The Data-Driven Pioneer: Allan Freemans Impact on Hollywood Marketing

The world of movie marketing has lost a true pioneer with the passing of Allan Freeman, who died on June 7 at the age of 88. Freeman was a visionary who revolutionized the way Hollywood approached film promotion through his innovative use of market research and data-driven strategies.

Freeman's career began in the 1970s when he worked as an early research director at Warner Bros., introducing film title testing and research strategies to ensure that tentpole releases hit with audiences in theaters by avoiding pre-release confusion about a film's plot or characters. He believed that if a title presented a communications problem, it was important to know what it was, even if the studio didn't intend to change it, so that they could counteract it with their advertising.

Freeman's techniques gained the attention of Twentieth Century Fox, where he was hired as a consultant and eventually as their in-house vice president of market research. At Fox, he launched campaigns for several hit films including The Omen, Star Wars, and Julia, helping to reposition low-budget horror films into box office winners by changing their original titles.

Freeman's association with Disney reunited him with Frank Wells, who became the studio's president. In 1985, Freeman used extensive telephone interviews with focus group members to help refine the film's narrative and flow for The Emerald Forest. This use of focus group testing earned criticism that studio execs were abdicating their creative responsibilities, but Freeman maintained that hard data was crucial to reassuring the major studios and reaching cinema audiences.

After leaving United Artists, Freeman turned to indie movies and helped market Oscar best picture winners Dances with Wolves and The Silence of the Lambs. His goal was to transform a Hollywood where top studio execs had used little more than hunches about what audiences may like into an industry where market research and numbers replaced gut instinct and guesswork.

Freeman is survived by his wife Barbara and his children Joanne, Richard, and Marc. His legacy will live on in the many films he helped promote and the innovative strategies he developed for Hollywood's marketing landscape. His work will continue to inspire future generations of marketers and filmmakers as they strive to reach new audiences and create successful campaigns.