The organization, funded largely through a 3% marketing levy on hotel rooms, will market Lord of the Rings outside the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). A print campaign began midMay across Canada and in the border states. "Over the next 18 months, we're going to build that further and further out," says MacMillan.Meanwhile, Air Canada's $3-million sponsorship will include online marketing programs targeting its toptier fliers, selling theatre packages to international markets through its global sales network and promoting the production in enRoiite magazine and in-flight entertainment.
Lord of the Rings is an opportunity to show case Toronto, "not just to Toronto but tiffany jewelry the world," says Duncan Dee, senior vice-president, corporate affairs at Air Canada. Given the dramatic increase in New Zealand tourism after the films came out, "we're hoping for the same level of excitement with this production," he says.Although hobbits won't inhabit the theatre for another eight months, consumer enthusiasm is clearly building. Iu the first week of sales in mid-May, theatre-goers from around the world bought $7 million in tickets. Sales from an exclusive Internet offering in the first 24 hours alone hit $1 million. Buyers were largely from the GTA, but "there was still a very interesting buy that wasn't restricted to the border states," says Mirvish. They also had a spatter of purchases from Ireland, Mexico, Japan and London.
It's notable considering how little advertising was done. Lord of the Rings marketing strategy is driven largely by an ambitious PR campaign, smart sponsorships and connecting with 'Iblkien's fan base online."I see the campaign as a political campaign, (where) a politician has to go out Tiffany bangle represent his or her ideas to the marketplace," says Wallace. That means the writers, producers, director and composer will take every opportunity they can get to talk about the production.
Like a politician, Wallace is on a mission to get the word out. In May he took a bus trip to Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit and Cleveland to promote Lord of the Rings to tour operators. Meanwhile, Mirvish s PR reps-Adrian Bryan-Brown in New York and Peter Thompson in London-arc working to get opinion makers and the media on side with the production. In Toronto, PR is handled in-house by Sue Toth, john Tiffany Bracelet and Randy Alldread."I believe by the time we're finished (the official opening night gala) on the 23rd of March, it should be as potent as an event like the Oscars or the Olympics," he says. "It's that big a global event." His goal is to have the entertainment sections of newspapers from South Africa to Tokyo to Hamburg, lead with the Lord of the Rings opening in lbronto.
The upside of the brand is that it's "recognized globally and loved by millions and millions of people" through the Tiffany Earring and films, says Wallace, noting that 200 million copies of the books-first published 51 years ago-are in circulation and 47 million have been sold in the last few years. While they benefit from the strength of the brand, the producers are keenly aware of the risks of launching such an epic-and expensive-work. "Everyone's got their careers on the line here," says Mirvish. "And I saw that this was a bigger risk than we normally ever take."One challenge is that fans of the books have "a very intimate relationship with the characters and an intense and personal idea of what Tolkien's Middle Earth looks like," says Wallace. Meanwhile, filmgoers are influenced by director Peter Jackson's version of Middle Earth.First, "you have to Tiffany CuffLink the people who love the books that you understand the books and you have an appreciation of them and you're going to be respectful of the books," says Wallace. "And to the people who only know the brand through the films, you have to move through the perception that it is impossible to put those films on stage." The message is, "we're not putting Ae films on stage, we're putting the books on stage."
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