Keyword

Introduction

In modern economic conditions, the Russian media market faces the crucial task of identifying and implementing effective and acceptable strategies for promoting audiovisual products. The audiovisual works include motion pictures, television films, video films, slide shows, and other cinematic works. Filming locations are increasingly becoming destinations for tourists, which contributes to the formation of new tourist destinations. On the basis of this direction, film tourism was formed as a new direction of tourism. On the one hand, film tourism helps to attract the attention of tourists to those countries, cities where significant film events took place and where famous actors were filmed. On the other hand, the development of this area of tourism contributes to the promotion of film products, as the number of views increases, lists and ratings of films are created, the shooting of which took place in cities and areas of specific countries. Currently, online travel is being created as a new type of video-visual content, the basis of which is that the traveler makes daily reports on the passage of a specific route. It can be hiking trips to various hard-to-reach places or travel to different countries of the world. This film production is very popular among tourists who want to repeat this route, which attracts more people who want to join the journey, combining it with watching a video report. Consequently, the evolutionary processes of combining the film industry and tourism as an example of mutually beneficial cooperation aimed at promoting both film production and the development of new tourist destinations for travel seems to be the most important and modern trend of our time.

The audiovisual products are aimed at meeting a person’s spiritual needs. “In this regard, there is no doubt that the culture of film consumption closely interacts with the general culture of modern Russian society, which reflects the interests of various social groups. As it emerges in the sphere of consumption, the film is, on the one hand, a product created by its producers, and, on the other, the film itself produces the preferences of the audience, and, therefore, the need itself” (Sapelko & Ovsyankina, 2017).

Film production is both a cultural phenomenon and an economic sector. From the point of view of culture, making a film is a creative process. It is aimed at transmitting certain artistic information to the viewer and forming their cultural values. From an economic point of view, the film can be seen as a product that requires competent promotion, like any other product.

These days, in the context of modern innovations that provide new ways of information transmission, and the possibility to show films on television, in cinemas, and online, it is becoming increasingly more important to promote films based on the use of creative ways to attract the attention of the audience to this type of media production.

The dynamic development of the Russian media market has led to tougher competition among the media. Each media outlet is active in four markets: advertising, consumer, content, and media assets. On each of them, the publication must act in a special way, must choose its own marketing strategy (Mehrabyan & Balashova, 2020).

World statistics show that today films as a mass consumption product can no longer exist without promotion. In the media business, there is a firm belief that creating a film is only half the job, as the most important thing is to find its audience and compete for it. For instance, the promotion of The Last Exorcism included an original method: a girl appeared in a popular video dating chat, flirted with guys, and then morphed into a demon. Soon the reaction of the guys appeared online. The film, made on $two million budget, ended up earning $ 68 million (Rosenberg, 2010).

The Russian media market has developed a rather peculiar commercial and corporate model for the formation of a film distribution strategy, which is a specific sequence of stages of influencing the consumer: “awareness—attitude—preference—purchase.” The preparation of each marketing decision, in this technological scheme, is characterized by the goals that have to be achieved within a more or less specific period of time.

The process of forming a film promotion complex, as well as its composition, is largely determined by the strategy that the organization uses to ensure sales, i.e., do they act indirectly, advertising to the film distribution company, or directly, creating demand from the end consumer. Based on the above, the following strategies are traditionally outlined, with the help of which each participant in the audiovisual market expects to solve their marketing tasks:

The push strategy is to motivate intermediary organizations to bring the product from the producer to the end user. In the film business, such intermediaries are film distribution organizations that follow the producer immediately through their distribution channels. Thus, the product is “pushed” to the market along the chain until it reaches its final consumer. Based on this strategy, special events are regularly organized to support and motivate intermediaries and to convince them that the product will sell well.

The pull strategy is aimed at creating an active advertising and information impact immediately on the target consumer, in this case, on the audience. Thus, the interest caused by advertising among consumers makes the latter “pull” the product from the sellers. The task of the seller of the service (cinemas, TV channels) is to provide the end user with comprehensive information about the film so that by the time of the release the consumer (viewer) has formed their attitude to this film. The tools of this strategy include the entire range of well-known advertising techniques and technologies for promoting film products that allow for attracting a potential audience.

