Who says film festivals are for staid and serious culture vultures? Certainly not the Calgary International Film Festival, which advertised the 10-day event with a colourful, tongue-deep-in-cheek marketing campaign to attract a more mainstream audience.
Typical of the quirky campaign is one TV spot where a reluctant golfer, when asked if he’s attending the event, replies: “Film festival? I, uh, think I’m having a vasectomy that week.”
The campaign, which included TV, radio, posters, newspaper ads and guerilla marketing, was provided pro bono by Calgary’s Wax, one of the festival’s sponsors that’s been working on the festival’s advertising since 2008.
Sarah Geddes of Sass Communications, who handled PR for the film festival held last month, said the festival previously focused its marketing efforts on its existing fan base.
“We can now reach that group using social media,” explained Geddes, so this year, Wax was instructed to target people who would normally never consider attending a film festival.
Joe Hospodarec, executive CD for Wax, said, “We were going after people who think of a film festival as something very serious. They may go to a ‘movie,’ but God forbid they should go back downtown after work to see a ‘film.’”
There was nothing serious about posters like the one where a man announces that: “No son of mine is going to any film festival, understand?” Or another where a woman asks: “Film festival? Is that what hippies do with their money?” Each poster has the tagline: “If films make you uncomfortable, call them movies.”
Last year’s campaign was not shy about using the term ‘film’ in its marketing to promote the festival’s quality. In keeping with the lighter theme, this year’s campaign used bright, bold colours – a dramatic contrast to the stark, art house black-and-white art work of past years.
Though Geddes couldn’t definitely say increased ticket sales were due to the campaign, she said feedback was positive to “the refreshing, energizing campaign.”
