How To Market A Film Festival

Film Festival
Marketing:
From A to VOD
Table of Contents
Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD 1
Executive Summary: "The Genie is Out of the Bottle" 3

Stick to Your Mission Statement 5
Digital Opportunities in the Festival Space 12
Utilize Your Filmmakers 16
Timing Your Social Media 20
Team Up with Existing Brands 26
Versa) 31
36
“The New Festival Experience” 37
Acknowledgements 39
About Shift72 40
2 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

Executive Summary:
"The Genie is Out of the Bottle"
We spent several months talking with film festivals of varying types and sizes about
hybrid models, and one phrase kept popping up over and over again in our
conversations about streaming: “the genie is out of the bottle.” Audiences have an
increasing appetite for video on demand (VOD) platforms, and there’s no going back.
For film festivals, this means striking a balance between invaluable in-person events
and a digital VOD extension, creating new hybrid festivals that appeal to wider
audiences. But all the festival directors we spoke with were in agreement about one
other thing:
Marketing a hybrid festival from scratch was a challenge.
Of the global festivals we spoke with, all felt:
• Challenged in marketing their hybrid format.

• Like they hadn’t done enough to market their VOD platform.
• That they were still trying to figure out a marketing plan for future festivals.
Festivals around the world are continuing to adapt their marketing strategies in a
way that balances traditional methods and explores new and established avenues
in the digital space to broaden their reach. From podcasts to radio, traditional PR
to social media, and culinary partnership events that were used to accentuate the
theme of the film, festivals are continuing to thrive by discovering new ways to
connect to their audiences.

Executive Summary: "The Genie is Out of the Bottle"
By and large, we observed 3 broad strategies that successful marketing campaigns

employed:
1. Festival Centered
Developing marketing strategies based on a festival’s mission statement, curation,
content, and programming. All the things that make each festival unique informed
their directors of what to promote, who to target, and how to reach those
audiences.
2. External Partnerships & Tools

Working together with external resources like local businesses, national brands,
podcasts, and social media to get the word out about the festival and connect with
new audiences.
3. Data Driven
Tapping into a wealth of previously unavailable information about audience
behaviors, content execution, and marketing campaign metrics paints a holistic
picture of a festival’s overall performance with data gathered from VOD
dashboards and combined with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools.
After dozens of discussions with festivals in every category and theme, here are the
strategies from your peers that will help you cut through the noise so that others
may hear, see, and experience your voice.

Stick to Your Mission
Statement
It’s easy to get lost in a sea of similar As you prepare to market your VOD
designs, layouts, and interfaces so platform, ask yourself how your festival
many VOD platforms have, but don’t let is differentiated from the rest.
the functionality of a digital platform
fool you into thinking you have to force
• What makes your festival unique?
• What can audiences find at your

festival that they can’t find
think about how you can translate those elsewhere?
into a digital space instead of letting a
you are. • How does that translate to the
digital space?
Organizations don’t
change overnight, so I think
one of the biggest things
we had to accept was: our
nature is not going to
change just because we
became digital. And it
shouldn't, right? It's our
strength. So how do we
change our nature into
digital, not, how do we turn
into someone completely
different overnight,
because that’s impossible.
- Matt Brown, Digital Experience Lead
at Toronto International Film Festival

Stick to Your Mission Statement
For example:
Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) strength is providing
The London Kurdish Film Festival (LKFF) is unique in that it’s

the only festival in the world exclusively representing Kurdish
voices, so their digital focus is on how they’re providing access
to stories that can’t be found elsewhere and empowering
marginalized voices.
Still Voices Short Film Festival (Still Voices) is a community-

centered event committed to bringing the arts to the midlands
focused mission by providing free screenings of their short
and international voices alike.
Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) was designed to

bring cinema into the small mountain town of Dharamshala,
but their VOD platform has allowed them to grow into a major
r
status as a festival for the people.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s Fantastic Fest is the largest

genre festival in the U.S.; their VOD platform celebrates this by
alike, championing the accessibility of scarce horror, fantasy,

Balancing in-person and digital screenings:
The role of content format and curation
Venue bookings are expensive and would get one or more physical
sometimes scarce. Locations, traffic screenings with the primary goal of
and physical challenges may impede filling in-person seats and receiving
access. And the post-pandemic in-person responses to what is on
entertainment norms and formats are screen. Live chats and Q&As with
still being tested, particularly in a world members of the cast and crew would
surrounded by never-ending streams be used as one of many hooks to draw
of content. So with a clear in a crowd and all short films would be
understanding of your product that available on video on demand.
aligns to your mission:
• How do you balance where to

Single Screening Physical:
place it?
Delayed Digital For All (SSP)
• How do you create the cost benefit
balance between in-person and
digital content demand? Perhaps best for data gathering and
feature content curation, this is a great
With hundreds of global clients, and model to understand the format and
models still being defined, we’ve genres people want their experience to
identified an emergence of three take. Here, all (or most) submissions
content curation themes: would receive a single feature
in-person event with a live Q&A where
possible that would be recorded.
Physical Features, Digital Shorts
Approximately 3-4 days later, the film
(PFDS)
becomes available online along with
the recorded Q&A.
This is a slight adaptation to the
traditional in-person experience model, Using the data from this format,
except here, the short films have been organizers can make informed
segmented and restricted into the decisions on content curation,
digital space. Used by Still Voices in placement, and profitability modeling
2021, under PFDS, major feature films for future festivals or year-round
with marquee titles or representation programming.