The problem of choosing a strategy for promoting an audiovisual product is more complex than it may seem at first glance. This is due to the fact that a strategic choice always has to be not only appropriate, but also feasible. The forces operating in the marketing environment are uncontrolled factors that need to be identified and properly responded to. It should also be considered that the standardization of approaches to the development of strategies reduces the cost of promotion, but at the same time makes the promotion less effective.

According to Bolan and Williams (2008), an important role in the promotion of tourist services is played by the image of the place as a filming location, which is created by film tourism. “Consumers can be very sensitive to images which are important determinants of what a service customer purchases. In relation to image, the medium of film can have a very influential impact on its audience. Consumers may make purchase choices in a range of areas as a result of what they have seen in the movies.”.

Therefore, the formation and development of various ways to promote audiovisual products in the media market is the most important direction in attracting attention to new film products, which helps to increase mass viewing and box office of the film.

The main ways to promote film products based on the use of communication tools are presented in Table 1.

Table 1 The main ways to promote film products based on the use of communication tools
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Performed by the authors based on data from Koshetarova and Krikunova (2017a, 2017b).

Detailed information on methods for promoting film products is presented in the following list (Koshetarova & Krikunova, 2017a, 2017b):

  • Organization of crowd scenes shooting with the participation of residents of the city and tourists who are in the region. For instance, Peter Jackson decided to make the information about his Hobbit film as open and accessible as possible. Jackson became one of the first directors to video blog from the set of his film. In his 10–15-minute videos, the director provided detailed descriptions of the filming process, provided virtual tours around the film set, shared his impressions, secrets of production and mentioned some events from the plot.

  • Creation of official groups of the film in social networks, with detailed information about the actors, the specifics of the film, and the shooting locations, which attract a growing interested audience. For instance, Steven Spielberg and J. J. Abrams, the creators of “Super 8,” understood that the advertising campaign of the film should be impressive and memorable. Before filming began, they encrypted a link to the website in an ad for Iron Man film. All the information, including numbers, names, and dates, was carefully encrypted, and people took time to solve the puzzles. As a result, after a year of games, the film’s revenue amounted to 206 million against 50 million spent. The shooting of the film was disguised by the production of two fictional films; finally, the premiere turned out to be stunning.

  • The development of an action plan for the promotion of a film (meetings with the director, a theatrical performance with the participation of leading actors, photo sessions with the cast, press conferences). An interesting idea was implemented by the creators of the Last Weekend: www.ruskino.ru website featured the portal “Expedition after the film.” For example, the website could be used to express one’s opinion about the script, the replicas of the main characters, or their costumes. Some scenes were rewritten based on the opinion of potential viewers.

  • Distribution of press releases, search for investors, announcement of a competition for the best film poster, in which anyone can participate through the social network system.

  • Holding photo exhibitions with open participation (photos related to the film).

  • Development and implementation of advertising products (TV commercials, content advertising in social networks, distribution of film-related merchandise, information about the film in the press, information about its ratings and places where the film is on). So, for the release of Ted movie, the creators registered pages for the teddy bear in all social networks, and TalkingTed app was created for smartphones.

  • Trailer release. The success of the premiere is determined not only by the right choice of location and format: the advertisement of “the first film of 2006” (“Day Watch”), instead of the traditional “Happy New Year”, successfully used the phrase “Happy New Watch”;

  • Use of well-known tourist destinations for outdoor shooting or the creation of new tourist attraction based on information about the filming locations. The set of the film “Burnt by the Sun 2. Exodus” was visited by Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, which attracted huge attention to the film.

In the competitive context of the media content market, modern types of promotion of audiovisual products and the search for potential consumers of the services are of great importance. For example, the British Tourism Authority actively promotes various tourist destinations in the UK based on the rapid development of film tourism. “By publishing a Potter map, the aim was to create a UK-wide trail featuring principal sites from the book and film. The third edition of the Map, produced in June 1999, included 67 films and TV programmes, 110 locations on a grid-referenced map and many more locations mentioned in the text. The Map was distributed to 300,000 overseas visitors in North America, Singapore, Australia, Japan and Europe during 1999. The Southwest of England has provided the location for many films and television dramas in recent years. Historically, it is an area associated with famous authors and their books. For example, with the author, Agatha Christie, who set her novel Evil Under the Sun on Burgh Island” (Busby et al., 2003).

