How to achieve the elusive ‘halo’ effect

Objective

Bringing a touch of Hollywood glamour to a city more Mumbles than Malibu was always going to be a challenge.  The solution was to involve the community and encourage them to adopt their new cinema.  Tri-Direct used a multi-channel, layered approach to its strategy that really rolled out the red carpet as well as delivering on the client’s core objectives – to grow the cinema audience and capture market share.

Insight

Multi-dimensional planning was used to establish the optimum cinema catchment area. This combined an understanding of where people are travelling into Swansea from - and their main routes - the density of population overlaid with geo-demographic segmentation (to identify those most likely to visit Vue) and drivetimes.

Media

Outdoor

Poster sites were selected at: Main routes into Swansea, key junctions close to competitor cinemas, High impact sites within Swansea itself – shopping centres and higher dwell time sites, outside of Vue’s direct competitor - Odeon Swansea - and bus rears to target rural audiences and drivers.

Regional Press

Research highlighted the South Wales Evening Post (SWEP) & Swansea Herald as the best titles in terms of target audience reach and cost efficiency.

As well as the normal cinema listings, teaser ads were used before the opening event with larger ads (incorporating ticket discounts).  This was supported by high impact newspaper wraps on the Herald.

Radio

A promotional partnership was created with The Wave 96.5 to find the biggest ‘film fanatic’ of the region to actually open the cinema.

Door Drops

Using the insight findings and our free news planning tool – NExUS - we were able to produce a highly targeted campaign inviting people to try Vue with special discounts.

The Planning

Building Awareness and Anticipation:

• Posters along routes into the city and bus panels on routes that connected the pockets of rural population with the city centre. 
• A single decker bus was wrapped to add impact and with the knowledge that this would travel in and around Swansea, including going past the Odeon.
• Wraps on free sheets gave high visibility and occasion to the launch.
• Radio promotion kicked in on the breakfast shows to win a year’s pass plus a promotion to find a ‘film fanatic’ to open the cinema. 
• Local businesses were mailed with special offers for staff and posters to put up in their offices and an outbound email campaign to encourage on-line bookings.
• Additional activity included a presence at the Freshers’ Fayre at SwanseaUniversity to promote reduced entry prices for students and to capture data for future campaigns. 

The Launch

A VIP event that saw the culmination of combined media and promotional activity that had built local awareness and involvement in the new cinema, viewing it as a community facility rather than a purely commercial operation.  The radio promotion winner was treated to limo, red carpet and all the trimmings.  Street entertainers and local celebrities added to the excitement, and press and broadcast coverage was extensive.

The Results

The campaign results were clear; Vue overtook its rivals in the simplest measurement terms of all - bums on seats.  In hard figures this meant growing the cinema-going market by 6% and capturing 40% of the market in the 4-week period following launch.

This case study was a finalist in the Campaign Fresh Awards 2007