Bring in the Brands

Dave Kehr has an interesting piece in the New York Times where he is explores a side effect of the Sony-MGM transaction: multiple studio branding. Sony already has Screen Gems, Sony Picture Classics, Columbia and TriStar. It will be acquiring the United Artists brand from MGM. While it is fair to argue that with the exception (at best) of Disney, Miramax and Pixar -- and the rise of Focus Features -- there is very little in the way of coherent brand identity in studio labels.

Kehr argues that for the first time since studios still owned both the theaters and the stars in the 30s and 40s, Sony might have the opportunity to intelligently assign pictures to different logos that could create specific identity for each logo.

What does this mean financially? Well marketing and money are very close siblings -- though often of the bickering variety -- and anything that might strengthen market awareness of your product (movie) is a good thing. And in general, as studios utilize a variety of stars across a variety of genres, it is a difficult approach for most studios to take. Disney and Pixar have that kid-friendly thing to fall back on and Miramax tends to focus on Oscar-type fare that employ a small stable of artists. Absent this, it makes more sense to market to film concept and stars.

Sony could potentially have the opportunity to manage a number of brands if it allocates product appropriately. However, it would need to give each brand a distinct identity and presence (including website and campaign and animated logo). It is a potentially expensive proposition and one that studio marketing teams are unfamiliar with.