began creating their own versions of the poster, some inserting their own faces and others putting other pictures of the filmmaker in to create more promotional posters for her.
- Social Media Engagement & Encouragement
Funke Akindele’s fans have mastered the art of engaging with her promotional posts by flooding her comment sections with support and theories about the film, creating anticipation. Another tactic employed by her fans is using hashtags; fans create trending hashtags related to the promotional videos or the film itself to top trend tables and gain attention for her movies.
- Countdown Posts
The fans also create countdown posts on social media to build up more anticipation. Sometimes these countdowns are for trailer releases, with more elaborate posters created as the film’s release date draws closer.
- Content Creation
Funke Akindele’s fans have been known to create content for her films, which she, in turn, participates in to engage with them. This content serves as a template for fans to recreate and share across all social media platforms to promote her films.
What do we think?
The most important aspect of Funke Akindele’s marketing strategy is its evolution. She is not known for using a single strategy; with each film, she introduces a new, distinct campaign to draw her audience’s attention and prevent them from becoming disillusioned by repetitive marketing.
