Many film scholars, highly critical of the aesthetic and ideological preoccupations of Star Wars and of contemporary Hollywood cinema in general, have elaborated on the second part in Time magazine’s formula. They have argued that Star Wars is indeed aimed at “the kid in everybody”, that is it invites adult spectators to regress to an earlier phase in their social and psychic development and to indulge in infantile fantasies of omnipotence and oedipal strife as well as nostalgically returning to an earlier period in history (the 1950s) when they were kids and the world around them could be imagined as a better place. For these scholars, much of post-1977 Hollywood cinema is characterised by such infantilisation, regression and nostalgia

In the Western world, since the 1970s several generations of children have grown up with Star Wars, and they have maintained their attachment to the Star Wars universe into adulthood, passing their fascination onto their own children. Surveys taken during the highly successful theatrical release of the special edition of Star Wars in February 1997 indicated that a third of the audience were families, many of them no doubt parents revisiting their own childhood experiences and sharing them with their children.

The market research programme for the film which was initiated in the summer of 1976 soon confirmed that, judging by people’s responses to its title and a brief description of the film, Star Wars was most likely to appeal “primarily (to) young male moviegoers, ages 25 and under”, while its emphasis on technology and battle provoked a negative reaction from females and older people. So as to counteract such resistance, the advertising campaign which was developed from this research aimed to highlight the film’s human characters and its mythical dimension in addition to its action and special effects. The advertising was to be placed in media (such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television) which would “impact primarily against 12 to 24 year old moviegoers and, secondarily, against moviegoers ages 25 to 35″. Thus, in 1976, market researchers failed to consider Star Wars‘ potential appeal to the sub-teen audience, and Lucas himself, who gradually realised that he was in fact making a children’s movie, was reluctant to foreground this fact in the initial publicity for the film.

By 1976, Lucas clearly saw Star Wars as a children’s film, yet he didn’t say so in public. It was only in the spring of 1977, shortly before the film’s release, that Lucas finally admitted publicly that his main target audience was in fact children, both young teenagers and sub-teens.

Lucas and distributor Twentieth Century Fox were so reluctant to label Star Wars as a children’s film – the label was feared to disqualify the film in the minds of most cinemagoers. Nevertheless, after the film’s release, Time magazine and much of the rest of the press immediately, and unapologetically, emphasised its tremendous appeal to children as well as its nostalgic address of adults.

Social factors

• Family: The marketing campaign was geared towards establishing the film’s PG rating. Parents were encouraged to take their kids to the movie. In fact, an early perception the film had to fight off was that it was a children’s movie.
• Referance groups: As evidenced by the cult following and word-of-mouth generated by the film. Aspirational groups were set up in society. Also, hugely favourable peer reviews convinced more people to watch the movie.

Personal Factors
Personality and self-concept: The film was pitched as a thrilling ride which would be appreciated by adventurous people who wanted to watch a fresh kind of movie. Also, the movie’s sci-fi credentials were well established. It was sci-fi, but at the same time, it was more popcorn-y than 2001: A Space Odyssey. Hence, sci-fi geeks were convinced to watch it opening day.

Star Wars opened initially in a mere 43 locations across the United States. An immediate sensation, it accumulated incredible per-screen averages and broke numerous box office and attendance records at the few locations lucky enough to have been playing the movie. The film industry was abuzz, and exhibitors everywhere couldn’t wait to get their hands on a print. The film’s distributor, 20th Century-Fox, had the lab cranking out prints as fast as they could as they accelerated their plans for a broad, nationwide release of the film. During the second week of release additional engagements were added in Los Angeles and Cincinnati to help accommodate high turn-away business in those markets. Still a week away from the start of the nationwide expansion, the third week saw two new engagements begin in Honolulu, Hawaii as well as an extra engagement added in the New York market. (The additional Los Angeles engagement, by the way, was booked into the Winnetka Drive-In and was presented in the newly-developed Cine-Fi car audio format.) The expanded release began with over 100 new engagements added throughout the U.S. during the week beginning June 17 (some runs began Wednesday the 15th) with additional engagements added each week (generally between 50 and 200) throughout the summer. At its peak in August and September “Star Wars” was playing in just over 1,000 theatres in the United States and Canada and was well on its way to surpassing “Jaws” (1975) and becoming the new all-time box office champ.
Although there were certainly fewer movie theatres in operation during the 1970s compared with today, a “wide” release of a mainstream, non-specialized film at that time typically meant a few hundred engagements. To illustrate just how low the number of theatres was that “Star Wars” opened in, even by 1977 standards, here is for comparison a sample of some of the highly-anticipated films from the spring and summer of 1977 followed by the opening-week number of engagements for each: “A Bridge Too Far” (400+), “The Deep” (800+),”Exorcist II: The Heretic” (700+), “New York, New York” (400+), “Orca” (700+),”The Other Side Of Midnight” (500+), “Rollercoaster” (400+), “Smokey And The Bandit” (300+), and “The Spy Who Loved Me” (200+).

