The parallel universes of Hollywood and professional service
What does the Hollywood film factory have to do with professional services marketing? Well, you’d be surprised. Over to Stephenson Harwood’s Jack Osbon for the first in what we hope will be a series of articles giving a voice to our talented younger colleagues.
The small neighbourhood of Hollywood in Los Angeles is known internationally as the home of global cinema. The dominance of it as a soft power for the USA is well recognised, both politically and culturally, and averages more than 600 films produced every year.
”The Hollywood Ending” is used as an everyday phrase. The simplest definition would be where there is a positive and rewarding closure to a story. For a studio that would be a film grossing several times its budget.
But what does that have to do with professional services marketing? If we look at the making of a film as a process of people and data, it does sounds very similar to an everyday professional services marketing campaign. Here’s a look at some of the parallels of the cinematic universe.
The Star Power
Also known as the 'A' list. Many film projects are spearheaded by someone with star power. But what does star power involve. Often portraying a character in a lead role, they add the glitz and glamour of their brand name to help a film attract more attention.
What does this look like in a professional services’ ‘A' lister? That’s often the lead fee earner, or marketing and business development (MBD) person, who adds the pizazz internally to make things happen and encourage people to act.
Parallel universe - The Lead Role and the Champion
The Hype
Utilising platforms based on data and demographics to target audiences; Hollywood tries to infuse hype for its product. Targeting chat shows, trade press, and advertising through other media. It yearns for – and can be a slave to - that word of mouth.
The word of mouth within professional services is arguably the most powerful tool to influence decision making. Campaigns utilise data and demographics to target audiences, often using social media, such as LinkedIn, to target key decision makers.
Parallel universe - The Promotion and The Public Relations
The Production
Hollywood enlists film producers and executives, and well as companies and filmmakers, to finance the process based on projects, context, and expected return on investment.
Professional services use the agreed budgets from finance departments to implement the campaigns. Attribution modelling is based on previous campaigns and what this is expected to return.
Parallel universe - The Budgeting and The Finance
“The parallels of Hollywood and professional services have similarities. The use of people is at the forefront of both. How this combines with data often determines the relative success of a Hollywood film as a campaign and is a process commonplace within the professional services approach to marketing.”
The Sequel
The film exceeds predicted expectations of the numbers who flock to the “box office” (or their streamer of choice). So much so that a sequel expects to make a similar return based on data obtained. This is very much added to the film writer psyche with open ended finales.
This campaign in professional services achieved the desired outcome based on the marketing plan parameters for success. The return on investment suggests replicating the campaign again or using its framework on another one.
Parallel universe - The Profit and The Return on Investment
The Casting
Hollywood uses a supporting cast to ensure a film delivers. This is made possible by help from all departments on the film, including runners. Campaigns are executed using a multitude of supporting teams and only made possible by many stakeholders, including the marketing and business development teams.
Parallel universe - The Runners and The MBD Teams
So you can see, Hollywood and professional services do have similarities. The use of people is at the forefront of both. How this combines with data often determines the relative success of a Hollywood film as a campaign and is a process commonplace within the professional services approach to marketing.
Does professional services marketing have its own “Hollywood Ending”?
The ongoing process of campaigns, and continual evolution of the market, suggests that perhaps it is buried deep within the continuation of incremental improvement with each campaign. We need to look within the process itself for our own happy ever after. Perhaps it will be explained in a sequel.