Day 2 of the Audience Development and Innovation Lab in Sofia was packed with ideas around enhancing online presence as well as how to develop brand identity in cinema, also. Building community engagement from the ground-up with tailor-made programming further led to discussions around the importance of clear communications for reaching a diverse range of audience demographics and in retaining their customer loyalty.
Session 1 – Enhance Your Cinema’s Online Presence
Züleyha Azman from KINO Rotterdam showed bespoke trailers they have made as both online and pre-screening content for their curated film seasons. Each individual film screening in their special season programming will have a specific pre-screening video that gives context to the film and situates it within the wider season. Azman gave the example of their recent David Lynch retrospective. As an icon of the independent cinema scene, Lynch’s passing was lamented widely and staging a retrospective of his work was therefore not exactly ground-breaking but, while every independent cinema was working quickly to programme and screen his work, KINO Rotterdam were just as quick to ensure they had an edge that set them apart. Their in-cinema and online content includes bespoke videos that use interview excerpts and other visual clips or images to elucidate the themes in the films and wider season.
KINO Rotterdam also create short video interviews with their team, including their projectionists, to highlight their 70mm film projections and to give ‘behind-the-scenes’ insights to their audiences – these are often the most ‘liked’ among their social media posts. The old adage that “imitation is the highest form of flattery” also rings true for KINO Rotterdam. Adopting the same visual style as iconic filmmakers, they create short videos “in the style of”. Azman gave the example of their Wong Kar-wai homage: a short clip of their team, filmed in a rotational 360 degrees from the rotating Lazy Susan POV, slowed down and matched to music that emulated scenes from the his films was well-received as endearing and entertaining. KINO Rotterdam don’t spend any money on print and instead focus on producing their own content, using their marketing spend for video editing instead of placing physical media around the city.
Fernando Lobo García, from Cines Embajadores in Madrid, spoke about the six ‘W’s’ they use for their social media method – what, when, where, why, who and how – to ensure they know the motivations behind their programming and marketing strategies and how those relate to audience needs. García also spoke about the need for taking risks: failure is important as it leads to significant learning and can even uncover new opportunities. Having accidentally posted an incorrect image of a J.A. Bayona film, the cinema was contacted by Bayona directly, which gave them an opportunity to interact with him on social media, something both Bayona and his fans found amusing and endearing. But perhaps even more surprisingly than this encounter is that Cines Embajadores send multiple e-newsletters daily – with great results. Instead of overloading their audiences, they optimise their engagement by distinguishing new release announcements from special events with separate e-newsletters. Owing, Garcìa says, to their website being too much “like a jungle”, the direct ticketing links to each event do translate to ticket sales. They have around 8,000 subscribers and a 50% opening rate, with 25% click-through traffic.
Felice Klop from Verkadefabriek in Den Bosch in the Netherlands, where performance art comprises a large part of their programming, spoke about their use of Instagram and how employing ‘personal touches’ as well as using the platform for quizzes and focusing on highlighting local artist and ambassador relationships has enhanced their audience engagement. Klop also spoke about the challenges of not having professional photographers and trying to get their social media ‘tone’ right, playing currently with making it “trashy and fun”. Klop also talked about the social activity Verkadefabriek launched for young people, to change the perception that they’re a venue “for your mom” or “grandmother”. One challenge, however, in trying to be inclusive and open events out to a wider ranging demographic is that if they are not clear with their communication about exactly who it is they are talking to then they don’t have clarity in audience expectation, either.
Amalia Linninger from Arenan in Karlstad, Sweden, spoke about BUFF – a children’s film festival that originated in Malmö, before it was rolled out across Sweden. The programme was comprised of six films aimed at seven to sixteen-year-olds. This, however, posed a significant challenge as attracting seven-year-olds meant family friendly marketing to parents, while most sixteen-year-olds want independence from children and parents at the cinema. “We know nothing about social media marketing for kids,” Linninger said, explaining how they learnt to pivot towards involving the older segment of young audiences in their marketing practices: “We are too old to get to know this audience, so it’s better that they do the marketing.”
Finne Tora Kristiane from Cinemateket i Bergen in Norway also talked about family friendly screenings and the need to downscale their workshops because younger children like to move around and have shorter attention spans when it comes to wrap-around activities.
Session 2 – Brand Identity & Content Marketing
The second session on brand identity and content marketing focused on different ways to add flavour to familiar recipes: Ondrej Kodera from Kino Aero in Prague spoke about creating 50 unique slides to promote their own programming and to build onscreen branding in cinema. By allowing their designer to create visual “easter eggs” for their audience to discover during the films, they have transformed their marketing materials into a new form of audience interaction.
Luka Vidic from Linhartova dvorana in Slovenia spoke about their monthly morning screenings of ‘Kino & Kava’ (Cinema and Coffee) where they set themselves apart from their competitors. 9.30am is not a typical screening time but has allowed them to create a loyal following for audiences to feel at home in watching and discussing a film for more than an hour after the screening over coffee and cookies.
Andrea Čurošová Gavalcová spoke about their programming for seniors and the challenge of trying to balance the needs of disparate demographics: if a screening time or programme is designed and marketed to one specific group, it doesn’t necessarily mean that other audience groups will not attend. This can lead to a conflict between disparate audiences – in this instance younger and older age groups, whose viewing practices (such as noise levels) may vary.
Session 3 – Tailor-made Programming: From Idea to Building a Community
Ola Starmach from Kino Pod Baranami in Poland spoke about their Students’ Night Film Club where students come for a late night screening with coffee, sandwiches and plenty of discussion – usually with a local film critic leading the charge as late as 1am or 3am. What started out as a series of screenings with an added extra has really become a strong community group that meet regularly to share their thoughts and experiences. Even in lockdown, they had weekly Zoom meet-ups. The initiative attracted a lot of press and has created a weekly film habit among young audiences.
Alix Lorsignol from Quai 10 in Belgium spoke about their multi-venue use of cinema and video games and how TikTok videos – including sketch comedy videos – have helped them reach their target audience. Connecting their ticketing to Mailchimp directly has also meant optimising data collection and analysis.
Raiko Puust from Artis in Tallinn talked about the importance of partnering with gaming brands, local streamers and E-sports teams because they already have the audience but need a venue. It’s not so much that the cinema is venturing into a new or unknown field as it is a new partnership that brings two distinct areas of business acumen together. From here, the sky is the limit because: “Gamers are loyal,” Puust says, “More loyal than others.”
Return Strategy of the Day:
The focus for the final part of the day was to break away into smaller groups and to brainstorm programming and marketing strategies for imagined – but still realistic – cinema scenarios. The first example was for the opening a second cinema venue in a small city. The first idea for developing a marketing strategy centred on the praxis of time: slow release clues, followed by a anticipatory countdown that culminates in a week-long 24/7 screening programme – with the last person standing (or sitting, in this instance) winning a full year of free cinema. Another approach was to close down the first cinema – not an earnest plan but an exercise in creative thought that utilises the notion of capitalising on change, using spin to develop press and PR, and develops out-of-the-box thinking.
Developing a children’s film festival was also on the cards, which showcased the group’s ability to plan, programme and strategize a full marketing roll-out for such an event. Further exploring the age segmentation within the wider demographic of “children”; developing local partnerships with animation and production houses, as well as with city zoos and libraries; and creating children’s film juries by appointing children not adults to those roles, were all among the ideas brainstormed and presented. A playful and inventive end to the day, these collaborative creative journeys offered plenty of sparks for future projects.