Month: March 2021

Copy That!

A DVD or Blu-ray on a shelf acts as a mini-billboard for itself. And just like that ginormous billboard hovering over the freeway, every single aspect of the artwork is intentional (and sometimes even legally required.)

When it comes to physical goods, a title has to speak quickly and clearly to potential purchasers. We aim to strike a balance between the rational and the emotional parts of the human brain, moving from “Hmmm, this looks like something I might like” to “Yes! (adds to cart)” in the space of a few seconds.

We gave the feedback, our partners at Quiver delivered!

At Distribution Solutions, marketing and design professionals are hard at work to blend art and commerce in a way that’s going to drive purchase intent…for the benefit of our label partners. Everyone wins if we get it right!

Striking imagery is the first thing that likely catches a consumer’s eye, but then the box copy gets right to work. Because we only have a few seconds with a customer in a store aisle in an Amazon search, each and every character of the text on a DVD or Blu-ray cover has to pull its weight.

Design provided by 4Digital; tagline and concept by Distribution Solutions.

At Distribution Solutions, whether we’re designing the art (or providing feedback), our partners know that each element we include (or suggest) supports the recommendations found during our SWOT analysis of the title.

Collaborated concept: ITN Distribution and Distribution Solutions

If you’ve been out in the world and seen a DVD before, then you’ll know the key components of key art copy. But we’ll mention them here anyway so that we can elaborate on what each bit of copy brings to the table.

  • Title Treatment: Color, typeface, and design convey the film’s genre and tone. Great place to weave in genre iconography or go with a font that evokes a time period.
  • Tagline: Adds context and sells the premise of the film. This can be a difficult thing to write. Needs to be concise and as original as possible. (The DS team flat out loves tagline brainstorming, so our partners know they can count on us to get there!)
  • Press Quotes: Communicate the critical acclaim and serve as a hallmark of quality, while the sources contextualize who is recommending. With the right set of quotes, a tagline is rendered unnecessary. A great situation!

Our goal is to make the most out of the few seconds our label partners’ titles have with a potential purchaser, whether it be in the aisles of a big-box retailer or a digital storefront during an at-home browse.

Feedback from Distribution Solutions, final art delivered by Magnolia.

To learn more about our process and talk to us about the intersection of art and commerce, drop us a line at studios@ds.aent.com. And one more for the road…

Horror and twisted humor go together like baby teeth and cash rewards. Design courtesy of ITN Distribution, with creative input from Distribution Solutions.

SWOT did you say?!

No matter what our partners’ content is, it’s our job to figure out how to maximize the appeal in the ol’ marketplace. Our first goal is to figure out just what a film or series is and then we can formulate our sales pitches, creative recommendations, and marketing strategy.

For that, we rely on the tried-and-true, ever-adaptable SWOT analysis. We like to make sure that all bases are covered. For fun, we’ll take you through an actual real-life release…from pre-pandemic times!

High Strung Free Dance

A young choreographer casts a contemporary dancer and an innovative pianist in New York’s most anticipated new Broadway show.

Released February 4, 2020, on DVD, Blu-ray, and Transactional Video-on-Demand, High Strung Free Dance came to us from our partners at GVN Releasing. But the path to release all started with our SWOT analysis.

Here’s a peek at our evaluation:

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

  • Moderate Success at Box Office
  • Teen romance/drama set in the dance world — a very specific niche
  • IMDb rating on High Strung in the 6.4 range

OPPORTUNITIES

  • Producer Involvement:
    • Michael Damien newsletter outreach, Twitter party and FB Live on his personal social channels
    • Janeen Damien Created custom socials graphics for cast ot post
    • Cheri Golub Managed social fan community organic posts on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube
  • Continue theatrical partnerships in dance field:
    • So Danca HSFD dancewear featured in film available for purchase on their site
    • Youth America Grand Prix Ballet competition event: Release support at live events, with cast member Juliet Doherty (past WAGP winner) announcing release date
  • Soundtrack x-promotion with The Orchard, via social, with custom lyric videos

THREATS

  • Tough month to predict competitively — other notable releases circling the month: Doctor Sleep, Knives Out, Ford vs Ferrari, Frozen 2
Courtesy of Janeen Damien

We evaluated all of the above to play into the film’s strengths and leveraged the opportunities. Our marketing plan was an incredible collaboration, with an engaged group of stakeholders who were part of the theatrical and were prepared to support the home entertainment/direct-to-consumer window. We used incredible visual assets, exclusive clips and worked with the cast to get the word out. And we were able to take action to offset weaknesses and handle threats, to plan pro-actively to create the best path toward success.

