The article was originally posted on Howide with 838 views, reposted with 3744 views.
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Flv450Kf9USfR28NvRMhzw
Written by Jiexiao Ying 2018.07.06
Translated by Jiexiao Ying 2019.06

 

Some people believe that the studio-dominated movie market is a nightmare for most arthouse films. The budget for marketing is limited, the screens are occupied by big studios, and the audience prefers tent-pole franchise films. In order to reach a wider audience, arthouse films usually have to make a compromise during the campaigns by hiding their individualities, which makes it even more difficult to stand out. How do arthouse movies develop marketing strategies? Maybe A24 can give you some inspirations.

 

The niche market of arthouse films has challenged the veterans in the industry. They are overwhelmed in the process of marketing and publicity. It seems difficult to associate the arthouse films with a good box office record. Even professional arthouse film distributors would try to hoax the audience from watching Netflix at home to theatre by moving away from the content itself and paying more attention to the promotion of the star cast and gimmicky perspectives. These methods not only miss the arthouse moviegoers but also discourage the auteur directors.

 

Some arthouse film production and distribution companies are deeply aware of this concern of young directors and have chosen a unique marketing method to target niche markets and cultivate the tastes of the general public. Among them, A24, which has been established for only six years, but has won four Oscars, has the most eye-catching performance. The emergence and exploration of the A24 not only gives the film industry more possibilities but also brings more hope to the arthouse films.

 

A Rising Star: Catching Up with the Industry Giant “Fox Searchlight”

 

What is A24?

The information about the founder and the general introduction of the company cannot be found on its official website. There is only one simple sentence: This is the team behind Lady Bird, Moonlight, Florida Project, Lobster, The Witch, and Amy.

 

From a few interviews, I learned that the three founders of A24 are David Fenkel, Daniel Katz and John Hodges, who all have rich experience in the arthouse film industry, but they keep a low profile. They are rarely interviewed as if the mystery is part of their persona and marketing strategy. As they say, the A24 prefers speaking with films.

 

At A24, the core of the conversation is always art, and they only care about “how to make a cool movie.” Those familiar with the industry feel that the A24 is very different from the hierarchical studio system, but more like Silicon Valley, which focuses on an individual’s talent and teamwork. Employees do not have a formal title so they can challenge the founders at any time.

Florida Project was discovered by a public relations staff and she proposed purchasing it.

 

For Room director Lenny Abrahamson, A24 changes his view about film marketing. In the past cooperations, after handing over the film to the distributor, the director himself no longer participated in the promotion work. At A24, however, the director’s vision is carried  out throughout the campaigns. No one knows more about their movies than the director. This makes the marketing materials of A24 align with the film style, which in turn attracts the right fans into the cinema.

 

One of the most successful films ever made by A24 is Lady Bird. The film was directed by Greta Gerwig and won five Oscar nominations including the Best Film, and grossed more than $50 million in the box office in North America. The rotten tomato website critics once gave 100% Freshness. Lady Bird producer Scott Rudin praised A24 and wrote a message to them, “I have testified with my 60 years of experience, and A24 is the best team I have ever worked with in my life.”

 

Lady Bird’s rotten tomato freshness 100%

 

Last year, the A24 ranked 12th in the US market, surpassing the arthouse film distribution giant Fox Searchlight with a slight advantage, defeating the Annapurna company founded by Megan Allison. A24 should not be underestimated, and their experience may provide some reference for Chinese arthouse film producers and distributors.

Niche Market: Dig into the Marginal Story

 

The A24’s mavericks are reflected in their brilliant selection of films.

 

The three founders focus on the marginalized stories that are ignored by Hollywood studios. Moonlight is about the growth of African-American boys. Room is about the mother and boy who have been secretly imprisoned for years before regaining freedom. Lady Bird concerns the adolescent years and the tension between mother and daughter. A24 has a unique line up.

 

A24 team understand the value of movies and are good at exploring the overlooked highlights and traits of these films. And these film works are indeed successful, both in terms of word of mouth and box office report.  

A24’s films are favored by Oscar.