So why was “Star Wars” released to so few theatres initially when, in retrospect, the film seemed like such a sure-fire hit? Former 20th Century-Fox executive Gareth Wigan offered an explanation: “‘Star Wars’ only opened in forty theatres because we could only get forty theatres to book it. That’s the astonishing thing.” “No one knew it was going to be a big hit,” remembers Ben Burtt, who was responsible for “Special Dialogue & Sound Effects” on Star Wars.
Charles Lippincott, former Lucasfilm Ltd. Vice President for Advertising, Publicity, Promotion and Merchandising, mentioned that “If the film was redone today, on the basis of the way movies are released with a couple of thousand prints, it probably would have been unsuccessful. Theatres didn’t want the movie. We were lucky to get thirty theatres to open it.”
Lippincott also remarked in that publication on the importance and prestige of getting booked in a major Hollywood theatre and the difficulty Fox faced in finding such a venue for “Star Wars.” “At that time, Hollywood Boulevard was still very important for opening films. We only got on Hollywood Boulevard because the new Billy Friedkin film (“Sorcerer”) wasn’t ready yet. It was supposed to be ready by May 25 but wasn’t, and we were given a month in the Chinese. It was the only way we got into Grauman’s.”
To accommodate the opening of “Sorcerer” on 24 June, “Star Wars” was in fact moved to another theatre a couple of blocks away. But the space opera that at one time no one wanted would have the last laugh. As Friedkin’s remake of “The Wages Of Fear” failed to live up to expectations while “Star Wars” continued to perform in stellar fashion, Lucas’ epic moved back to the famous Chinese beginning August 3, where it stayed until June 1978. This marked the first time a film had returned to the Chinese for a second first-run engagement in the theatre’s then fifty-year history.
In contrast with the belief shared by many that “Star Wars” was a tough sell to exhibitors, others feel that at least a few people at 20th Century-Fox had a hunch the movie could be a big hit if marketed carefully and given a platform-type “prestige” release, specifically keeping the number of engagements limited to key markets during the initial weeks of release. Other movies from 1977 given successful prestige openings included “Julia,” “The Turning Point,” and “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.” Peter Myers, Vice President of Domestic Distribution for Fox at the time, first saw “Star Wars” in a test screening three months before scheduled release. He was very impressed, and contemplated the best approach to marketing the film. “The answer,” Myers revealed to the Associated Press a few months following the movie’s opening, “was to position the picture in the proper theatres and give it the proper presentation so the people themselves could discover it and spread the word.”

In a nutshell, while ATL communications use media that are broadcast and published to mass audiences, BTL communications use media that are more niche focused. Both ATL and BTL communications can be used to either build brand awareness or drive sales through specific offers (promotions), it is BTL communication, however, that gives the marketer the ability to tailor their messaging in a more personal manner to the audience. ATL promotions are also difficult to measure well, while BTL promotions are highly measurable, giving marketers valuable insights into their return-on-investment. These insights can then be used to inform the next BTL communication to the audience and tailor the messaging based on the feedback received.

