LO1: Analysis of the "It All Ends" Death Hallows Part 2 Campaign

The primary target audience of the “It All Ends” Deathly Hallows Part 2 advertising campaign is the children-turned-teens who grew up with the movies, with the teens-turned-adults who grew up with the books as a secondary target audience. This is because of the genre development from mystery-fantasy to war-fantasy, and the dark themes that come with that switch. Moreover, nostalgia serves as an appealing feature. The key message of this campaign is “watch the movie”, shown by the consistent promotion of the release date and repeated teasers throughout the campaigns run. Methods of advertising used are mostly traditional due to the time in which the campaign ran, however there are a few digital methods such as web banners and social media that can be found. These were sparse, though, and didn’t contribute greatly to the campaigns success. Most of the marketing was done through traditional methods, including posters, TV trailers and billboards. A lot of implication was used in the campaign, the repeated “It All Ends” phrase not only being a focal example of synergy, but moreover the actual title of the movie is rarely mentioned throughout all of the material. This not only creates a spectacle but also implies the iconic nature of the franchise – its size and success render the use of its name unnecessary when compared to its synergy through imagery and iconography.

The campaign was released with posters and trailers switching order depending on the country. However, as a general, it seems the posters were typically released before the trailers, which eventually lead o the actual release. This is effective as it induces hype and spectacle for the finale of the franchise. The campaign was produced in the early 2010s, around 10 years after the original release of the first movie. This is relevant as the primary target audience are those who were children watching the first movies – it implies an important milestone for the franchise and viewers with this time gap. Technological convergence has helped this campaign as it allowed for the beginning of the overarching Wizarding World brand to branch out to digital and viral marketing techniques that it used for later movies and still uses for products to this day. Some legal issues the campaign faced/could have faced are ensuring that the Warner Bros./JK Rowling contract wasn’t breached, as the franchise relies on this contract to exist in its current state. Some ethical issues the campaign faced/could have faced are ensuring all social and cultural groups represented in the advertising material were represented accurately and fairly so as to ensure the brand, franchise and all products did not fall out of public favour. This issue is confirmed to be founded after the Harry Potter brand wavered in popularity with JK Rowling’s exposure of transphobic behaviours. This reinforces the need for acknowledgement of these ethical issues.