Sample Question

 My teacher gave us a new assignment meant as practice for section B of a question that will be on our AICE Media Studies exam. It consists of 2 questions that the examinee must choose between (The highlighted question is the one I chose to answer):

"Explain the importance of cross media synergies in the media area you have studied. 

OR

New technologies have made audiences more complex and unpredictable. How far do you agree with this statement?" 

Cross media synergies are pivotal to the promotion and success of movies. Before they even release a movie, companies, such as Sony, have to ensure a certain level of success with their product in order to make profit. Sony was a small company like any other in 1946, when they were known as Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Group in Japan. Since then, they acquired Tristar Pictures (a production company) and Columbia Pictures (a distribution company) to form the Sony Pictures Motion Group. Adding such groups allowed them to become more innovative in their works and allow them to produce high grossing films. This innovative background has led them to deeply root themselves in the digital landscape that has formed since 1946. It can especially be seen in the cross media synergies they have implemented. We have seen multiple times now, whether on social media platforms like Tik Tok  or in the forms of toys/figurines within stores, that cross media synergies are essential to the marketing and distribution of movies. 

Sony with one of their biggest hits, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse," is one of the best examples of cross media synergy being a catalyst for massive revenue/recognition. One of their most noticeable accomplishments was to successfully interact with their audience via Tik Tok. They amassed a total of 1.5 million followers on their official account and created a hashtag called "Spider-verse" that got over 19 billion views. This was critical in the massive success in the movie as Sony perfectly reached their target audience, children and young adults. Tik Tok is known to have a massive number of children and young adults utilizing the app to consume short form content. The audience not only consumed content from the official account, but also posted short videos of memes or jokes that came from the movie.  This helped reach even more people as friends, family, or followers would see references to the movie from the people that posted a video. So, not only did they produce a long, 140 minute film, they also technologically converted that film into short form pieces of content that the audience could engage with. Truly, a genius piece of marketing. If that was not enough, they also released a short clip with the famous rapper, Future, as a character inside the movie. Although he was only there for a couple seconds, it brought even more attention to the movie and brought more of that young audience they were trying to attract. It formed a huge web and interconnected the potential audience for this movie. Without their exploration into Tik Tok for their promotion of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse," Sony would've not succeeded nearly as much.  

Nonetheless, Tik Tok was not the only form of cross media synergy that Sony utilized to bring their movie to the attention of a larger audience. They also partnered with a company called Funko and created a figurine called a "Funko Pop" of some of the characters in the movie. Many people like to collect figurines of their favorite characters or movies that they enjoy. Marvel also officially promoted the product on their website, linking people to where they could go purchase the newly released Funko Pops. This product was also promoted by Funko on Instagram, I personally remember seeing the ad from the official Funk account. A figurine that entangled people to the movie was an effective method of attracting new people.

Sony brought their film into the world of Tik Tok and partnered with Funko to attract the most attention possible to the movie. Because of these cross media synergies, millions of people went out and watched "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse." It became one of the highest grossing movies Sony has ever made. It is obvious that a film can reach significant heights with the introduction of cross media synergies and is currently one of the most pivotal methods to promoting a film.