Stick to Your Mission Statement
Hybrid For All: Multi-screen and

Online (HFA)
Certainly the most common among 1.

major festivals, HFA provides one or core values and mission statement.
many in-person screenings and
2.
combines it with a digital video on
to be seen by a wider audience.
demand offering. World premieres or
first screenings are done in person – 3. The cost of in-person vs. digital.
sometimes with Q&A – and a combined
offering of virtual and in-person Co-Festival Director Alex Lee explains:
screenings are available for selected
films throughout the festival. We choose something
to go online because
Championed by the Toronto
International Film Festival (among
the
others), this gives audiences full film needs to be seen. It
autonomy over how they choose to may only serve a niche
watch content at a schedule and audience, but as a special
format of their choosing. However, TIFF
does require films to be made available
be seen in a festival that
digitally to be eligible for competition,
and they use the data acquired during celebrates documentaries
the festival in the selection of their and the importance of
annual programming. documentaries.
The content you choose to curate on But there are important monetary
your VOD platform can help you carve considerations when determining where
out a unique digital identity that
translates to a memorable experience limited number of seats, and the cost
for your audience and exists
harmoniously with your in-person
festival. about the cost of being able to run
Take Doc Edge, a documentary to be able to recover that. We have to

organization based in New Zealand, for
example. Co-Festival Directors Alex Lee
and Dan Shanan select digital content Ironically, VOD platforms can allow you
for their hybrid festival using 3 criteria:
staying within your budget.

[In 2021] we just did one screening [per
film], so really it was a premier of each film,
whereas in the old, more traditional
festival, we used to have multiple - two or
three screenings of each film. By going
with this exclusive one screening
only, it allowed us to have more
films in the physical...and people knew,
‘If I want to watch it on the big screen and
have the special experience, this is the
time, this is the day to do it, otherwise I can
watch it online later on my own time.’
Dan Shanan, Co-Festival Director

Define Your Market: Who Are You Up Against?
In 1980, world renown business strategist, Michael E. Porter, wrote the book
“Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors,” where
the Porter’s Five Forces Model was introduced. A foundation of business school
curriculum worldwide, in it, Porter outlined the 5 elements that define a company’s
competitive environment and strategic advantage.
Defining Your Film Festival Competition

with Porter's Five Forces:
•
•
•
•
Within a hybrid model, defining your competition is a challenging exercise as you may
choose to define your reach as local, regional or global. However, the exercise is critical
as it will help define your brand, revalidate your mission, as well as determine your
content, pricing, and sponsorship strategies.
Matthew Bolish, Senior Director of Operations and Production for Film at Lincoln Center,
which oversees the New York Film Festival, observes:
A lot of us went from being these large, regional festivals to

connecting with people all over North America. People who had
been following our programs for years but could never come to
the theaters were [now] able to engage with our programs, our
filmmakers, and even our programmers through the vehicle of
[a VOD platform].

When defining your competition, Deepthi Pendurty actively seeks out
consider who you are actually content not available online and not
competing with in this space. How far acquired by larger streaming solutions.
will your market targeting go? With a brand already known for
“eclectic and bold programming,” the
• What geographic regions will be curation direction reinforces the
important to reach? decision and validates the brand
position.
• Does the expansion into those
regions intersect with other local
festivals who may be competing
for content, sponsorship dollars, Suddenly, those films aren’t
etc.? available. So then you’re
just looking for bolder kinds
“Traditionally, the festivals are your of films, or films that people
competition,” says Deepthi Pendurty, wouldn’t have heard of in
Festival Manager for Dharamshala India.
International Film Festival (DIFF), “but
suddenly, with a lot of content going to
streaming platforms [Netflix, Prime, Now more than ever it’s important to
Hulu, etc.] - that’s changed the game differentiate your festival and utilize
quite a bit for us.” curation to establish your unique
identity among your competition, which
As these services look to become is expanding and changing as
competitive in the awards circuit, many audiences have more and more
have now begun offering premium entertainment options.
content that may compete with your
festival’s curation.
DIFF has felt the effects of this new

competition: “Suddenly, you see this
documentary that you wanted is on
Netflix global and available in India,”
says Pendurty.
In light of its ongoing analysis, DIFF

focused on its positioning and went
back to its mission of providing a
national platform to showcase
filmmakers who find it tough to
compete with the massive Indian film
industry.

Digital Opportunities
in the Festival Space
Digital platforms have a flexibility that Being able to engage with
can allow your festival to make people who we wouldn’t
programming decisions that were otherwise be able to
difficult or impossible with your engage with - or maybe we
in-person festival. would, but only one per
year - we could [now]
Bring in previously unattainable have ten of them. So that
special guests was really, really exciting.
Actors, directors, and industry

Deepthi Pendurty at DIFF, noted that
professionals who previously may have
their VOD platform allowed them to
been too expensive, too far away, or too
arrange a far more curated special
busy to attend your festival are now
guest series because there was no
accessible through various video call
physical barrier.
apps, which in turn can be housed on
your VOD platform, adding an element
of gravitas and appeal to your festival. Usually, with the festival
happening physically, our
One of the perks of having a digital public programs and our
companion to your festival is that you DIFF Talks and panels,
can snag these guests more readily - they’re not so well thought
and far more cost-effectively - than out in that sense - we just
inviting them in person. plan it around who was
traveling to the festival. But
Claire La Greca, Head of Marketing and what happened [with a
Communications at Australia’s, VOD platform], was -
Melbourne International Film Festival everything’s online, right?
(MIFF) - where international travel can So we could actually really
take in excess of 14 hours (minimum) - design an amazing
found that going digital allowed their program with whoever
festival to access (and afford) far more [we] wanted to [and] that
special guests than ever before. found an audience.