The consumer audience of a film is the audience targeted by the marketing efforts of the company and many people of various professions (director, screenwriter, composer, etc.) who created the motion picture. The consumer value (or perceived value) of such a film product is determined only by its audience. In the end, it is the number of viewers who came to the cinema that is the criterion for the success and commercial appeal of a film project. The key to success is a clear understanding of the needs of the audience and the ability to use this knowledge effectively (Budilov & Leszko, 2018).

Escher and Zimmermann (2001), in their article Geography meets Hollywood, note that in order to form the tourist image of a territory, it is necessary to study the impact of outdoor shooting on the perception of the viewer and the potential tourist. “Feature films considerably shape people’s behaviour and their everyday perception of landscape. Landscape should be a part of the movie’s geography since the roles of landscapes in feature films are diverse and lasting. Thus, the authors can isolate the following functions of landscapes in movies: landscape as setting, landscape as guarantor for credibility and authenticity, landscape as metaphor or symbol, landscape as myth, landscape as actor, landscape as location, and landscape as destination of location tourism”.

In recent decades, there has been an increase in the export of films outside the country of origin. Since the early 2000s, French companies have been actively investing in the marketing and distribution of national films in a large number of foreign markets, including Russia. The need to promote film production determines the need for its high-quality translation into different languages. Acquaintance with the film begins with its title, defined as a film name (Anisimov et al., 2019).

To a large extent, another very important group is involved in the promotion of a film premiere: the media, bloggers, film critics, and film scholars. For example, after the premiere of the Russian film “Paragraph 78», influences started their targeted work online to form a “positive information field around the film, » with specially trained people spreading positive reviews about the film online and counteracted any negative opinions. Croy and Walker (2003), in their article Rural Tourism and Film, examine the important issues of reviving the economy in rural areas by attracting visitors through the development of film tourism. “In search of diversification, rural regions can target tourism and cinema. In particular, for film tourism, it is necessary to predict the number of visitors and assess the potential negative consequences. Broken Hill, located in the heartland of Australia, has been used to explore the complementary integration of cinema into regional development and tourism strategies.”.

Therefore, the more efforts are made to promote a new type of film by the participants of the film project, the more the audience will be aware of the premiere and interested in it, which in turn will increase the rating of the film after its theatrical release. For example, the campaign to promote Psycho, developed personally by Alfred Hitchcock, was supposed to surround the film in an aura of mystery: he sent his assistant out to buy up as many copies of Bloch’s novel as possible, and chose not to show Psycho to critics and not to arrange traditional screenings for the chosen ones.

Methods

The article used empirical research methods, such as observation, which is the study of the processes of promoting film products in modern conditions and drawing conclusions about the importance of this type of consumer attraction to this type of film content and comparison, which is an opportunity to compare various actions to promote films and identify the main, most promising areas for promoting film production in modern conditions.

Particular attention was paid to the method of a systematic literature review on the topic of film promotion in the modern media market.

On the basis of the studied material, the classification of film tourism directions is developed, and an example of the authors’ modeling is provided that shows the development of a scheme for promoting audiovisual products based on the use of tourist destinations.

Results

The results of marketing activities to promote film products are:

  • Firstly, increasing the level of popularity of the film.

  • Secondly, increasing the potential audience.

  • Thirdly, the release of the film on the media market of the Russian Federation, and then on the international media market.

  • Fourthly, the formation of a valuable image for the film.

  • Fifthly, obtaining additional funding and increasing fees from film rentals.

To expand film audiences and increase the popularity of the film products, it is necessary to engage in the active development of film tourism, to attract tourists to places of pilgrimage related to specific films and to combine the interest of tourists in tourist and recreational destinations with interest in the shooting locations or places where the main events of the films unfold. Film tourism, which combines the interest in travel and interest in shooting locations of famous films, has been gaining popularity recently. Hudson and Ritchie (2006), in the article Promoting Destinations via Film Tourism, examine the most important issues of the development of film tourism and its impact on increasing interest in tourist destinations. “Film tourism is a growing phenomenon worldwide, fueled by both the growth of the entertainment industry and the increase in international travel. It identifies the optimum marketing factors that encourage film tourists to visit destinations that appear (or are depicted) in the movies. Factor analysis reveals four types of marketing activities in which destinations can engage to promote film tourism: proactive efforts to encourage producers and studios to film at the location, efforts to generate media publicity around the film and its location, marketing activities that promote the film location after production, and peripheral marketing activities that leverage film tourism potential”.