 

A24 movies have been often selected to Oscar. Moonlight is the black horse of 2017 and has won the Best Picture at Oscar. Ex Machina, with its strange and cool vibe, has won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects and introduced the audience to the future Oscar winner Alicia Vikander. Brie Larson of Room has won the Oscar for Best Actress. Disaster Artist was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay. Williem Dafoe of Florida Project was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor. Oscar awards allowed A24 to gain huge recognition in a short period of time. In addition to the strong lineup, A24’s rise also has to do with their cool marketing strategy.

 

Social Media Campaigns and Film Related Events

 

The popularity of A24 has its reason. They have cultivated a group of loyal fans with unique marketing methods, and social media has become their killer.

 

The A24 has two secret weapons: one is Watson DG, which specializes in online marketing, and the other is data research company Operam, which helps film companies generate algorithms that target potential movie goers on social platforms. A24 usually invests 95% of the budget for online marketing on theatrical release. With data analysis, A24 weaves the film info into the social media, allowing super fans to “discover” these movies and then spontaneously spread the news to friends. In other words, A24 has “persuaded” fans to persuade more viewers.

 

Most established companies are new to social media data analysis tools, and they are more used to traditional marketing campaigns. Social media marketing not only reduces costs but also easier to monitor. As a result, A24 boldly uses social media as the main method of marketing, targeting at the millennial generation, and created one topic after another with creative marketing concepts.

 

A24 successfully create a fascinating “persona” on the social platform, winning over many fans with humor and wit. In addition to their company account, they also set up social accounts for the characters in the movie and brought the audience closer to the movie in a novel way. Take Ex Machina as an example. A24 created an account for the AI played by  

Ex Machina, Alicia Vikander poster

Alicia Vikande on Tinder to interact with netizens. This move caused a sensation on the social platform, and many users interact with it. When the film was released, the box office revenue was high.

 

The success of the A24 on social media depends on its active interaction with the users. On the one hand, A24 works with influencers to attract the audience. Finn Wolfhard, the star actor of Stranger Things recommended Lady Bird. A talk show host mentioned Eighth Grade. They have brought a lot of likes and retweets of the A24 social media account. On the other hand, A24 launches a variety of public events, sometimes adopting the creative idea of super fans, which provides materials for their own marketing campaigns, but also makes fans feel listened to and appreciated.

 

To promote The Disaster Artists, the behind-the-scenes story of the cult classic film The Room, A24 encourages everyone to act a sequence of The Room directed by Tommy Wisseau in public. The most courageous competitors can win the Tommy Award. Not only did everyone gain joy in their awkward performance with their friends and the surprised look of strangers, but they also quickly brought attention to the A24 film, The Disaster Artist.  For A24, the wonderful video submitted by fans became materials for a short video, and YouTube’s award-winning videos they put together has become marketing materials for a new round of promotion.

The third film released by A24, “Spring Breakers”

 

At the same time, they are also good at turning film marketing campaigns into various social or cultural events, effectively breaking out of the circle of regular filmgoers and becoming a social or cultural topic. For example, the third film released by A24, Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers”. A24 made a spring break version of “The Last Supper” on the Internet and became a hit. Harmony Colin once told Rolling Stone that he wanted to make the most radical film, which would be released in the most commercial forms, and A24 helped him achieve that goal.

 

“Lady Bird” Twitter screenshots

 

The frequent update of the social media channels of A24 requires a lot of sharable marketing assets. In order to save energy and time, A24 sometimes modifies the contents slightly and transfers them to other social media platforms. For example, the process of a dog’s image turning into a Lady Bird poster style on Twitter can be collected as three screenshots and reposted on the photogenic Instagram

A Ghost Story Still

In addition to social media, A24 has many unexpected offline promotions. The A24 teamed up with Steve Jos Pan and digital design company Watson DG to launch the immersive marketing of A Ghost Story. Because the image of the ghost is the highlight of the movie, a pop-up ghost room appeared behind a small shop in Manhattan Chinatown. By putting on the long sheets, cutting out the fabrics for eyes, the visitors are ghosts in a minimalist style. Visitors entered the room of mirrors, lingered in the ethereal soundtrack, and reflected on their existence. After the pop-up store was closed, the audience could also interact online and held the mouse to explore the ghost’s memory. David Lowery, director for A Ghost Story, loved the event and said it was not only a marketing campaign but also a mysterious journey to explore the private experience.