Digital Opportunities in the Festival Space
Add free content to entice people to discover an emerging

your platform director or an emerging
actor in those short films.
Giving audiences access to free
content gives them a taste of what
your festival has to offer and entices Take programming risks
them to purchase tickets and content.
Several of the festivals we met with
spoke enthusiastically about the
Melbourne International Film Festival
programming risks a VOD platform
offered their shorts program (along
allowed them to take. When cinema
with some restorations and
costs no longer limit your curatorial
retrospectives) for free on their VOD
decisions, you’re free to branch out and
platform, MIFF Play, and found that 80%
give a platform to films that deserve an
of viewers went on to make a purchase
audience, but might not justify the
on their site.
physical space at your festival.
The more free stuff you put

on the platform, the bigger The form allows us to take
the box office winds up much larger programming
being at the end of the day. risks,” says Ahbra Perry,
It brings people in and it Head of Alamo on Demand.
builds their confidence, “We can put something
says Claire La Greca. that we’re not sure we can
fill enough butts in seats in
Filmmakers found that having their the theater and put it on
shorts available for free on MIFF Play the platform and see how it
boosted their careers by increasing their plays there.
exposure to an extra 3-4,000 households
– including industry types – who may
not have seen their film otherwise. For Alamo’s annual Fantastic Fest, these
programming risks have not only
La Greca continues: provided exposure and support for
People were getting jobs off up-and-coming filmmakers, but have
the back of it. Not just the also translated into a new branding
directors, but the actors, the opportunity for the festival itself.
cinematographers - it’s a
really great development One of the core values for Perry, and by
piece for the industry, and extension, Fantastic Fest, is that “[We
it’s a really great are] just here to serve creators.” That
development piece for the brand essence is carried through in
audience who might their communications and their actions

as the organization actively seeks to Increase accessibility

get film distribution through third
According to the World Health
parties or through their national Alamo
Organization (WHO):
Drafthouse Cinemas / Alamo on
Demand brands. The end result is it:
• 15% of the world’s population
Re-establishes the brand essence (approximately 1.2 billion people)
•
and commitment to creators. has some form of disability. 1
Increases annual submissions. • 2.2 billion have a vision impairment. 2

•
Firmly carves out a niche amongst • 430 million require some form of
•
the multitude of substitutions and rehabilitation to address their
competitive rivalries. “disabling hearing loss.” 3
The social and economic business case

Through the digital hybrid for accessibility is clear and quickly
festival, we’re hopefully becoming encoded into global law.
making that name more of
a brand identifier so that, Addressing these needs through
[if as an audience technology not only makes good social
member] you like a couple sense, but also makes good business
big Fantastic Fest films, sense. As one Facebook user noted on
you’re gonna come out to a hybrid film festival page from New
try out one that you Zealand:
definitely have never heard
of. As a movie lover,
“We have a disabled adult
nothing makes me
daughter and [2020] was
happier. - Ahbra Perry
the first year we were
actually able to easily
None of this would be possible - for participate. We watched
filmmakers and Fantastic Fest itself - at least 10 films as
without a VOD platform. opposed to not even being
able to see any in some
previous years.” 4
1 “World Report on Disability.” Geneva : World Health Organization , 2011.

2 “Blindness and Vision Impairment .” World Health Organization: Newsroom. World Health Organization, October 14, 2021.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-impairment.
3 “Deafness and Hearing Loss.” World Health Organization: Newsroom. World Health Organization, April 1, 2021. https://www.who.in-
t/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss.
4 Anonymous User. “We have a disabled adult daughter and [2020] was the first year we were actually able to easily participate.
We watched at least 10 films as opposed to not even being able to see any in some previous years.” Facebook, October 7, 2021,
https://www.facebook.com/nzfilmfestival

From a marketing perspective,

addressing this consumer need with We made a big push to
minimal overhead via a virtual platform require closed
allows festivals to increase: caption[ing] for 100% of
every film, so that
1 Size of their customer base within inherently just opened up
the same geographic region.
to a whole other
2 Sponsorship opportunities for
audience…So we’re looking
businesses that cater to people
with disabilities. to continue that and bring
3 Margins/return on investment on a that into an [in-person]
per film basis. setting.
4 Brand awareness as more people
can access content.
Closed captioning provides additional
5 Competitive position with fewer
[current] substitutes. benefits, too. Increasingly, audiences
6 Commitment to social good and are watching films on the go in
support for arts for all. locations where audio isn’t always
available, like public transportation,
libraries, offices, and more. Access to
Many film festivals have taken on closed captioning enables these
inclusion initiatives to increase audiences to engage in your festival’s
accessibility for those who have content wherever they may be. ESL
previously been excluded from audiences benefit from being able to
participating in screenings. Closed read along with audio, as do people
captioning is one such initiative to who simply find it helpful with
make films more accessible to those comprehension. Closed captioning can
with deafness and hearing loss. also be multilingual, breaking down
barriers to new audiences finding your
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an festival.
example of a festival taking on these
initiatives. Film Exhibition Manager and
Short Film Programmer Gabe Van
Amburgh explains:

Utilize Your Filmmakers
r
VOD platform and they’re a major selling point for your festival.
as
a cornerstone of your marketing campaign.
Ronan O’Toole, Co-Founder and Festival

their work. Director at Still Voices Short Film Festival,
takes it one step further by providing a
suite of digital tools and templates -
including their own image page on the
necessary to promote their work Still Voices website - to share Still Voices
featured in your festival: branded content.
1 Filmmakers come with their own

built-in audience.
2 It extends your reach without something that’s actually

having to do the research. worked - we give them
3 It’s cost effective. their own image, they get
their own page on our
website, and it looks really
established social media presence and
good and they share that
followers; by enabling them to self-
[information], so they’re
promote their work on your platform,
sharing something that’s
and tap into audiences who might not already branded with Still
otherwise be familiar with your festival, Voices, and we find that
all without digging too deep into your generates [traffic] to us.
marketing budget.

