More on Apple’s “F1 The Movie” Marketing, Apple Needs to Do More Ecosystem Marketing
Hello everyone. Welcome to July.
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A new AVALON podcast episode is available.
“Don’t Lose Brad Pitt’s Phone Number” was about “F1 The Movie,” Apple TV+ strategy, movie theater headwinds, and more. The unscripted weekly podcast, loosely modeled after Apple’s famous Monday morning meetings, is a perfect complement to this daily newsletter. Above Avalon members receive special subscription pricing for AVALON. More information is available here.
Let's jump into today's discussion.
More on Apple’s “F1 The Movie” Marketing
In addition to what we can refer to as traditional marketing for “F1 The Movie” (cable, print, brand partnerships, etc.), Apple leveraged its ecosystem to push the film.
Consider the following examples of how Apple tied in its various services, apps, and products to get the word out about “F1 The Movie”:
Apple News / Apple Podcasts: A GQ profile was highlighted by the Apple News team and turned into an Apple News+ Narrated podcast.
Apple Maps: Users can see “iconic tracks” from “F1 The Movie.” See the image below.
Apple Wallet: The (controversial) Apple Pay promotion for "F1 The Movie" tickets purchased through Fandango.
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Apple’s “F1 The Movie” Scores at Box Office, A Big Win for Tim Cook and Eddy Cue, Apple’s Controversial Apple Pay Promotion
Happy Monday. It feels good to be back after some time off. Fortunately, it looks like the news flow was on the light side last week. We will use the down time to follow-up on several topics in addition to focusing on a few new topics.
Let’s jump right in.
Apple’s “F1 The Movie” Scores at Box Office
Here’s Variety:
“It’s lights out and away we go at the box office as ‘F1,’ a big-budget racing drama starring Brad Pitt, impressively revs to $55.6 million in its domestic opening weekend.
With great reviews and a promising ‘A’ grade on CinemaScore exit polls, ‘F1’ landed in the middle of expectations of $50 million to $60 million. At the international box office, the film collected a strong $88.4 million from 78 markets. Those initial ticket sales are significant given ‘F1’ is an adult-skewing tentpole that’s not part of an existing film franchise — a rarity in today’s I.P.-dominated movie theater landscape…
‘F1’ also marks the first commercial hit for Apple, the tech giant that financed the nearly $250 million-budgeted movie. (Apple put the production budget at $200 million but others have reported the number is closer to $300 million). That’s not including the many millions on promotional efforts, including a globe-spanning press tour. And since Apple doesn’t have a distribution arm, the company is paying a fee to Warner Bros. to put the film in theaters. WB will also receive a percentage of theatrical revenues that increases with certain box office benchmarks.”
While we still need to see how “F1 The Movie” performs over the next few weeks, including the all-important long Fourth of July weekend, there is no question that the film will become Apple’s highest-grossing movie, surpassing “Napoleon” which grabbed $221M.
It’s rational to conclude Apple’s unprecedented marketing push contributed to the film’s opening weekend success. Apple leveraged nearly every one of its content distribution services to let users know about the film in some way (as Apple should do). Hollywood is envious of Apple today as anyone behind a potential blockbuster film craves Apple’s ability to use its ecosystem to promote a film. There is a larger discussion to be had when it comes to Apple using its products and services to inform users of other Apple products, services, and content. We will tackle that topic tomorrow.
While extensive marketing certainly helps a film’s prospects at theaters, box office success has become far more complicated.
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Apple Goes All-In on “F1 The Movie,” Why Apple Is Doing Apple TV+, Betting on Storytelling in a Sea of TikToks
Hello everyone.
A quick programming alert: Episode 3 of my all-new AVALON podcast has been released. The weekly podcast, which is my first unscripted podcast, is loosely modeled after Apple’s Monday morning executive meetings. Episode 3 was focused on Siri, digital voice assistants, chatbots, and more. The episode came in at 86 minutes. If you enjoy podcasts and Above Avalon, I think you are going to really like AVALON. Bundle the podcast with your membership for just +$6/month or +$60/year (both are 40% off regular AVALON pricing) by filling out this form. Bundle the Podcasts add-on and receive both the Above Avalon Daily and AVALON podcasts for just +$10/month (a really great deal).
Let’s jump into today’s discussion which will take us to Apple TV+ land.
Apple Goes All-In on “F1 The Movie”
Apple is going all-in on promoting its upcoming film, “F1 The Movie.” Apple Studios is one of four production companies behind the film with Apple Original Films joining Warner Bros. Pictures on the distribution front. (Apple is handling the streaming video on demand component.)
Consider the following marketing events:
WWDC keynote: The opening video was used to market the film.
June 10th: Apple held a pre-screening of the film at Steve Jobs Theater for WWDC attendees and media/press.
June 11th: Apple released an innovative “F1 The Movie” haptic trailer that works with the iPhone Taptic Engine. This is the first-of-a-kind trailer. It's pretty cool. Give it a try (on an iPhone) here.
This past Sunday: Following a “Severance” panel at Apple’s flagship store in NYC, Tim Cook and Brad Pitt made a surprise appearance to push F1 The Movie.
This past Monday: A number of senior Apple executives were front-and-center at the worldwide premiere in NYC.
These events, in addition to traditional press, combine to represent a marketing push from Apple unlike anything we have seen with a prior Apple TV+ film or movie. In some ways, Tim Cook and Eddy Cue are going all-in and in the process positioning “F1 The Movie” as a barometer of Apple’s six-plus-year bet on original video.
We will see how the movie ticket numbers pan out. If “F1 The Movie” brings people out to the theaters, Cook and Cue are going to receive a major boost of validation. (If there are any heat waves in the U.S., that will help get people into AC-equipped theaters.) If the movie flops, the list of Apple PR headaches will grow.
Become a member to continue reading today’s update. Already a member? Read the full update here.
An audio version of this update is available to members who have the podcast add-on attached to their membership.
Member Privileges and Benefits
Become an Above Avalon member and receive the following privileges and benefits:
Exclusive Analysis. Receive the Above Avalon Daily newsletter, widely-recognized as the leading daily newsletter dedicated to Apple. Now in its tenth year.
Archive Access. Access previous newsletters sent to members.
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Above Avalon Support. Play an active role in supporting Above Avalon as an independent voice and resource.