CINEMA CANVAS: COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU

TitleCINEMA CANVAS: COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU
BrandVRT
Product/ServiceCANVAS
Category B08. Events & Stunts
Entrant MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Idea Creation MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Media Placement CANVAS Brussels, BELGIUM
PR MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Production COBRA STUDIO Brussels, BELGIUM
Production 2 SONICVILLE Brussels, BELGIUM
Credits
Name Company Position
Jens Mortier mortierbrigade Creative Director
Joost Berends mortierbrigade Creative Director
Philippe De Ceuster mortierbrigade Creative Director
Jesse Van Gysel mortierbrigade Copywriter
Tom Meijer mortierbrigade Art Director
Charlotte Coddens mortierbrigade Head of Production
Lore Meert mortierbrigade Agency Producer
Dorien Mathijssen mortierbrigade Strategic Planner
Anne-Cécile Collignon mortierbrigade PR Manager
Jonas Govaerts Czar Director
Eurydice Gysel Czar Executive Producer
Lander Engels Czar Producer
Grimm Vandekerckhove Director Of Photography
Talina Casier Art Director
Bert Jacobs Editor
Joost Van Kerckhove Moxy Colour Garding
Robin De Praetere Czar Editor
Bieke De Keersmaecker Czar Post Production

The Campaign

We literally brought the cult films to the cities where they would be screened. We opened ‘Stanley’s Patisserie’, a chocolate store featuring the ‘A Clockwork Orange’ penis statue and other objects, all made in the finest Belgian Chocolate. Dangerous Liaisons came to Antwerp in a carriage, causing traffic jams and quite some fuzz. A raft drifted through the city of Kortrijk to announce Jaws. And magnolia’s famous diver somehow ended up in the main park in Genk. We even got the mayor of Kortrijk to participate in our teaser for Fight Club, making him look like he had been in a fight before he was interviewed on the news. This had people wondering what was going on. All these actions were then claimed by Canvas.

Execution

Our campaign started off with a raft and two stuntmen looking like the main characters of Jaws drifting through the city of Kortrijk. Next, for Fight Club we hacked the national news by making the mayor of Kortrijk look like he had been in a fight before he had to give an unrelated interview. Dangerous Liaisons came to Antwerp in a carriage, displaying a pretty steaming scene. We filmed this like it was found footage and seeded it, resulting in almost a million views in 2 days. Also in Antwerp, we opened a pop-up store with a 42 kg white chocolate penis and other references to A Clockwork Orange. And somehow the diver of Magnolia ended up in a tree in Genk. We claimed every stunt the day after, with a national TV commercial in prime-time.

The campaign teased people in a very entertaining way. It surprised and attracted Belgians’ interest and most importantly, local targets. We reached the right people at the right place: people who lived in the cities where Cinema Canvas was screening. Through smart seeding and PR we got a total of 354.230 euro worth of earned media in Dutch-speaking Belgium alone. We reached major news media and got public attention. Cinema Canvas created the buzz and the stunts had a positive effect on Canvas’ brand awareness. Audience share during Cinema Canvas went up by 70% and most of all, all 24 screenings were sold out in only 2 days. This was such a big success that Canvas decided to organize a second edition of Cinema Canvas next year. They are now working on strategic solutions to make the project bigger and extend it to more Belgian cities.

The Situation

We strategically used media outlets to tease local interest and spread our different messages. We placed one of our stunts in the national TV news and launched a newsworthy viral video. We even created a very particular pop-up chocolate store to catch people’s interest and raise journalist questions. We relied on national and local media to spread our campaign and reach people who lived in the cities where Cinema Canvas was screening. We used intriguing and relevant content with a publicity-generating mechanism. But we didn’t just spread newsworthy content, we literally created it.

The Strategy

Canvas wanted to re-establish its position as the one and only TV channel for all things culture in Belgium. That’s why we made a campaign tailored to the typical Canvas viewer, using film references we knew they, as film-lovers, would understand. We heavily relied on their knowledge and willingness to share our campaign in order to take our local stunts to a national level.