Once the film is launched, prospecting followers and viewers who already got a taste of the
teaser on social media are reminded that the film is now available online and in person.
Branded image Still Voices movie site
Social sharing on Instagram
By providing filmmakers with something branded to share on social media, Still Voices
enabled an organic word-of-mouth marketing campaign that substantially increased
traffic to their site.

When I saw the [digital attendance]
numbers, it wasn’t anything we did:
it was the filmmakers themselves
sharing where their film page was. And
then you saw it, quite organically, grow
across social media…The filmmakers
were great at self-promoting their
work…[and] loads of people were
redirected to the website through this
promotion, and then some of them
would sign up and use the platform.
Ronan O’Toole

engagement that we
feature to your site [thought] was going to be
missing in an online setting.
All of the festivals we spoke with So, I think that was kind of a
voiced concerns about preserving the surprise to us, that our
community and social aspects of their audience and filmmakers
really like that…this actually
they told us, is more than just watching worked better.
and where audiences can interact with

the talent behind the screen. SXSW enabled these conversations by
embedding the chat function on the
On the surface, it may seem like a VOD film’s webpage, allowing audiences to
platform would hinder these organic watch the film and chat
interactions. But if the massive success simultaneously, or simply show up to
of social media, texting, and apps like the scheduled chat and interact with
Slack tell us anything, it’s that audiences filmmakers
are more than ready to engage with
each other online. They also gave filmmakers something
to take away from these chats, says
Gabe Van Amburgh at South by Van Amburgh:
Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas
integrated a chat function into their
operations and added an Ask Me The filmmakers could
Anything (AMA) link on each individual download their chats, and
page. Working with filmmakers, cast, so people were
and crew, all parties were encouraged exchanging information in
to communicate the chat event details their chats, so it was kind
across their social channels. The of cool to be able to see
initiative was a tremendous success. that organically happen.
We were kind of shocked at In the future, SXSW is looking to expand

how well it actually that functionality to the in-person event
worked; [we were] really to connect their online and in-person
able to get that audiences.

Timing Your Social Media
Social media has become an invaluable (and inescapable)
carefully consider how and when they utilize these mediums.
Pre-Festival
Social media strategists, Buffer, studied more than 25 million social media posts
about top festivals and events from both organizations and attendees alike. They
found that people are posting about as much before a festival (40%) as they are
during the event (42%), which means there’s a lot of excitement and anticipation
for you to take advantage of.5
1. Remind audiences and filmmakers of upcoming deadlines

• Tag them individually on social platforms based on prior “competitive festival
content success” or create broad announcements for world premiere
submissions.
• If available, create contests for early film packages where audiences can win
bundles in advance of film selection.
2. Create an anticipation with special announcement teasers
• As new films are selected, using the Still Voices

example, announce the selection, brand the
content, tag the creator and link to the trailer.
3. Preview your lineup and special guests

• Interview upcoming selection creators, film the interaction, and use it as a trailer
material on your virtual platform.
5
Grate, Rachel. “Event Marketing on Social Media: How to Make Your Event Stand Out.” Buffer. Accessed November 11, 2021. https://
buffer.com/library/social-media-event-marketing/.

4. Share behind-the-scenes looks of what’s to come

• Curate a preparation video of venues, artists and platforms to build festival hype.
5. Countdown the days until your festival
• Build anticipation leading to launch with a

countdown clock.
• Offer last minute promotions or discounts to

available seats where tickets are left unsold.
6. Announce contests, promotions, and giveaways

• Work with local media or your social
channels to provide access that only
a select few will receive. For instance,
contest applicants can ask a
member of the cast a question and
receive a video response tagged with
the applicant’s social handle.
7. Share your press
• The runup to your festival is ripe with opportunities to generate buzz, create
interest, and engage your audience before the first house (and home) lights
dim. The greater the anticipation, the more likely attendees are to share your
social media posts with their friends and help spread the word about your
festival - give them something interesting to promote.

During the Festival
The festival period is full of opportunities to remind your audience of what’s

happening day-to-day and keep excitement high. It’s also when your audience is
most likely to head to social media to share pictures, links, and participate in digital
challenges.
1. Celebrate the opening of your festival
• Announce to the world that you are ready for them and where to find you and
get tickets to your event.
2. Share pictures of your in-person events and encourage your

audience to do the same
• Source firsthand, audience-generated publicity and - after vetting its source -

share the fun ones on your own account.
3. Create FOMO with festival gear
• A cultural brand event for the 26-44 demographic, SXSW added a merchandising
revenue stream to its offering and promoted it leading up to the festival.

4. Share news surrounding your festival
• Build the emotional connection to the brand and purpose or share in the
excitement and message of what you hope transcends to your audience.
5. Remind audiences of when and where events are happening
• If available, use your customer relationship management (CRM) platform (see

later section for more details) to build customer journeys that automate your
communications based on events happening or coming soon.

6. Tap into your audience’s creativity with challenges
• Create contests to build the next festival poster, or “dream cast” a potential future film.
7. Foster conversations with polls

• Rank the films for competition or choose the best-interviewed cast member – with
interviews available on demand – during the festival.
8. Remind audiences of when content expires
• Similar to #5, create a sense of urgency : a last chance

to see a film before it goes back into “the vault.”