ATL
ATL is a type of advertising through media such as television, cinema, radio, print, and Out-of-home to promote brands or convey a specific offer. This type of communication is conventional in its nature and is considered impersonal to customers. It differs from BTL advertising, which uses unconventional brand-building and promotional strategies, such as direct mail, sales promotions, flyers, point-of-sale, telemarketing and printed media ( for example brochures, and usually involves no motion graphics). It is much more effective than when the target group is very large and difficult to define.

The various ATL activities carried out to promote Star Wars were:

TV spot

Trailers

Radio Spot

Posters: Like the ones seen here and here.

BTL

• Bubble gum trading cards: aimed at increasing visibility, especially amongst kids.
• Burger King tie-up: One of Burger King’s first major cross-promotional successes was in 1977 when they offered several collectibles including posters, glasses and sticker sets that featured scenes and characters from Star Wars. The promotion was wildly successful, and the glasses are highly sought after to this day. The relationship with George Lucas’ Lucasfilm, LTD. continued through the other two films in the first Star Wars trilogy and continued through the final film and the DVD release of both trilogies.

• Availability: DVDs, blu-ray disks, Special Editions. Releases, rereleases.
• Preference: Star Wars is the critical, and commercial darling when it comes to sic-fi movies. As Roger Ebert puts it, it fuses a good story with spectacle.
• Loyalty: As evidenced by the continued success of its sequels and Star Wars branded products.

• Awareness: Cult status of the movie.

• Familiarity: Widely popular dialogues,  images and music.
  “May the Force be with you”
  The massively iconic Star Wars fanfare by John Williams.
  

  

  Who doesn’t know this man?

• Image and personality: Star Wars is one of the most popular movie of all times. It has transcended into becoming one of the biggest movie franchises in history.
• Associations: People now associate Star Wars with being the definitive science fiction movie. Even though 2001: A Space Odyssey and its ilk has tremendous sway amongst critical circles, Star Wars managed to capture the fancy of critics and general audiences alike.

• Need family: What is the basic need being fulfilled? Entertainment.
• Product family: Leisure.
• Product class: What all product classes can fulfil the basic need? TV, book, movie, socializing, radio etc.
• Product line: What are the sub-categories under movies? What are the various types of movies one can watch? Full length feature, animated, short.
• Product type: What are the sub categories under full length feature? Sci-fi, romance, horror, drama.
• Item: The specific product which fulfils the need. Star Wars.

Product Mix
This is used to highlight the various product types which are catered to by a company. In this case, the company is the production house behind Star Wars, 20th Century Fox.

• Width: How many different types of films are produced by Fox? Sci fi, animated, family, drama.
• Depth: Under each film type, what are the various other lines? In this case, we segregate according to censor board ratings. PG, PG-13, G, R.
• Lines/variants: Under each rating type, what are the various sources of revenue for the studio? Dubbed versions, merchandising.

Concept of Core/Augmented Product

Introduction
At this stage, companies invest in advertising to make consumers aware of a product. Because sales are low while advertising and other costs are high, the company tends to lose money during this stage.
In the graph above, the portion till point (a) refers to the introduction phase. Till this point, Star Wars was released in halls, and was just gaining traction with audiences.

Growth
As the company focuses on building sales, which are increasing rapidly at this stage, its advertising costs will go up. With sales going up and costs going down, the product becomes more profitable.
In the graph, the portion from point (a) to point (b) represents the growth phase. Word of mouth, coupled with growing PR activities (like cast interviews), helped push ticket sales.

Maturity
Normally, if a product survives the growth stage, it will probably remain in the maturity stage for a long time. Sales still grow, though at a decreasing rate, and will eventually stabilize. Advertising will be used to differentiate the product from competition.
However, such is the fickle nature of the movie industry, the life cycle of a movie is dominated by the introduction and growth stages. Maturity phase is brief, and the staying power of a movie is generally determined by the length of its decline phase.
The portion between point (b) and point (c) represents the maturity phase for Star Wars.

Decline
Demand declines as more innovative products absorb the attention of the audience. Price competition becomes more intense, and profits are harder to come by.
In the case of Star Wars, the portion between points (c) and (d) shows the decline phase. As stated earlier, the length of the decline phase in the movie industry determines the longevity of the movie. Star Wars has a longer than usual decline phase (around 6 months).

