What You Can Learn from Entertainment Brands About Attention
You are getting ready to release your next book or launch a new product. But if you are thinking about how to make the launch bigger, you aren’t approaching it right. What you should be thinking about is how to build anticipation. In this article, we’ll look at what you can learn from the entertainment industry about garnering attention, building anticipation, and using cultural moments to your brand’s advantage.
The Attention Economy
It’s something that the entertainment industry has been doing really well for decades now. They have perfected building cultural moments around a release or launch. Let’s take a highly anticipated movie as an example. There’s a lot of buildup to that release of the movie–behind-the-scenes photos from set, interviews or quotes from the actors or director, and then there’s the movie trailer.
We’ve all seen the online fury that happens when a highly anticipated movie’s trailer drops. People watch it, pause it, screenshot it, and theorize. And this level of engagement is invaluable. It’s also free marketing.
And it’s not just big Hollywood studios. It’s streaming platforms and music labels who have also built an entire operating system around one obsession: how you get people to stop what they are doing and pay attention to you.
This was all built in an environment where quiet launches are no longer acceptable. Because box office flops cost millions, shows that don’t generate buzz get canceled, and songs that don’t hook people in the first few seconds get skipped forever.
The pitfall for other B2C brands is thinking they don’t play in the same attention economy. It’s time you start launching campaigns with the same vigor as entertainment brands.
What Movie Studios Know About Building Anticipation and Keeping the Momentum Going
For movie studios, the rollout from teaser trailer to full trailer is an absolute masterclass in engineered momentum. They don’t reveal everything at once. They start with a glimpse, a drop of an unexplained hint, and then let the audience do the rest.
Timing matters too. A well-timed teaser dropped at the right cultural moment can generate more attention than a full campaign dropped at the wrong time.
And then there is the press tour. This is something many brands underutilize. Every time an actor does an interview, they aren’t just promoting the movie, but are keeping that film in cultural circulation.
After that, Hollywood studios activate content creators to extend the cultural impact. By leveraging early access to screenings or partnering with them to create buzz, they can build the anticipation even further. This amplification then extends into award season with viral red carpet moments and party livestreams.
Now we know these are big budget films. But there is something B2C brands and even authors can learn from this masterclass in anticipation. Here’s what you should be asking yourself:
- What would a teaser look like for our next launch?
- What can we reveal that makes people lean in rather than scroll past?
- And who are the people who can extend the moment once it exists?
What Steaming Platforms Know About Cultural Relevance
Streaming platforms like Netflix understand that you have to do more than just release a show and hope it does well. They try to create conversations–things that people feel compelled to weigh in on, argue about, theorize on, and share. This cultural moment is the product and the show is what backs it up.
Here’s what these platforms have figured out that many brands haven’t quite nailed yet:
- Meme-ability isn’t an accident: The most sharable campaigns are designed to be shared from the start. Before anything goes out, people on the team are asking: “Will people screenshot this; will they make it their own?” If the answer is no, it goes back to the drawing board.
- Data tells you what people want, not what they say they want: Streaming platforms obsess over behavioral data and optimize for actual behavior, not survey responses. B2C brands make the mistake of doing the opposite–building campaigns around what the audience says resonates with them, rather than what their actions reveal.
- Fandoms beat audiences: There’s a difference between someone who watches your content and someone who advocates for your brand. Streaming platforms invest in behind-the-scenes content that make fans feel like insiders.
- The drop strategy is worth studying: there is debate over full season drop versus weekly episodes. It’s a question about how to sustain attention over time. A weekly drop extends the cultural moment, and a full season drop creates a concentrated moment, though risks burning fast. Both have a logic, so the question is which one serves your launch goals.
What Music Labels Know about Virality
We often talk about not relying on just going viral, but there is something to be said for understanding what gets you discovered when looking at virality. Music labels understand that speed is a competitive advantage and when a song starts trending, labels move to immediately amplify it.
They also understand that collaboration is an audience strategy. When two artists collaborate, it widens the audience for each artist. This is similar to brand partnerships and creator collaborations. However, most B2C brands treat these as a one-off excursion rather than audience expansion plays.
How to Apply These Principles to Your Brand’s Campaigns and Launches
The bottom line of all these strategies is that audiences want to feel like an insider. The goal the entertainment industry has is to create the most loyal fans that feel like they are a part of something. And this generates organic amplification that paid media just can’t match.
So here’s how you can apply these principles:
- Build anticipation, don’t just announce: Product launches shouldn’t be treated as a press release. Create a reveal sequence with teasers and hints that make people feel like they are discovering something, rather than being marketed to.
- Think in terms of an opening weekend strategy: Urgency shapes everything, and those first 72 hours should be crucial. Ask yourself how you can make a launch moment land with maximum impact.
- Design for sharability from day one: Before any asset goes out, ask yourself if people will share it. Not because it’s branded well, but because it gives people something to say, feel, or is just something to send to a friend.
- Use creators in the same way studios use actors: Extend your campaign across time and platforms by using creators for more than just a single post. Think in longer term amplification. If you are an author, a book tour, even if it is just around your state, creators can also be used for more sustained amplification.
Final Thoughts
Reframing your campaigns and launches to generate anticipation and buzz gets you attention, but also helps you sustain that attention. Using hints and teasers can tap into our natural curiosity and generate online content that drives engagement that paid content just can’t match. It also helps create community around your brand, as your followers feel like they are a part of something. The entertainment industry has created the playbook. The question you have to ask yourself is if your brand is bold enough to follow it.
Want to learn more about how Tintero Creative can help your brand create anticipation around your next product launch or book release? Connect with us today by scheduling a call to learn more about how our expertise can help your brand stand out online.