Post-Festival
The festival may be over, but audience engagement doesn’t have to end. Keep your
festival’s spirit alive year round and remind audiences of what makes you special.
1. Thank participants and sponsors

• Demonstrate gratitude, acknowledge work, encourage
a return, and promote what’s coming soon.
2. Celebrate your festival’s success

• Data can tell a story, and your audience will love
numbers, especially when they’re part of its success.
3. Promote your filmmakers year round

• Continue the relationship beyond the festival to continue to “serve creators.”
4. Align your content with holidays and events throughout the year
• Take advantage of trigger opportunities like holiday theme offerings or greetings.
These can be scheduled in advance via a CRM or any number of social media
support platforms (e.g., Hootsuite).
5. Host free screenings to keep your audience engaged in the off season
• Relevance is critical to avoid the threat and substitute from forming. Thanks to
video on demand, venues aren’t required to maintain a physical presence. With
an annual program, you can be the destination for your year-round brand of
content with minimal overhead.

Team Up with Existing Brands
While social media may be where the bulk of your festival’s buzz
is generated, it’s not the only way to reach new audiences.
Podcasts
The popularity of podcasts has skyrocketed, and audiences are listening in record
numbers. Which means advertisements on podcasts aren’t just heard and
ignored, they’re actively being listened to. And the demographics of people who are
doing this active listening are the ones you want to connect with.
Average age: 336
37% earn $100k+7
55% earn $75k+8
62% employed full time9
45% college educated10
Listened to by one third of

Americans and half of
Asian countries11
6
“Westwood One Audioscape 2020.” Westwood One, 2020.
7
8
9
10
11
“The Infinite Dial 2020.” Edison Research and Triton Digital, 2020.
12
Sang, Yoonmo, Jee Young Lee, and Sora Park. “Podcast Trends and Issues in Australia and Beyond: Global Perspectives.”
Canberra: News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra , 2020.

agendas. As of March 2021 the top 4 podcast genres the top 4 podcast genres identified by
Edison Research's annual The Infinite Dial report:
News/Current Events (60% of weekly users)
Storytelling (49% of weekly users)
Comedy (49% of weekly users)
12
Entertainment/Pop Culture (48% of weekly users)
And people aren’t just tuning in and dropping out - podcast listeners are highly
engaged with their content.
Podcast engagement is high, 2x that of social media 13
Concentration in podcasts is also high,

1.5x that of social media 14
12
13
14

Marketing dollars spent on podcast ads There are many ways to get creative
can help you connect with large with podcasts to not only raise
audiences who have the income and awareness of your festival, but really
interest to attend your festival. And with give new audiences a taste of your
over 2 million podcasts out there, you’re festival’s personality.
sure to find some that share your
audience. 15 Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin,
Texas, who hosts the annual horror,
Beyond advertisements, being invited fantasy, and everything-in-between
as a guest on a podcast offers you the Fantastic Fest film festival, teamed up
opportunity for a long-form discussion with the popular podcast “How Did This
of your festival. Get Made?” to arrange a watch party.
Featuring Alamo on Demand’s content,
Ferhan Stêrk, Festival Director at the this watch party episode connected
London Kurdish Film Festival (LKFF) them with a huge audience with an
recounts that: appetite for their platform’s specific
type of content. Given that many of the
titles already existed in Alamo’s
Individual-run podcasts
collection due to similar movie tastes,
[are] so popular. People
the partnership came naturally.
were just reaching out,
saying ‘can you talk to us
Aligning their festivals’ missions with
for 20 minutes,’ and those
those of similarly focused podcasts
podcasts created
allowed LKFF and Alamo on Demand to
momentum…people [are]
tap into widespread audiences who
so into podcasts these
were primed to check out their VOD
days, and that helped
platforms.
quite a lot.
In the leadup to their 2021 festival, LKFF appeared as a guest on multiple

podcasts, including:
• BBC News Persian • Podcasts Kurdi

• MedyaNews • VOA Kurdish
• SBS Kurdish • Clubhouse
15
Winn, Ross. “2021 Podcast Stats & Facts (New Research From April 2021).” Podcast Insights, August 25, 2021.
https://www.podcastinsights.com/podcast-statistics/.

Partner with National Brands
Teaming up with established, national

brands can facilitate awareness of your Everyone relies heavily on
festival in regions where you haven’t national delivery online. So
previously spent your marketing dollars. whether it's [a national
newspaper] or whether it is
When Doc Edge’s film festival decided any kind of radio or
to market beyond their traditional television, you don’t have
Auckland and Wellington homes and much in the way of
target the whole of New Zealand, they regional, small city
partnered with telecommunications newspapers [anymore].
company Chorus to raise awareness of
their VOD platform. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema gained
exposure through a similar partnership
Co-Festival Director Dan Shanan: with the national publishing company
Random House.
In 2020 we were very lucky
to have a partnership with Ahbra Perry, Head of Alamo on
Chorus, a national Demand:
organization. One of their
objectives was to bring
We just did a cool
fiber to remote areas of
partnership with Random
New Zealand, so here we
House that was an
had a mutual objective
in-theater screening of a
and we worked together on
film with a Q&A with the
that. And through them we
authors, and then the
got amazing exposure on
authors all curated
the AM show[s] and the
collections for Alamo on
media that they had slots
Demand. So they’d
[booked with] that they
promote [the in-theater
basically gave to us.
screening] and their
collections [online] and we
In 2021 Doc Edge partnered with Radio
sold tickets to see the
New Zealand (RNZ), another national
film...and [the authors] had
brand with broad recognition, which
horror books coming out
Co-Festival Director Alex Lee
and it was [part of] their
emphasizes is vital because:
[Q&A], and I think that
went really well.

