The Personal

History of David
Copperfield
PRA 230 - Principles of Advertising
Ashley Nelsen, Shereyna Shinbo, & Jillian Yang
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Table of Contents
Product Overview Segmenting the Audience

Marketing Research & SWOT Analysis

Advertising Research

Creative Brief Creative Product

Non-linear Marketing Linear Marketing

Public Relations Media Objectives

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Product Overview
The Personal History of David Copperfield is a comedy-drama film
based on the novel by Charles Dickens. It was set to be released in the
United States on May 8th, 2020 but the date was postponed due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
The film stars Dev Patel, Academy Award winner - Tilda Swinton, Golden
Globe winner - Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, and many more.
The film premiered at
the Toronto Film
Festival on September
5th, 2019 and it was
released in the U.K. on
October 2nd, 2019.
International Domestic
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Other Planned May 8th, 2020 Releases

Digital Release on Postponed to Postponed to

May 29th, 2020 Valentine’s Day November 6th,
2021 2020
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Segmenting the Audience

The target market for The Personal History
of David Copperfield skews towards older
females who live on the coasts or in the
major cities and likely have a higher than
average income with a higher level of
education.
The specific segment we are focusing on
for this film is middle aged women who
have an interest in historical adaptations
or period pieces.
The Classical Novel
by Charles Dickens
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Marketing Research and Advertising Research

We conducted quantitative research to collect data on:
1. Popular Movie Genres among our participants
2. Celebrities’ popularity (Movie Cast)
3. Knowledge about the Personal History of David Copperfield
4. Opinions about the movie based on the trailer
5. Knowledge about other movies that are releasing around the same time
6. Willingness to see the Personal History of David Copperfield or not
7. General Demographics of the participants
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Demographics:
- 83.3% Male, 16.7% Female
- 66.7% 21-24 yrs old, 16.7% 25-29 yrs old, 16.7%
45-49 yrs old
- 66.7% Latino, 33.3% Asian
- 33.3% Graduated HS, 16.7% Some College, 16.7%
Graduated College, 33.3% Some high school or
less
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Based off our research, we have a good idea of how the public sees our movie, The Personal

History of David Copperfield. It shows that many people haven’t heard about the movie, which

indicates that we have to do more marketing and advertising to raise more awareness about

the movie.

Many of our participants said that this movie is more suitable for older audiences, which lines

up with who our target audience is for the movie.


SWOT Analysis
Strengths
- A heartfelt retelling of Charles Dickens’ novel
- Will attract Charles Dickens fans
- Comedic
- Strong cast: Academy Award Winner Tilda
Swinton, Academy Award Winner Nominee
Dev Patel
Opportunities
- Multiple channels for release (theatres,
streaming, etc.)
- Increase advertising on various platforms
(TV, social media, billboards, posters)
- Partner w/ movie apps (Fandango)
- Press junkets using Zoom to raise awareness
during COVID-19
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Weaknesses
- The genere of the movie may not be attractive
compared to other movies
- There is not a lot of hype for the movie on
Social Media
- Bad reviews on IMDB
- There doesn’t seem to be a lot of
advertisements for this movie
- It’s a period piece and fans of these are
limited
Threats
- COVID-19 will affect movie’s release date
- Competition (The High Note and How to Build
a Girl are released on the same day)
- The movie opened in the UK in January, but
the only made $7.5M. Most likely the release
in the US will earn no more than that amount.
Creative Product
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The movie does an excellent job of

showcasing it’s award winning cast
members such as Tilda Swinton and
Dev Patel in it’s posters. The costume
design conveys that this is a movie
set in an older time period. The
second poster resembles the design
a story book. Specifically, the font
and character cut outs hint towards
the fact that this movie is based on a
novel. However, the posters do fail to
give more insight on what exactly
the movie is about.
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Creative Brief -The target audience for this movie is middle aged women. Some of the
best places for the movie’s advertisements for our target audience
would be on television, billboards, magazines. Airing the advertisement
on the morning news would be a good place because people tend to
have a favorite news station they watch routinely. Putting up billboards
that are near locations such as bookstores, major highways, grocery
stores, etc. builds brand recognition and awareness. Additionally,
putting advertisements in magazines like People magazine will bring
attention to this cohort as they typically still have certain magazine
subscriptions.
-We plan on using social media channels to raise more awareness for
the movie. Facebook is one of our target platforms to reach our target
audience. We will continue to release new posters as the movie release
date approaches closer. We will also design a David Copperfield photo
filter. This filter will be available on Facebook and Instagram. In addition
, the cast members will hold a Facebook and Instagram live to promote
the movie.
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Non-linear Marketing For our non-linear marketing plan, we will do

the following:
1. Promote advertisements on Facebook and
Instagram
a. 74% of Facebook users are
predominantly female and 78% are ages
30-49; 65% are ages 50-64
b. 39% of Instagram users are
predominantly female and 40% are ages
30-49; 21% are ages 50-64

