Digital StrategyMarketing Movies in a Wired World

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Contents

What is digital strategy?

1

Creating your strategy

2

Making it happen

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What is digital strategy?

4

digital strategy

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“You didn’t have a strategy”

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Strategy vs Plan

• Strategy comes first: before the plan

• Strategy takes unforeseen events into account

• Strategy can contain multiple plans

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digital strategy

An adaptable plan that will keep us focused on our goal – no matter what happens

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digital strategy

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Digital, once upon a time

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And today…

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digital strategy

Anything arising from audience use of technology that we can influence,

track and measure

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digital strategy

An adaptable plan that will keep us focused on our goal – no matter what happens

Anything arising from audience use of technology that we can influence,

track and measure

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Creating your strategy

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So you’re making a movie…

Q: When should you start thinking about digital strategy?

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So you’re making a movie…

Q: When should you start thinking about digital strategy?

A: As soon as possible

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What you need to consider

AUDIENCE

HOOKS

ASSETS

PROPERTIES

ACTIVITY

OUTCOMES

• Who will watch the movie?

• Where can you find them?

• Can they be segmented?

• Who to engage first?

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What you need to consider

AUDIENCE

HOOKS

ASSETS

PROPERTIES

ACTIVITY

OUTCOMES

• What will draw people in?

• Theme, source material?

• Cast, location, genre?

• Historical events?

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What you need to consider

AUDIENCE

HOOKS

ASSETS

PROPERTIES

ACTIVITY

OUTCOMES

• What can you use?

• Trailers, behind-the-scenes?

• In-world media?

• Interactive content?

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What you need to consider

AUDIENCE

HOOKS

ASSETS

PROPERTIES

ACTIVITY

OUTCOMES

• Websites

• Social media profiles

• Who can you influence?

• Where will you send people?

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What you need to consider

AUDIENCE

HOOKS

ASSETS

PROPERTIES

ACTIVITY

OUTCOMES

• What will you do and when?

• Who will do it?

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What you need to consider

AUDIENCE

HOOKS

ASSETS

PROPERTIES

ACTIVITY

OUTCOMES

• What will you achieve?

• Focus on hardcore fans?

• Build audience database?

• Promote cinematic release?

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What you need to consider

AUDIENCE

HOOKS

ASSETS

PROPERTIES

ACTIVITY

OUTCOMES

Look for the connections between these areas…

…each one influences the other

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Making it happen

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This is where it’s more like a plan

“No plan survives contact with the enemy”

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This is where it’s more like a plan

“No plan survives contact with the enemy”

No plan survives contact with reality

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Getting the plan in place

• Synchronise with production schedule– When is script locked down?– When does principal photography end?– When will the rough cut be finished?– When’s the premiere?

• These dates won’t affect the substance of your digital strategy, but they are critical to its execution

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1. Set up digital properties

• Create website• Set up Twitter account, Facebook page, Tumblr etc

• Think about naming strategies– Do you need to abbreviate or shorten your movie title?– What if your title changes?

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2. Roles & Responsibilities

• Who is doing what?• Who has the passwords?

• Be very clear about who is in charge of what– Dangerous when two people update a blog at the same time– Even more dangerous when everyone thinks “someone else will do it”

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3. Tone of Voice

• How should your digital voice sound?• How should you communicate?

• If someone is rude about your trailer in the YouTube comments, would you:– Be abusive / insulting in response– Ignore them– Be sharp, witty but polite

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4. Think about the Links

• Do your profiles, properties & sites link to one another?• Where are you driving people?

• Avoid playing “link tennis”, e.g. with YouTube linking to Facebook linking back to YouTube

• What’s your main property – your website? Your Facebook page?

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5. Measurement

• What data will you gather?• How will you report and share it?

• What are the Key Performance Indicators (or KPIs)• What will you do with the data?

– Web traffic– YouTube views– Facebook friends– Twitter followers– Email addresses

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6. Unexpected events

• How will you change your plan if unexpected events happen?• Is there a Plan B? Plan C? Plan X?

• Things to consider:– Delay in shooting schedule– Competing studio working on similar film– News event forces release delay– Internet audience response makes you change some ideas (e.g.

Snakes On A Plane)– Things going better or worse than expected

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To recap

Creating your strategy

1. Audience

2. Hooks

3. Assets

4. Properties

5. Activity

6. Outcomes

Executing your strategy

1. Set up properties

2. Roles & Responsibilities

3. Tone of Voice

4. Think about the Links

5. Measurement

6. Unexpected Events

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Thank you!