Team up with Local Businesses
No one has a more vested interest in Beyond restaurants, consider working

the success of your festival than local with other local businesses to
businesses like restaurants and bars. encourage the festival atmosphere for
When you’re successful, they’re your nearby audiences who can’t make
successful, too, and they enrich the it to your in-person event.
festival atmosphere for audiences
attending in-person. • Wine and liquor stores can organize
wine baskets featuring regions
Working with local businesses to create where films take place.
similar experiences for your digital
• Print shops can help create
audience can help you replicate the branded festival gear such as
festival spirit in the comfort of their t-shirts, canvas totes, hats, and
homes. more to help satisfy FOMO and
make your digital audience truly
feel like they participated.
Melbourne International Film Festival
has done exactly that for audiences • Grocers and specialty food stores
participating in their last two digital can curate baskets with recipes
festivals. “We did dining packages and ingredients themed to a
specific film, country, or region.
where you could order from some of
our best local restaurants that are very • Organizations and clubs in your
close to where the cinemas usually community may offer services and
are,” says Claire La Greca, Head of resources that relate to films or
Marketing at MIFF. themes highlighted in your festival.
Melbourne favorites Chin Chin and

Chandon created a range of meal
options delivered to customers on
opening and closing nights in 2020, and
in 2021 Handpicked Cellar Door
prepared MIFF Packs of wine and
cheese available for delivery
throughout Melbourne and Sydney.
“We also partnered up with a local
gelato shop called Pidapipo and they
created a special edition MIFF Choc Top
that you order on UberEats or for
delivery,“ La Greca explained.

Use Data to Drive Traffic to Your
In-Person Festival (and Vice Versa)
What can we learn from the music industry?
When music streaming services like Miranda notes that "In all of our
Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music became estimations, it's only amplified the
popular, many wondered what effect demand to see Hamilton live."17 Much like
they would have on the music industry’s MIFF’s free content got people excited to
bottom line. After all, if people were make purchases and consume more
paying a flat rate per month to an content, audiences now able to stream
independent streaming service for Hamilton at home have only become
unlimited music, wouldn’t that eat into more excited about seeing it in person.
the industry’s overall profits? "It forever demolishes the idea that a
beautifully shot version of your show
But, perhaps to everyone's surprise, diminishes the demand to see it live,"
music streaming services didn’t says Miranda. 18
cannibalize profits; in fact, from 2011
onwards, live music revenue and growth Matt Brown at Toronto International Film
has steadily been outpacing streaming. 16 Festival agrees:
People discover new music through

streaming services, then seek out
Napster and digital
concerts and festivals for the unique
streaming for music seemed
experience, showing that, in the music
like the end of the world, and
industry, streaming funnels people to live
Kobo seemed like the end of
events.
the world for the publishing
industry. Well, now more
And it’s not just the music industry. When
people listen to more music
the smash Broadway hit, Hamilton,
and they buy more books,
partnered with Disney+ to bring the
and the fact that [a VOD
musical into audiences’ homes, they saw
platform] can become
an increase in ticket sales to their
format agnostic only widens
in-person performances as a ripple
the reach of what you can
effect. Creator and star Lin Manuel
do [with a film festival].
16
Lavigne-Delville , Melissa, and Amanda Fraga. “The Power of Live: Global Live Music Fan Study.” Live Nation, 2018.
17
McEntee, Billy. “Lin-Manuel Miranda Says Putting Hamilton on Disney+ Amplified Demand for the Broadway Show.” Playbill, November 29,
2021.
https://www.playbill.com/article/lin-manuel-miranda-says-putting-hamilton-on-disney-amplified-demand-for-the-broadway-show
?fbclid=IwAR30M1h5n3LobSDoxzxd0DfKTG85iByIPgjHpfiQ815Db6zgN2addg5FpPs.
18
McEntee, Billy. “Lin-Manuel Miranda Says Putting Hamilton on Disney+ Amplified Demand for the Broadway Show.” Playbill,
November 29, 2021.
https://www.playbill.com/article/lin-manuel-miranda-says-putting-hamilton-on-disney-amplified-demand-for-the-broadway
-show?fbclid=IwAR30M1h5n3LobSDoxzxd0DfKTG85iByIPgjHpfiQ815Db6zgN2addg5FpPs.

Use Data to Drive Traffic to Your In-Person Festival (and Vice Versa)
The same way music streaming Customer Relationship

services have increased interest and
Management (CRM)
driven audiences to concerts, your
festival’s VOD platform can whet In its most basic form, Customer
viewers’ appetites and drum up interest Relationship Management, or CRM,
for your in-person festival. tools allow you to document your
customers and organize their
And data can help you identify the information. A very basic CRM might
users most likely to do so. contain just customers’ names and
email addresses, but CRM has the
Generate your own user data potential to house a treasure trove of
information about your users that can
Social media is a great way to get the help you advertise specific messages
word out about your festival, but it lacks to different segments of your audience.
the ability for you to gather behavioral
intelligence on your audience Many festivals shy away from
members. One of the many benefits of developing their own CRM because the
a VOD platform is the data insights and task seems gargantuan, but the
analytics generated behind the scenes, benefits of owning this kind of data
such as: makes it a task well worth the time and
effort, especially when there are several
• Audience behavior & information excellent (and free!) options available.
• Sales data Hubspot, for example, has free CRM
• Streaming reports by geography software that allows you to log sales
activity, track your customers’
A VOD platform can tell you who your interactions, organize them by
individual audience members are, postcode, and more. Other CRM
where they’re located, their viewing providers, such as Salesforce, Microsoft
habits - even tiny details like how much Dynamics, Marketo, and Zendesk, can
time they spend watching a film before help you organize your customers’ data
turning it off. Owning the account in a way that gives you a holistic view of
information and viewing data of your their relationship to your festival.
customers provides valuable insight
into the makeup of your audience and Combining CRM with your VOD
can be used to market your in-person analytics allows you to see your
festival with targeted video ads, email, customers in a specific, detailed, and
and other calls to action to those most marketable light:
likely to attend.

