Woman In Black Audiences and Institutions.

The Woman in Black is a horror film with super-natural overtones produced by British Horror company Hammer Horror. Released in 2012, it starred a massively successful actor Daniel Radcliffe, starring in the first film since the massively popular Harry Potter franchise.
Before mentioning way the film was marketed, it is important to mention the target audience. I think that it is clear that the Woman in Black was marketed strongly towards teens and young adults as a primary audience, this is because they will be the most likely to recognise Daniel Radcliffe and respond positively to this casting choice. This most likely ranges from the ages of 12 - 30, who obviously have an interest in the horror genre. Secondly, I believe that the film pushed heavily for the fans of Daniel Radcliffe, mostly teenage and young adult girls aged around 12 to 20. This is because these fans are probably willing to see any movie that Daniel Radcliffe is associated with and will almost guarantee a large audience for the film, regardless of the films final quality.

The Woman in Black had a fairly long marketing campaign. Earlier on in the campaign, a teaser trailer was showed off at a comic-con convention. This was a smart move as many Harry Potter fans would be attending this event. A short while after, a single teaser poster was released to gather up hype for the upcoming trailer. The trailer was then released 2 months later. A short time after, the TV channel MTV, showed a minute clip of footage from the film gathering more hype. Towards the end of the advertisement campaign, the theatrical trailers were released to a wide range of cinemas and advanced screen events. The total advertisement campaign took approximately 11 months overall.
To maximise the possible audience, the film cut many scenes to take down the age rating from a 15 to a 12A, this helps get the Harry Potter fans into the cinema. I believe that, even against Daniel Radcliffes request, Hammer Horror used his Harry Potter fame to get as many people into the cinema as possible. This is because every part of the advertisement featured him heavily and the book even had a re-release with him on the front cover.

While the marketing materials were technically appropriate for the age rating, I think that Hammer Horror should have taken into account Daniel Radcliffles request of minimising his Harry Potter influence - at the same time I cannot fault the company for using their full actors potential and influence. Aside from this, the use of a single teaser trailer and few promotional materials helped keep the film in a shroud of mystery that draws consumers in and can keep interest until after a film has been released.