THE ISOLATED CINEMA

Short List
TitleTHE ISOLATED CINEMA
BrandGOTHENBURG FILM FESTIVAL
Product/ServiceFILM FESTIVAL
Category B06. Use of Events / Stunts
Entrant STENDAHLS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Idea Creation STENDAHLS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
PR STENDAHLS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Production STENDAHLS Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Credits
Name Company Position
Eva Råberg Stendahls Agency
Alexander Skoglund Stendahls Agency
Martin Cedergren Stendahls Agency
Peter Ohlsson Stendahls Agency
Ruben Widin Dahlström Stendahls Agency
Daniel Fasth Stendahls Agency
John Boisen Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Björn Fävremark Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Robert Danielsson Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Theo Gabay Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Julia Forssell Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Fredrik Sellergren Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Hannes Johansson Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Adam Hinsch Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Jonas Gramming Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Marcus Holst Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Eric Ljunglöf Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Jakob Sundström Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Andreas Mellkvist Is This It & Tussilago Production Company
Karl Vestklev Studio Mint Production Company
Henrik Trygg Henrik Trygg Photographer
Annika Svahn Manifest PR PR Agency
Johanna Svantesson Manifest PR PR Agency
Karl Svedung Göteborg Film Festival Client
Andreas Degerhammar Göteborg Film Festival Client
Nanna Jamshidi Göteborg Film Festival Client
Anton Romanus Göteborg Film Festival Client
Linda Gester Göteborg Film Festival Client
Erik Toresson Hellqvist Göteborg Film Festival Client
Johanna Wingstrand Göteborg Film Festival Client
Jussi Öhrvall Göteborg Film Festival Client
Anton Apel Forsberg Studio Mint Production Company

Why is this work relevant for Media?

When the global pandemic hit in 2020, the Gothenburg Film Festival was forced to close its theatres for the first time in over 40 years and let the festival go completely digital. So how do you create awareness for yet another digital event when everything else is already digital? Including attracting international attention to the festival and be ranked as one of the top ten in the world? Through inventive and non-traditional media channels, we were able to create ways for festival goers to engage with the campaign on every imaginable platform.

Background

Situation: When the global pandemic hit in 2020, the Gothenburg Film Festival was forced to close its theatres for the first time in over 40 years and let the festival go completely digital. Brief: How do you create awareness for yet another digital event when everything else is already digital? Objectives: Avoid the festival going down, an incredibly challenging task during a pandemic.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

Instead of seeing the effects of isolation as a problem, the film festival chose to embrace them. When the festival theme “Social distances” was launched in the autumn of 2020, The Isolated Cinema was also launched. An isolated cinema at the far end of the sea in one of Sweden’s most barren, windswept and exposed places – Pater Noster. The film festival then challenged the world to apply for the only festival pass available. And the world accepted the challenge. By storm.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Our media strategy needed to target a broader audience than the usual festival goers. As the pandemic threatened the very existence of the festival, the strategy was activated on as large a canvas as possible to awaken media’s curiosity beyond the cultural verticals. In each of these, we then got massive repetitive exposure over 6 weeks in a row, globally.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The hero location for the campaign is an isolated lighthouse called Pater Noster on the edge of an island archipelago, which is one of the most barren and windswept locations in the North Sea outside Sweden. Out of more than 12,000 applicants from over 65 countries, the chosen one was Lisa, a film enthusiast from Skövde who has worked hard as an emergency nurse on the front line in the fight against Covid-19 during the past year. Anyone could follow Lisa’s experiences on the island through a video diary published daily from her arrival 30 January until Lisa’s return on 6 February.

List the results (30% of vote)

With zero media budget, the festival run all-time record with 300 000 virtual festival visits. (108% above objective) Over 3000 articles were published during the project, including CNN, BBC, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Fox News, People Magazine, Variety, The Economist, Al Jazeera, The Guardian – just to name a few. (3000% above objective) MEDIA REACH (with zero media spend) - 8.5 billion media impressions - $84.8 million in earned media (Source: Meltwater) ENGAGEMENT - 12 000 applications from 65 countries - 300 000 virtual festival visits (all time high record)