Location
Customer personas help you
Customers can be organized by understand the wants, needs,
postcode, allowing you to identify motivations, interests, behaviors, and
where your audience is located. tastes of the demographics who attend
Audiences who discovered you through your festival. They can help you identify
your VOD platform and are living within whether a particular customer is more
a certain radius of your festival’s likely to use Facebook or Instagram,
location can be enticed to attend your watch documentaries or dramas,
in-person events with advertisements, participate in Q&A’s or attend a panel
promotions, and partnerships with local discussion, attend your in-person
businesses. festival or watch films online, and much,
much more.
Demographics and customers
personas
Once you’ve identified these personas,
Basic demographic information you can create specified marketing
combined with VOD analytics can help materials to appeal directly to those
you identify customer personas to audiences and drive them into your
better understand the various groups in-person festival.
who frequent your digital festival and
the best strategies to bring them to For example, perhaps you’ve identified
your in-person event. a graduate student customer persona:

Persona Template: Graduate Student
Student Persona
Kayleigh | Graduate Student

Film & Media Art MFA Female student Boston, USA
As an MFA student in Film and Media Art, Kayleigh is a film buff with a keen interest in
cinematography and experimental film. She enjoys making trips to the cinema for the
latest indie films and has multiple streaming service subscriptions to support her
at-home entertainment needs. Kayleigh is an active social media user. Though she has
profiles on all accounts, Kayleigh spends most of her time posting images and
promoting her projects through Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok as, “Facebook is for
my grandparents.”
Kayleigh is on a student budget and money is tight. Her program provides a small
stipend to attend conferences and events (e.g., the University Film and Video Association
Conference), but students are advised to be selective in maximizing the cost benefit of
attendance. As such, an event must offer Kayleigh unique learning, networking, and
participation opportunities to make it worthwhile. Her university, Emerson, has satellite
campuses in both Los Angeles and the Netherlands, giving Kayleigh the option to reach
out to other MFA students for opportunities while she travels.
I want to tell a story that inspires the world. I have the vision and the creative skills to
tell the story - I just need to find the resources and some direction to
figure out how to get it done.
Traits KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
Non-technical Tech savvy • Repeat festival attendance
• Workshop registrations
Arts focus Business focus
• # of screenings attended
• Social media engagements/shares

Low budget High budget
Prefer to stream Prefer in person Pain Points

LIMITED…
• Finances to attend desired conferences & events
Goals • Connections to establish career prospect leads
• Capital to fund personal film projects for
• Look for job opportunities post-graduation
festival submission
• Network with industry professionals
• Interact with and learn from filmmakers DIFFICULTY…

• Attend workshops and panels to satisfy • Gaining industry experience to add to résumé
funding requirements • Finding sources of festival networking
opportunities, both scheduled and off the cuff
• Learn about the film submission process
• Making connections outside of her MFA program
for festivals

This persona can be persuaded to hosted digitally the year before, you
attend your in-person festival with can let those audience members who
marketing materials highlighting watched it know and tease exclusive,
networking opportunities, industry in-person events surrounding that film.
panels, workshops, and discussions with
filmmakers. Promotions aimed at And so on and so forth. Knowing the
students, like discounts, free type and number of films your digital
merchandise, VOD access, or attendees are consuming can help you
association memberships may be entice them to your in-person event to
effective at bringing this persona into experience similar films up on the big
your festival. screen.
The more specific and precise your Trends

personas, the more you can tailor your
marketing materials to draw those Your VOD platform can also tell you
audiences into your in-person events. what films are trending among users.
Tracking this information can help you
Numbers and types of film watched better understand not only how your
digital curation fares against your
VOD data can help you identify new in-person offerings, but also what kind
users with strong engagement on your of content might bring your online users
platform who may have interest in into your festival.
attending your in-person festival,
perhaps for the first time. The more This is where your CRM personas can
titles a user watches, the more likely do a lot of heavy lifting for you. Moving
they’d be interested in coming to your away from mass marketing and into
event to see film premiers, limited persona-driven marketing ensures that
releases, and special screenings. your audiences receive materials from
you that are most likely to resonate and
Knowing the types of films your users draw their attention to your in-person
watch can help you tailor your events event. Want to draw in that 20-some-
to draw in crowds, too. A panel thing graduate student who’s willing to
discussion with filmmakers or a drive 100 miles to attend your event?
meet-and-greet with actors can be Study what’s trending among their
marketed to users who watched their persona on your VOD platform and
previous titles on your VOD platform, for consider what curated films, events,
example. If your upcoming festival and social experiences you can offer to
features a film similar to one you lure them in.

Drop off rates
There are many reasons why someone who previously attended your festival may
have stopped coming: a move, illness, financial constraints, physical limitations, etc.
These customers may still want to participate in your festival despite these restric-
tions; organizing your CRM data by last date of attendance can help you connect
your VOD platform to this group and bring them back to your festival digitally.
Marketing Staffing & Resources

At this point, you may be thinking, ‘these are great ideas, but we don’t have the
capacity to pull this off.’
Luckily, many of the marketing strategies covered in this document are budget
friendly; the real issue is time and effort. Many of the festival directors we spoke with
said they see the benefit of creating new roles specifically designed to manage
these marketing, analytics, and CRM strategies. For emerging festivals operating on
shoestring budgets, partnering with universities to offer work/study opportunities
and applying for funding grants to expand your staffing can be useful work
arounds.
One thing is certain: the payoff for such efforts is worth the time put in.

