During that period after the second world war, the number of cinema-goers began to drop because of the invention of television. Therefore, in order to attract audience back to the cinema with a limited budget, some filmmakers in Hollywood such as William Wyler decided to take the set out of the studio, out of American, to an exotic land, Italy. To have a closer look at how this co-produced film was advertised, we chose the trailer.

Generally, three promoting strategies can be gathered from this trailer. The first one is to use the stardom of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Both at the beginning and the end, their names appear with their individual close ups. This reminds the audience of their presence in the film. The trailer also mentions Hepburn’s academy award before her name, thereby arouse the audience’s curiosity and expectation towards the performance of this new rising star. . This contrasts to the kind of structure of today’s trailers, that attempt to captivate audiences and draw them in with a brief summary of the narrative. Extracts showing Peck and Hepburn’s interaction such as riding the motorcycle and kissing, excite their fans and encourage them to watch the film to find out more about this pair of onscreen couple. Over time, stardom has been more subtly inserted into trailers for more modern movies. When looking at the trailer for the Suicide Squad, the trailer is heavily focused on Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie, but more so displaying her character scenes without having to tell the audience that she’s in the movie.

Choosing to shoot the film in Rome was more expensive than the producer expected, regardless of the economic situation Europe was having in the postwar period. Nevertheless, this seems to be a right move favored by the audience who seek escapism and enjoy traveling. The trailer focuses on the idea of taking the audience on a trip to Rome, exemplified by the narration lines such as “new holiday on your calendar, Roman Holiday”, “share the romance… under Roman moonlight”. The end of the trailer also shows Rome palaces and monuments. The trailer ends with ‘Because all the things happen to them that you’d always hope for on the happiest day of your life.’ This line draws the audience and gives them an expectation of the best day that they could experience. For American civilians who did not have the chance to travel abroad, this trailer invites them to have a glimpse of what it is like to be a traveler in Rome.

The trailer tells the brief storyline by describing Hepburn’s character, a princess. Using the audience’s fascination for the royals and their lives, the trailer emphasis on the ‘un-princess’ side of the princess, hitting a man’s head with a guitar, eating ice-cream in the middle of a street, to declare that the film tells an unconventional story about a princess. It is also clear from the trailer that the film took advantage of America’s romantic view of European culture in its marketing. Europe – and Britain, in particular – has always taken advantage of its monarchies for its tourism, and this is clear for this trailer too. By combining the star factor of Audrey Hepburn with the American romantic view of European royalty, Paramount has fully taken advantage of their audience’s fascination. The phrase ‘royal runaround’ is evidence of this, contrasting this idea with the comic tone of the film itself.