Now, over a year later, a visit to Amazon shows a 4 1/2 star rating from 531 reviewers (as of today, anyway) showing that we found our people…and High Strung Free Dance is enjoying popularity on Netflix, where it is at home with a fine selection of dance-themed titles appealing to this fan base.

And that, dear friends, is the story of SWOT. It’s not fancy, but it works.

To learn more about our favorite time-tested methods and our emerging new practices at Distribution Solutions, give us a shout at studios@ds.aent.com!

A+ Merchandising

This week, we’re focusing on maximizing consumer appeal on Amazon. Sweet, ubiquitous Amazon. A powerhouse in the online retail space, a hub for just about everything under the sun, Amazon is a behemoth in the retail space…with a seemingly endless parade of products. So many products, in fact, that “being there” just isn’t enough.

When a product is competing with millions of other similar items, it’s important to leverage every possible advantage.

How do we begin to make our partners’ products stand out? For this topic, we turn to our internal experts, Andrea Franco, Senior Account Manager, and Vera Martynets, Marketing Manager. Both are dedicated to our Amazon business and have put in countless hours setting up titles, managing inventory, and merchandising to appeal to consumers.

DS: Thanks for participating in this roundtable discussion! We’d like to focus today on one particular aspect of merchandising on Amazon: the A+ Page. For starters, what is an A+ page ?

AF: A+ pages are Amazon product pages that go beyond the basic product details and offer online customers more information about a release. They can include additional images and product features that otherwise would not be seen.  

VM: Right, they allow you to add more descriptors to a product.

DS: More descriptors are important because…?

VM: With each additional image you get to program more keywords, which helps with the searchability of the product. More pictures = better appearance in search results.

As you can see, this page lets consumers see exactly what the deluxe set includes!

DS: Okay, from a ‘consumer appeal’ and ‘searchability’ perspective, totally makes sense. Any other benefits?

VM: Adding a good-looking A+ page can result in higher conversion rates, increased traffic, and increased sales.

Loads of great keywords here!

AF: And it’s really a better way to engage the Amazon customer. An opportunity to tell them everything you want them to know about your release, like special features, Dove Approval rating, extensive cast. It’s a way to boost your release in search rankings without paying for sponsored ads.  It’s also an opportunity to optimize for mobile customers.

A closer look at Audrey, a documentary about this extraordinary actress, style icon and humanitarian.

DS: So this enhanced page can work on whole lotta levels, got it. What is the cost to our label partners?

VM: Zero, nada, zilch!

AF: That’s right: NOTHING!  This benefit adds value without costing a thin dime.

Even animation can have character stills!

DS: Well, that’s great…so what do you need from label partners in order to create these awesome pages?

VM: Attractive synopsis, great stills. Photos showcasing talent, production value, storyline intrigue – anything that makes the movie look fantastic! And press reviews, critics’ shout-outs, awards…

AF: We call this EMC (Enhanced Marketing Content). The more photos the better, so I’ll add “beauty shots” of gift sets and talent headshots to Vera’s list. Oh – and expanded synopsis, special feature details. Detailing content by disc on multi-feature or box set products.

DS: Laughing a bit that we don’t escape this discussion without at least one new acronym…but what’s the dream scenario for EMC?

AF: The dream? At least one banner, lots of stills, full synopsis, and feature call-outs. That being said, a little bit can go a long way in making a polished, searchable product page that stands out from the crowd.

Clear photos featuring recognizable talent and a grabby banner to top them off!

DS: So, if I were to summarize our chat, I’d say key takeaways about the value of an A+ page are:

  1. Increases searchability (stand out from the competition)
  2. Adds consumer appeal (better sales tool)
  3. 100% customizable, based on available assets, no reason not to!

Thanks, Andrea and Vera. This has been a great discussion about the Amazon A+ page service we provide to our .com label partners Thank you both so much!

Readers, if you would like to learn more about our A+ page support and features, please reach out to us at studios@ds.aent.com for more information!