“The New Festival Experience”
The shift from silent film to sound. Black content with annual programming,
and white to color. Film reels to VHS. 35 increasing accessibility, and
mm to digital. And now VOD streaming reimagining your relationships with
and hybrid festivals. Cinema has seen audiences through CRM are examples
many seismic changes since the of the extra mile that can maintain
world’s first 72 seat motion picture relevance with your viewers and make
cinema, Edison’s Vitascope Theater, your festival stand out among the
opened 125 years ago on October 19, competition. This is your chance to
1896. But one thing remains constant: establish your festival as a pioneer and
the industry continues to thrive in the leader in the hybrid space, and to carve
face of change. out your niche in the digital
entertainment landscape.
And with today’s changes comes a
saturated content market widely
The term hybrid will - those
available at audiences’ fingertips.
adjectives, those add-ons
Which is why, now more than ever, it’s
- will disappear,
important to differentiate your film
festival from others and show the world predicts Still Voices Co-Founder and
what makes you special. You already Festival Director Ronan O’Toole.
consider this with your programming,
but what else you offer your audiences
may be that differentiating factor. It’ll just become ‘the
festival’ again. I’m doing
Your VOD platform is more than just a my best to not call our
place to screen films: it’s a marketing festival hybrid - going
tool that carries unique benefits that forward, I’m just going to
can help you grow your reach, gain call it ‘the festival’...and
new exposure, and fulfill your festival’s there will be no term like
mission to share your cinematic ‘blended’ or ‘hybrid’ - it’s
perspective with those eager for new just the festival. This is the
experiences. Offering year-round new festival experience.
If you're interested in learning more about how you can market “the festival,”
get in touch with Shift72 directly: www.shift72.com/contact-us

It’s all about the art and craft of cinema
and that platform, and what better way
is there to suddenly elevate yourself to a
national brand than to stream online?
Matthew Bolish, Senior Director of Operations
and Production at Film at Lincoln Center

Acknowledgements
Our most sincere thanks to those who provided their expertise
and experience in the preparation of this document.
Matthew Bolish Matt Brown Claire La Greca

Senior Director of Operations and Digital Experience Lead Head of Marketing and Communications
Production Toronto International Film Festival Melbourne International Film Festival
Film at Lincoln Center www.TIFF.net www.miff.com.au
www.filmlinc.com
Deepthi Pendurty Ahbra Perry Dan Shanan & Alex Lee

Festival Manager Head of Alamo On Demand Co-Festival Directors
Dharamshala International Film Festival Alamo On Demand Doc Edge
www.diff.co.in www.ondemand.drafthouse.com www.docedge.nz
Ferhan Stêrk Ronan O’Toole Gabe Van Amburgh

Festival Director Co-Founder and Festival Director Film Exhibition Manager &
London Kurdish Film Festival Still Voices Short Film Festival Short Film Programmer
www.lkff.co.uk www.stillvoicesfilmfestival.com South by Southwest
www.sxsw.com

About Shift72
Connect Content, Customers and E-Commerce With Video on Demand
Shift72 is one of the world’s fastest growing video on demand (VOD)

entertainment platforms. Trusted by the biggest names in the industry, our
platform is the white labeled secure bridge that rapidly delivers the theater
and event entertainment experience - complete with content offerings
from the world’s biggest studios - to audiences’ homes.
To learn more about how Shift72 is leading the way into a hybrid future,
contact our sales team via email at [email protected],
give us a call at +64 7 838 1114,
or visit our website : www.shift72.com

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Film Festival

Executive Summary: "The Genie is Out of the Bottle" 3

2 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

Marketing a hybrid festival from scratch was a challenge.

Of the global festivals we spoke with, all felt:

• Challenged in marketing their hybrid format.

3 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

By and large, we observed 3 broad strategies that successful marketing campaigns

2. External Partnerships & Tools

4 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

• What can audiences find at your

5 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) strength is providing

The London Kurdish Film Festival (LKFF) is unique in that it’s

Still Voices Short Film Festival (Still Voices) is a community-

focused mission by providing free screenings of their short

and international voices alike.

Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) was designed to

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s Fantastic Fest is the largest

alike, championing the accessibility of scarce horror, fantasy,

6 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

• How do you balance where to

7 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

Hybrid For All: Multi-screen and

Certainly the most common among 1.

Take Doc Edge, a documentary to be able to recover that. We have to

8 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

9 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

Defining Your Film Festival Competition

A lot of us went from being these large, regional festivals to

10 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

DIFF has felt the effects of this new

In light of its ongoing analysis, DIFF

11 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

Actors, directors, and industry

12 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

Add free content to entice people to discover an emerging

The more free stuff you put

13 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

as the organization actively seeks to Increase accessibility

Increases annual submissions. • 2.2 billion have a vision impairment. 2

The social and economic business case

1 “World Report on Disability.” Geneva : World Health Organization , 2011.

14 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

From a marketing perspective,

15 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

Ronan O’Toole, Co-Founder and Festival

1 Filmmakers come with their own

2 It extends your reach without something that’s actually

16 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

Branded image Still Voices movie site

Social sharing on Instagram

17 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

18 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

and where audiences can interact with

We were kind of shocked at In the future, SXSW is looking to expand

19 Film Festival Marketing: From A to VOD | shift72.com

carefully consider how and when they utilize these mediums.

1. Remind audiences and filmmakers of upcoming deadlines