It is tempting to assume that the film I Daniel Blake shunned the kind of marketing techniques that are deployed by major media conglomerates. Hesmondhalgh however tells us that independent products too deploy defined formatting strategies to lower the risk of product failure. 

I, Daniel Blake uses - for instance - ‘director power’ to construct appeal for a ready-made audience familiar with Loach’s output. It is no accident that Loach’s name is foregrounded as the first element to appear in the film’s poster campaign; while the film trailer and poster campaign also relates the auteur driven trademarks of Loach’s filmmaking style - emphasising the director’s gritty social realist aesthetic through the use desaturated promotional shots and an accompanying emphasis on everyday mise en scène.

Loach also used his star presence within publicity and media appearances to effect product visibility when the film was released - offering a rare and exclusive interview to the Guardian while also agreeing to a timely appearance on the BBC’s Question Time.