Film tourism is a type of cultural tourism based on the films that visitors have watched, including TV series or animation, and may include visiting the places where the action is set in; places where filming took place (including film studios), which may not coincide with the location where the story is set in, or theme parks that recreate the setting of the films. Film tourism also includes visits to film festivals. It can be noted that the film industry and tourism are interconnected, which contributes to the development of the regional economy.

It was found that the tourist market in the Russian Federation is more represented by film tours dedicated not to one film, but to a group of films shot in a certain area. So, the Perm company “Green Wind” organizes a rafting tour to the filming locations of the film “The Geographer Drank His Globe Away” along the Usva River. The jeep tour “Prisoner of the Caucasus” was created in 2016 for the 50th anniversary of the film by the Jeeping Tour sports club. (Garbuz & Anokhin, 2020, pp. 51–52).

According to the Tourism Competitive Intelligence study, more than 40 million tourists choose to visit the countries that have become the main locations of popular films; Table 2 shows the most popular world destinations of film tourism.

Table 2 The most popular film tourism destinations
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One of the examples is the experience of New Zealand, where the world-famous Peter Jackson trilogy the Lord of the Rings was filmed. The state conducted a large-scale advertising campaign in order to identify the country with Middle earth. As a result, by 2004 the number of tourists in New Zealand increased from 1.7 to 2.4 million. According to experts, only the first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy generated $41 million profit. “Following the success of prominent feature films shot on location, including Tolkien’s wildly popular The Lord of the Rings, New Zealand boasts an impressive film tourism industry. New Zealand is a vast expanse of natural beauty and a magical world of fantasy on screen, and its tourism imagery, including the ways in which savvy local tourism boards have in recent decades used the country’s film representations to sell New Zealand as a premiere travel destination.” (Leotta, 2011).

After the release of the Game of Thrones episodes filmed in Dubrovnik (Croatia), the annual number of visitors there increased by 10%. The Croatian government had to limit visits to the city to 4000 people daily, and five tourist routes related to the filming locations of the series were created. The Harry Potter film series helped increase the attendance of all locations involved in the shooting in the UK by 50%. The number of visitors to the Sydney National Park, which was the shooting location in Mission Impossible-2, increased by 200%. Troy, a historical blockbuster, brought the Turkish Çanakkale Province a 73% increase in tourist traffic, and the number of visitors to Miami went up by 150% thanks to CSI Miami.

The main trends in the development of modern world film tourism were identified. Among tourists, a long-term spectator interest in films around the world is formed, as evidenced by the effect of the popularity of films that have gathered a mass audience and large box office. Another example of the influence of the film industry on tourism is the creation of fan clubs—communities of fans of a particular film history. Fan meetings are held with film crews of films, for example, the ComicCon festival, which was held in Moscow in 2018, was attended by more than 170 thousand people (Udeneeva & Saiej,  2019).

Table 3 presents the Russian film tourism destinations. The table provided here shows some shooting locations or places where stories of films are set. Very often, these territories are used to attract tourists, and new tourist destinations gradually develop on the basis of famous films. On the other hand, directors choose filming locations that are well-known as established tourist destinations, which contributes to even greater interest in the film.

Table 3 Popular directions of Russian film tourism
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We conclude that the media sphere is not only a condition for the development of tourism, but also a part of the service. In modern hotels, for example, the availability of a wide range of international television channels is a necessary part of high-quality service. Film and tourism play an increasingly important role in the development of the economy of many countries. This is noted by many businesspeople, politicians, and public figures of the world, including Taleb Rifai, the Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Experts say that a successful combination of two industries (the film industry and the tourism industry) can generate particularly impressive results, which is confirmed by the spectacular example of Pembrokeshire (England). Thanks to Harry Potter films and Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, this county is annually visited by four million tourists, who leave 600 million euros in the local budget. A deeper analysis of the points of contact between tourism and media arts is possible, which will increase the efficiency of using tools and resources for the development of both areas (Koshetarova & Krikunova, 2017a, 2017b).

The Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI Cineposium) held a symposium in St. Petersburg in September 2019, which was attended by representatives of the film industry from more than 50 countries, members of national film commissions and producer organizations, companies such as Marvel Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, Netflix, HBO, Lionsgate, Warner Brothers, Youtube, etc. We would like to mention that the previous symposia have been held in cities with rich film background, such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, Barcelona, and New York.

