The Hunger Games franchise is one of the most successful franchises to ever exist. With this series being well known and loved across the world, it is no wonder why they are one of the highest-grossing film franchises, generating a gross revenue of over $2.97 billion worldwide. As a result, it is not shocking to see that Netflix, one of the most successful streaming platforms out there, opted to include this series to their wide array of movie selections earlier this month.
But for those of you with Netflix subscriptions… have you noticed something odd when previewing one of the movies? No, I’m not referring to the list of famous celebrities located on the upper left corner of the screen or the array of scenes displayed in the preview. I’m referring to the date located on the upper most left corner of the screen detailing the movie's departure date!
At first glance, I didn’t think much of it other than I have to watch these movies before they are gone. But upon further inspection… it seems this is part of a bigger marketing tactic for both Netflix and The Hunger Games marketing team. Seeing as The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is coming out in November, this has to be a part of a bigger marketing campaign.
At first glance, I didn’t think much of it other than I have to watch these movies before they are gone. But upon further inspection… it seems this is part of a bigger marketing tactic for both Netflix and The Hunger Games marketing team. Seeing as The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is coming out in November, this has to be a part of a bigger marketing campaign.
I don’t know about everybody, but I have recently been seeing Hunger Games references, movies clips, and reviews literally everywhere. From Netflix to Tik Tok it seems like I just can’t get enough of seeing this amazing series everywhere. Either this is just a pure coincidence or The Hunger Games marketing strategy recently received a big raise. My bet is on the raise. Here are the top 3 marketing strategies I have seen employed to help promote the franchise's new movie coming out in November.
Creating a sense of urgency
As mentioned earlier on, all 4 of The Hunger Games were recently added on Netflix at the beginning of March and will be leaving at the end of March. This is honestly just pure genius. Having the movies only available for one month creates a sense of urgency in viewers, causing them to prioritize watching those movies over other shows and movies already displayed on the platform. People are prioritizing watching these movies because they want to be able to enjoy watching them before they leave the platform permanently at the end of the month. All the interaction around this series then results in the series becoming one of the top movies streamed on the platform, resulting in those movies getting displayed in the TOP 10 movies section, causing other viewers to watch these movies. This means if you snooze…you lose.
Fear of Missing Out
After watching all the movies on Netflix, people are left realizing that they want to see more. That they want to see what happens in Katniss's life after the last movie. Upon realizing this, some people might go straight to Google and search for the next movie to the series. There you will find the sequel to the series written in 2020, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. After this there are really 2 different routes that can be taken. 1) You buy the book and read what happens next or 2) you wait patiently for the movies to release in November. However, seeing as the movie is releasing near the end of the year, I anticipate previews for the movie coming out sometime around April and May while the movies are still fresh in everybody's mind, creating even more hype for the movie. This will then create excitement and anticipation for the new movie, resulting in people jumping at the chance to buy tickets.
Social Media Engagement
Lastly, we have social media engagement. I don’t know if it’s just me, but lately I have been seeing a lot of Hunger Games content show up on my social media feed. Whether that is a short edit of the movie, someone further explaining the plot/backstory of characters, or even reading short snippets of the book, it’s everywhere. Whether this is just pure coincidence or not, this creates nostalgia for The Hunger Games fans everywhere and even piques the interest of new people. Regardless of coincidence, any and all content is definitely creating exposure and excitement around this amazing franchise.
I for one look forward to seeing the previews for the new movie coming out in November. However, you have to admit this marketing is just pure genius and a very effective way to get people to watch the previous movies and create excitement for the new one.
MARIA CABRERA