• Product – It is a tangible good or an intangible service that is mass produced or manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. To retain its competitiveness in the market, product differentiation is required and is one of the strategies to differentiate a product from its competitors. In our case, the product is Star Wars.
• Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the same product. The price in our example would be the ticket price.
• Place – Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the Internet. Place would be cinema halls where the audience watches the movie.
• Promotion – Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketeer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements: advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion. A certain amount of crossover occurs when promotion uses the four principal elements together, which is common in film promotion. Trailers, poster all come under this.

Any organization, before introducing its products or services into the market; conducts a market survey. The sequence of all ‘P’s as above is very much important in every stage of product life cycle Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline.

The 4Ps play an important role in creating, communicating and delivering value to the consumer. The consumption of the product depends on how well the marketing mix is able to do all that.

Given below is a table which shows what each element from the marketing mix does in creating, communication and delivering value.

• Product: As the most important thing, Star Wars, the movie, had to create, communicate and deliver value. It has to identify a certain need of the consumer, tell the consumer that it has identified that need, and then finally, fulfill that need.
• Price: The audience should end up with the feeling that the monetary cost to them was adequately offset by the experience of the movie.
• Place: As the space in which the consumer consumes the movie, the place is important in delivering value.
• Promotion: In the movie industry, more than in any other industry, promotions need to create and communicate value. A movie is a largely untested commodity, and the interest of the audience needs to be piqued. The only way to do that is through promotions.

• Product: At the time of its release, Star Wars was one of the most innovative movies made. It was ground-breaking in its use of special effects, unconventional editing, and science fiction/fantasy storytelling.
  Though it was mistaken for a kiddie flick in its production stage, promotions helped in overturning that perception to an extent. After that, strong word of mouth helped its ticket sales.
  Audiences experienced not just unparalleled visuals, but also witnessed hitherto unseen worlds. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” indeed.
• Image: Soon after its release, Star Wars became the new ‘it’ thing. People who hadn’t seen it were forced to watch it because of peer pressure. There was a certain prestige attached with having seen the movie.
  Even to this day, Star Wars as a brand evokes much critical and fan love. It’s been a regular feature of must-watch movie lists (like the AFI movie list). The logo is instantly recognizable.

Costs

• Monetary: Ticket price.
• Time & Energy: Movies, in those days, were viewed in the cinema, and not at home. So these two costs often tilted the balance.
  Time refers to the time spent acquiring the ticket, and then watching the movie. One also needs to factor in the time spent commuting.
  Energy refers to the effort taken in actually going to the hall.
• Perceived risks: Questions about the unknown. Especially, about the quality of the film. Questions like, “Is it entertaining enough?”, “Will I understand it?”, “I hope it isn’t too mature for my children” (or conversely, “I hope it isn’t too kiddish for me”).

A purchase decision is made only when the perceived benefits outweigh the perceived costs. The consumer has to benefit from the transaction, after all.
In the case of Star Wars, innovators and early adopters got more influenced by the product benefits, while the laggards only experienced the movie when the image benefit (especially peer group ridicule) ended up outweighing any reservations they might have had.

Who/what is Star Wars?
For those two people on Earth who asked this question, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the six-film saga. It is the fourth film in terms of the series’ internal chronology.
Ground-breaking in its use of special effects, unconventional editing, and science fiction/fantasy storytelling, Star Wars is one of the most successful and influential films of all time.
Produced with a budget of $11 million and released on May 25, 1977, the film went on to earn $460 million in the United States and $337 million overseas, surpassing Jaws as the highest-grossing film at the time. Among the many awards the film received, it gained ten Academy Award nominations, winning six; the nominations included Best Supporting Actor for Alec Guinness and Best Picture.
The film is widely ranked among the best films of all time. Lucas has re-released the film on several occasions, sometimes with significant changes; the most notable versions are the 1997 Special Edition and the 2004 DVD release, which have modified computer-generated effects, altered dialogue, and added scenes.