Film Marketing Review - The One About 'The Shawshank Redemption'

In this extract from 'Two Geeks And A Marketing Podcast' Pascal Fintoni and Roger Edwards explore the marketing of one of the best adaptations of a Stephen King's novel.

Released in 1994 (up against Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump) and despite receiving great reviews from critics 'The Shawshank Redemption' failed to attract audiences at the theaters.

One year later Warner Bros. released the movie on VHS for rental market, and the rest is movie history.

We look at the marketing assets first used to promote 'The Shawshank Redemption' from teaser posters to trailers, the reactions from fans and reviewers, the power of word-of-mouth, and the key messages and appeal of the story to this day.

“Like most who reviewed 'The Shawshank Redemption' when it was first released in 1994, I was impressed, but I had no idea just how important the film would become to some audiences." Mark Kermode, for The Guardian, 2004.

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About the Film Marketing Academy

It all began with a simple content series launched in 2020 by Pascal Fintoni and Roger Edwards, today the Film Marketing Academy is an exciting consultancy programme AND an extensive library of over 100 film marketing campaigns reviewed and organised into 6 main collections:

• '70s and '80s Classics
• Action and Adventure
• Horror and Terror
• Sci-Fi and Fantasy
• Thriller and Mystery
• Comedy and Drama

New film marketing reviews are added regularly alongside interviews with marketing professionals from the movie industry and beyond. So don't miss out and follow us right now!

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Thank you for listening, watching and reading this Film Marketing Review with Pascal Fintoni and Roger Edwards. Feel free to send us your movie suggestions and favourite film marketing tactics for a future episode.

Until the next time, continue to make your film marketing campaign better and faster.

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The opinions expressed are the authors’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the filmmakers, distributors, marketers, cast and crew mentioned. Whilst we take every precaution to ensure that facts are correct, errors and omissions may occur and the authors...