Post by politicidal on Aug 26, 2017 1:00:07 GMT
Something else to add to the pile. There's more to the article but it's not copying right for some reason.
TEXT:
The most troubling part is how many of the rumors, speculation, and rushed news announcements have come because of leaks, not official planned statements. Rumors are the nature of the game now in the age of social media; leaks happen. But there is a marked difference between a leaked set photo and, say, leaked news that your director has quit, your franchise's star might walk, and you have no plan for how to stop the bleeding.
There's also a marked difference in how #WarnerBros has handled—or, more accurately, not handled—negative leaks in comparison to other studios. While I don't want this to turn into a straight comparison, it's impossible to talk about PR strategy without using Marvel Studios as a foil. An incident from 2015 perfectly illustrates the difference in how the two studios communicate with their audiences.
In October of 2014, the highly-anticipated first trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron was planned to air during an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In a rare breach for Marvel, someone, likely a hapless intern at ABC, leaked the trailer early. Marvel's response was note perfect, quickly posting a tongue-in-cheek, relevant tweet...
And then quickly releasing the hi-def version on its own official channels within an hour. What could have been a stumble turned into a PR coup with a single funny tweet.
The following summer, something similar happened to Warner Bros. when the San Diego Comic-Con trailer for Suicide Squad leaked online, as footage from SDCC tends to do. The studio could have rolled with it, especially as the trailer got a largely positive reaction. Instead, it released an official statement that struck fans and journalists alike as being an overreaction:
"Warner Bros. Pictures and our anti-piracy team have worked tirelessly over the last 48 hours to contain the Suicide Squad footage that was pirated from Hall H on Saturday," said Sue Kroll, president of worldwide marketing and international distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures. "We have been unable to achieve that goal. Today we will release the same footage that has been illegally circulating on the web, in the form it was created and high quality with which it was intended to be enjoyed. We regret this decision as it was our intention to keep the footage as a unique experience for the Comic Con crowd, but we cannot continue to allow the film to be represented by the poor quality of the pirated footage stolen from our presentation."
Instead of glossing over the situation, the studio only made it worse as the conversation quickly turned away from the well-received trailer and toward the bizarre press release and overly formal way of handling something that fell under the umbrella of "these things happen." An isolated incident, true, but one that's indicative of Warner Bros.' pattern of ineffective damage control after negative press.
But the bigger issue is its inability to stop that negative press from happening in the first place. It's not that other studios don't ever need to put out their own fires, it's that it happens much more infrequently for them than it does for WB. Firefighting has most certainly become part of the DCEU's narrative, and that's not good.
moviepilot.com/p/warner-bros-dceu-pr-strategy-leaks/4358006
TEXT:
The most troubling part is how many of the rumors, speculation, and rushed news announcements have come because of leaks, not official planned statements. Rumors are the nature of the game now in the age of social media; leaks happen. But there is a marked difference between a leaked set photo and, say, leaked news that your director has quit, your franchise's star might walk, and you have no plan for how to stop the bleeding.
There's also a marked difference in how #WarnerBros has handled—or, more accurately, not handled—negative leaks in comparison to other studios. While I don't want this to turn into a straight comparison, it's impossible to talk about PR strategy without using Marvel Studios as a foil. An incident from 2015 perfectly illustrates the difference in how the two studios communicate with their audiences.
In October of 2014, the highly-anticipated first trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron was planned to air during an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In a rare breach for Marvel, someone, likely a hapless intern at ABC, leaked the trailer early. Marvel's response was note perfect, quickly posting a tongue-in-cheek, relevant tweet...
And then quickly releasing the hi-def version on its own official channels within an hour. What could have been a stumble turned into a PR coup with a single funny tweet.
The following summer, something similar happened to Warner Bros. when the San Diego Comic-Con trailer for Suicide Squad leaked online, as footage from SDCC tends to do. The studio could have rolled with it, especially as the trailer got a largely positive reaction. Instead, it released an official statement that struck fans and journalists alike as being an overreaction:
"Warner Bros. Pictures and our anti-piracy team have worked tirelessly over the last 48 hours to contain the Suicide Squad footage that was pirated from Hall H on Saturday," said Sue Kroll, president of worldwide marketing and international distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures. "We have been unable to achieve that goal. Today we will release the same footage that has been illegally circulating on the web, in the form it was created and high quality with which it was intended to be enjoyed. We regret this decision as it was our intention to keep the footage as a unique experience for the Comic Con crowd, but we cannot continue to allow the film to be represented by the poor quality of the pirated footage stolen from our presentation."
Instead of glossing over the situation, the studio only made it worse as the conversation quickly turned away from the well-received trailer and toward the bizarre press release and overly formal way of handling something that fell under the umbrella of "these things happen." An isolated incident, true, but one that's indicative of Warner Bros.' pattern of ineffective damage control after negative press.
But the bigger issue is its inability to stop that negative press from happening in the first place. It's not that other studios don't ever need to put out their own fires, it's that it happens much more infrequently for them than it does for WB. Firefighting has most certainly become part of the DCEU's narrative, and that's not good.
moviepilot.com/p/warner-bros-dceu-pr-strategy-leaks/4358006
