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After over two years and six pilot seasons, Amazon has established itself as a bold network with a “thing for auteurs.”
That’s why when nobody else picked up Frank Spotnitz and Ridley Scott’s ambitious but hard-to-market The Man in the High Castle, Amazon did.
After nearly eleven months since the pilot premiered on the merchandising site turned studio, it’s already a critically beloved and buzzy title heading into its premiere date Friday November 20.
“It’s probably one of the biggest marketing challenges that I’ve ever had,” said Mike Benson, Amazon’s head of marketing, who joined the service after a long run with ABC.
Based on a Philip K. Dick novel and featuring an alternate history where the Axis won World War II and the Nazis and imperial Japan rule the world, the reasons why are obvious. How Amazon markets its shows from pilot to premiere may not be.
“Most TV networks have their allotment of on air promo time to promote whatever shows and series they have. I also have that but it’s just in a slightly different form. We have a lot of merchandising power on our Amazon platform and what we end up doing is using our Amazon platform in all the different places we can merchandise our pilot programming. Not only using Amazon but our Amazon company partners like IMDB,” said Benson. “Just like a network would use on-air, we end up using the merchandising of Amazon.com.”
Starting with a tremendous, massive base is Amazon’s not-so-secret weapon.
“We reach almost half the country. It’s quite a national network,” said Benson. “The other thing that works really well for us is you got that direct connection between the marketing and the product. Like on Amazon.com where you can buy a product in a click, you can click on an ad and be on a pilot in a click or two. It’s very efficient.”
Also, unlike traditional TV networks but exactly like Netflix, Amazon possesses all the data, much to the chagrin of reporters wanting to expand the ratings game to digital.
“We can measure everything that’s going on between the user and where they’re going, what they’re watching,” said Benson.
The Man in the High Castle’s pilot premiered as part of its fourth pilot season way back on January 15. Instead of audiences forgetting about the show, it’s created a natural snowball effect, with more and more sampling of the pilot as Amazon’s marketing campaign expands.
“Our campaign started at Comic-Con this year and we’ve been working since then to build an audience. As we expose the show and generate more awareness and hopefully intent to view, people have the opportunity to go watch the pilot. Our whole intention was to build to a launch of a campaign, very similar to what other networks might do, but different in the fact that we’re launching all episodes at the same time. We’re really building to an event, knowing that people can come in at any time and watch as many or all the episodes as they’d like.”
It’s clear that Amazon considers each premiere an “event,” and their marketing strategy reflects that.
“It’s much more like movie marketing. Once you open the show, like you open a movie, it needs to hit,” said Benson. “The difference is we have all the data. We’re able to analyze how things are working and what we can do.”
Amazon isn’t impatient though, knowing opening weekend isn’t everything.
“We know there are audiences out there that won’t sample a product unless they know it’s a hit. We analyze how things are working and determine what sort of marketing and PR we want to put against something after a show launches, because we’ll be able to see what sort of traction we’re getting,” said Benson.
“That’s the interesting thing about streaming services; of course the premiere is everything, just like a movie,” said Benson. “But it’s there and it’s there for a long time. A lot of people won’t want to come in, or they don’t have time, and we realize that. We always want to make sure that we got something there that feels fresh that people can sample, even if it’s a year later.”
The only consistent thing about Amazon’s model is that it’s always changing, with more and more unique programming that defies categorization.
“We don’t really lock into any one thing; we’re continually iterating,” said Benson.
That’s why Amazon optioned a show that features swastikas on the American flag and a Statue of Liberty heiling Hitler.
“It is as challenging a show to make as it is to market. I think the biggest challenge we’ve had is being able to culturally present the show in a way that was acceptable,” said Benson. “We knew some people might, would not might, be offended by the use of a swastika. The challenge is getting people to understand and recognize the world of this show and the alternative history.”
“We try to do the best we can to provide plenty of context around the show, so people understand it’s a television series, but also be super provocative with all of our marketing,” said Benson. “I’m excited to see the response on it. It’s a very bold and ambitious series, and our campaign has been bold and ambitious.”
All ten episodes of The Man in the High Castle arrive Friday, November 20 on Amazon Prime.
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