What does a marketing executive do?
Marketing executives plan, develop and implement marketing campaigns to help persuade audiences to watch an animation. They work very closely with public relations (PR) and sales professionals.
When an animation is about to launch or go to broadcast, it’s promoted through a marketing campaign that can be targeted at either a trade (professionals or bodies of the relevant industry) or consumer audience. The campaign might involve print, TV, cinema, event and digital advertising.
Marketing executives need to have a good understanding of the product that they are marketing and the audience that they are trying to reach. They decide on the story to tell the audience, write the copy (words) and collaborate with creative partners to develop and deliver promotional material. They often coordinate market research projects and use the resulting data to assess the current effectiveness of campaigns to help with future ones.
Marketing executives prepare the marketing budget, bearing in mind income forecasts, acquisition costs and contract terms. If an animated film is being screened internationally, the campaign needs to be adapted to different cultures and countries, often working with separate distributors in each territory.
Some marketing executives also manage online communities, including social media accounts. In larger production companies there tend to be specialist roles for community management.
Marketing executives can be employed by film sales agencies, marketing agencies, production companies or broadcasters. Big production companies or animation studios will have their own marketing departments for their animated projects. Smaller ones will use a separate marketing company, agency or freelancer. For animated TV series, marketing executives may be employed by the broadcaster or channel, such as BBC Studios or Channel 4.
What's a marketing executive good at?
- Communication: write compelling copy, engage people from a wide range of backgrounds, be able to tell a story, brief colleagues, such as designers, who will create marketing materials, proof read
- Creativity: understand that the animation industry is based around a visual medium so it’s important to be able to come up with visual ways to show a production in its best light
- Audience awareness: know audiences, research audience statistics, understand how they watch animated films or TV series, as well as how they consume other forms of media, be aware of the commercial performance of these
- Social media: enjoy creating a buzz on social media platforms, use scheduling software
- Organisation: anticipate, prioritise and stay on top of tasks, manage your team
- Watching animations: have a passion for the medium and a love of the industry, have a critical eye and analyse the content
