ConvergenceConvergence refers to the coming together of various technologies and media platforms, both old and new, to communicate an idea or a product.

The Amazing Spiderman 2012 – Columbia PicturesThe movie rights to the character, Spiderman, were purchased by Sony before Marvel decided to make its own movie studio. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures and developed by Marvel Entertainment; An example of Horizontal Integration.

The WebsiteThe official website of The Amazing Spiderman reveals some of the ways that the company marketed the film. There are a few obvious old mediums through which a film can be marketed; posters, trailers on TV and in the cinema and promotion by the films cast and crew.

However, the website gives us a look at the various other ways The Amazing Spiderman markets its film using new media.The website shows us the various promotional partners that were involved in the film’s marketing. The partners ranged from peanut butter and burgers to theme parks and video games. The vast range of the partners shows Sony’s determination to stretch its marketing across an enormous variety of organization and audiences.

Viral TrailersA lot of the attention that was drawn to the film was due to the use of the internet and posting trailers online. Trailers to big movies tend to gain millions of hits on websites like Youtube and the spread of this would have been enhanced by social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Through these sites, people can share, like and talk about the trailers that have been released and get their friends to watch it.

A Different Type of Viral MarketingA major marketing campaign was launched that aimed at getting the audience to participate in real life. The participants would be updated via a blog and social networking and go on a scavenger hunt to find the various locations which were “tagged” by operatives. The end result of this was unlocking previews of scenes from the film.

Other Forms of Viral MarketingThe Amazing Spiderman used other forms of viral marketing in an attempt to promote the film. Fake websites, puzzles and short clips that were presented as real interviews with one of the characters were put onto the web to be shared and to be solved by the dedicated community. Again, the spread of this through social networking lead to the film reaching a larger audience, but also allowed the already dedicated audience to further involve themselves in the lead up to the film.