2. Post Advertisements on Rotten

Tomatoes
a. Rotten Tomato score of 94%

Source: November 2019,

Michelle Charello
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Linear Marketing

60 second Movie Posters 30 second Advertisements

advertisement at theaters, on radio in magazines.
spots on TV. public advertisements
transportation that would air
and on in the morning
billboards in during
major cities. breakfast time
to mid-late
morning.
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Public Relations
Public Relation ideas for The Personal History of David Copperfield:

- Go onto Podcasts (Ex: like Hardcore History) - the actors in the Movie can

raise more awareness about the movie to the public

- Have the actors from the film talk about the movie on Facebook Live, Twitter,

and YouTube.

- Create a Blog that goes in depth about how the movie is based on the novel

or that hardships that happened during the filming processes.

- Giveaway that includes the novel and a free ticket to see the movie - this

increases consumer interaction and also raising awareness for the movie
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Media Objectives
1. Increase Awareness
a. Increase awareness of the movie from 50-60%
by the end of the first month.
b. Linear Advertising and Non-linear Advertising
2. Increase Interest
a. Increase interest from 32%-45% by the second
month of the campaign.
b. PR events
c. Put an Advertisement on Rotten Tomatoes and
Facebook
3. Box Office Sales
a. Goal of 8 million dollars from tickets sold
b. Put an Advertisement on Lifetime and Hallmark
c. Play trailer on morning and late night TV
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Appendix
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6439020/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_personal_history_of_david_copperfield
- Social Media Source: November 2019, Michelle Charello
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SIMPLE CLIENT CREATIVE BRIEF

Client Searchlight Pictures

Project The Personal History of David Copperfield

Date 04/30/2020

Prepared By 05/08/2020

Key description of the project

The Personal History of David Copperfield is based on the historical novel written by Charles Dickens.
The comedic film highlights the adventurous life of David Copperfield as he navigates life.
 SIMPLE CLIENT CREATIVE BRIEF
What problem are we solving?
Who is the consumer we are problem-solving
for?
What’s consumer insight?
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Based on our market research, we need to increase the interest
and awareness of the movie. We need our promotions to reach as
many people in our target audience.
Primary Audience/Persona: Our primary audience is middle
aged women (ages 45-65) and those interested in historical
adaptations and period pieces.
Secondary Audience/Persona: Our secondary audience is
families.
This movie falls into a very narrow market and only appeals to
those who are interested in classical literature and historical
adaptation.
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SIMPLE CLIENT CREATIVE BRIEF
What facts and emotional reasons will make What are the key points that need to be communicated to
people buy/convert? What are the consumer pain the consumer? What will make buyers believe us?
points? 1. Attention- advertisements need to express the
-Pain point: Based on the survey we sent out 66.7% movie’s big idea in a interesting/interesting way
of people did not have an interest in seeing the ( movie is a comedy)
movie. There needs to be more linear, non-linear, 2. Desire- Make the target audience imagine themselves
IMC, and Public Relation events promoted in order enjoying watching a funny movie
to increase awareness and interest. If there is more 3. Action- How to buy a ticket and when the movie will
talk about the movie in the media, consumers will be out
feel pressure to buy a ticket. The promotions should 4. It’s high Rotten Tomato scores (94%) will appeal to
highlight the comedic factor that is in the movie. The our middle age audience.
comedic element will be one of the ways that will 5. Critic reviews
make people buy a ticket. 6. The movie has academy award winning actors
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SIMPLE CLIENT CREATIVE BRIEF
What should be the tone of the messaging? What What are the goals of the project? How will we measure
words describe the brand? success?
The tone should be informative, but also entertaining. Primary Goal: Get people to spend money to watch the movie.
Words to describe the brand: Iconic, well-known, Secondary Goal: Get people to see the advertisements and be
High-quality products interested.
We will measure success based on the number of box sales we
have.

What action do we want people to take after viewing Who is the competition?
the marketing? 1. The High Note
We want people to go and see the movie after seeing 2. Legally Blonde 3
the advertisement. 3. The Black Widow

SIMPLE CLIENT CREATIVE BRIEF
What brand guidelines should we be aware of? What
mandatory information must be included in the
marketing?
Logo
-Searchlight Pictures Logo
Words that can’t be used in marketing
-Racial slurs/offensive language
Words that must be used
-Academy Award Winning Actress Tilda Swinton
-Drama, Comedy, Action
-Based on the Charles Dickens novel
- Historical, Educational
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Target Launch Date
05/08/2020
Timeline
First Draft Delivery: 04/30/2020
Second Draft Delivery: 04/30/2020
Final Draft Delivery: 04/30/2020
Approvals
First Draft Feedback: 04/30/2020
Approval/Final Feedback: 04/30/2020
Final Approval: 04/30/2020