St. Petersburg can take its place in the film tourism market, as it has many historical and thematic locations. In fact, St. Petersburg already has some experience as a destination of international film tourism: the BBC series “War and Peace”, which was shown in many countries around the world two years ago, made the city on the Neva a place of pilgrimage for fans of the film. Despite the fact that a significant part of the shooting of this film took place in Lithuania, the Northern Capital created a detailed route to the locations of the screen saga. The tour includes a visit to the Winter Palace and Yusupovsky Palace, the State Russian Museum, the Mikhailovsky Castle, and the famous suburbs of St. Petersburg.

Based on the presented data on the definite relationship between the tourism industry and the film industry, the authors developed a scheme for promoting audiovisual products based on the use of the tourist destinations. Figure 1 shows a diagram of the mutual influence and interrelation between media interests and tourist interests of potential moviegoers and potential tourists. The merging of the tourism industry and the film industry based on the use of tourist destinations in films creates a joint potential audience of viewers and tourists; this increases both the profitability of the tourism industry and the rating of films, which, in turn, contributes to an increase in revenue of regional budgets.

Fig. 1
figure 1

The scheme of audio-visual products promotion based on the use of tourist destinations

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It can be concluded that on the one hand, the development of the film industry makes regional tourist destinations more popular, especially in little-known regions, while on the other hand, popular tourist territories are the basis for the development of storylines in films. Thus, film tourism is formed as a synthetic direction bringing together the segment of moviegoers and the segment of tourists and combining them into a single whole.

Discussion

One of the most important aspects of the promotion of films is to attract the attention of the legislative and executive bodies of the state. The main centers of the film industry in Russia are Moscow and St. Petersburg. These cities have film production at global level. In other Russian regions, film production and the promotion of film products do not reach their full potential, which creates the need for more intensive measures that involve active use of media communications.

According to experts, in order to increase the rating of feature films and box office revenues, it is necessary to attract budgets as much as possible, create favorable conditions for regional film producers, and use such a financial incentive as rebate. It is necessary to provide information support for regional projects with the help of major mass media. Regional film studios should conduct independent continuous work on the implementation of various forms of Internet marketing and hold special events at the regional level (regional and city competitions, quizzes, thematic cultural and leisure programs, etc.), which help attract the attention of the local audience to the work of directors” (Koshetarova & Krikunova, 2017a, 2017b).

It should be noted that Russia is currently moving slowly into the international film tourism market, but there are already some serious developments in the organization of such activities. In our country, we have the Russian Office of Film Commissions; in addition, local film commissions are organized in 12 regions of the Russian Federation. The functions of film commissions include selecting “content at the place of shooting” for filmmakers, assistance in organizing the shooting at the location, and solving administrative issues. “The Kaliningrad Region is the most active in this area: the budget of this region even includes a special line of expenses related to the activities of the film commission.”

Films are the soft power that develops the image of the country. On the other hand, this generates business, because when a film group comes to a region, it brings money there. They live in a hotel, rent equipment, use a range of services. It should be noted that the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation has prepared a roadmap for the development of the tourism industry for the next six years, where the goal is stated, for the first time ever, of the promotion of tourism to Russia through film and animation, as the most relevant and efficient tools that have not been used in our country before.

According to experts, this new strategic vision will help to hold Cineposium at a high level and show foreign film producers all the potential of the film making process in Russia. St. Petersburg is already developing promotional tours for participants and guests of this industry event; the business program, with its workshops and working sessions, will also be intense.

Conclusion

Thus, film tourism as the most important factor in the promotion of audiovisual products in the Russian media market will help to enhance the potential of tourist destinations in the development of film tourism.

Many scientists and practitioners in the field of the film industry and the tourism industry support the direction of combining the capabilities of the film industry and the tourism industry in order to mutually beneficial cooperation and joint promotion of both film industry products and the development of new tourist destinations and areas of increased tourist interest.

Cooperation and parallel development of these two industries will contribute to the formation of modern marketing thinking, the accumulation of positive experience in the organization of advertising activities and will systematize practical competencies in the use of communication tools that allow for creative development and effective implementation of strategies for promoting audiovisual products in the Russian media market.