 

Reinvent the Industry and Deliver Quality Content

 

A24 now is even stronger. It releases about 20 movies each year, 10 of which will be screened. Among them, 2 to 3 titles will be released during the award season with personalized strategies. At the same time, they are not satisfied with doing distribution only. They are also committed to becoming an excellent production company. In the A24’s plan, about 6-8 movies are produced each year, and 60% to 80% of the movies released by A24 is produced by A24.

 

In addition to the production and distribution business, A24 also have podcasts, issue free magazines, sell limited editions of movie franchise online, and organize music events. Its ultimate goal is to produce quality content that is not limited to a certain form. Brand strategist DeeDee Gordon said: “What’s so interesting is that they’re tapping into a new type of entertainment enthusiast. It’s similar, I think, to what happened in foodie culture. It used to be a rarefied niche. Then it became democratized. Every income level. Every life stage. Global. That is the opportunity that A24 now has at its fingertips.”

 

But no matter how far they reach out, the goal of A24 is still to produce quality content. They have facts to prove that most non-commercial films can also be of great commercial value. At least from the current results, their path is correct. The production and distribution of arthouse films still have a long way to go, and it needs new blood to explore various possibilities. I hope that this film industry will be more robust to reshape the industry ecology and help the arthouse films survive and thrive.

 

References:

①：http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/inside-a-ghost-store-a24s-strange-moving-immersive-promotion-for-a-ghost-story/

②：https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/business/media/a24-studio.html

③：http://www.indiewire.com/2017/03/a24-neon-blumhouse-moonlight-get-out-colossal-distribution-1201791026/

④：https://www.gq.com/story/a24-studio-oral-history

⑤：http://news.mtime.com/2017/03/17/1567407-all.html

 

Original Article in Chinese:

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艺术电影如何制定营销策略？看A24怎么做丨画外hoWide

编译/应婕晓

有人说，好莱坞电影市场对于大部分小众艺术片而言就像是一场噩梦。宣发费用受限，影院排片挤压，再加上备受好莱坞另眼相看的常常都是续集电影或者类型大片，艺术电影为了覆盖更广泛的全球观众，在宣发时只得“恢复出厂设置”把棱角统统磨平，改的毫无特点，很难突出重围。艺术电影到底该如何制定营销策略？也许看完A24这家公司的成长路径，你会获得一些启发。

艺术片的小众和独特，让行业中的大多数“老手”在宣发过程中都变得束手束脚不知所措，想把艺术片和高票房画上等号，似乎难上青天。

即便是一些专业艺术电影公司，为了把待在家里看Netflix的观众“骗”进电影院，也常常会抛掉内容本身，越来越注重明星阵容的宣传和噱头的营造。这些规则或套路不但会经常错过艺术电影的消费人群，还会让独具个人风格的艺术片导演感到灰心。

一些艺术电影制作发行公司却深谙年轻导演的这种担忧，选择了独辟蹊径的营销手段，瞄准小众市场，培养大众口味，其中以成立仅六年，却摘得奥斯卡4个小金人的A24的表现最为亮眼。A24的出现和探索，不仅给了好莱坞更多的可能，同样给艺术电影带来了更多希望。

好莱坞新贵：赶超行业巨头“福克斯探照灯”的A24

A24是谁？

我们在官网上没有找到创始人的信息和常规公司大段的简介。只有简单的一句话：这是“《伯德小姐》《月光男孩》《弗罗里达乐园》《龙虾》《女巫》《机械姬》《艾米》等电影背后的团队”。

从为数不多的媒体报道中，我们得知A24的三位创始人是大卫·范克尔、丹尼尔·卡兹和约翰·霍齐思，他们都有着丰富的艺术电影从业经验，但都非常低调，他们很少接受采访，仿佛神秘感也是它们宣传策略的一部分。就像他们所说的A24似乎更愿意用作品来说话。

在A24，话题的核心始终是艺术，他们只关心“如何做出很酷的电影”。熟悉他们的业内人士觉得，A24与等级森严的好莱坞截然不同，倒是更像注重个人才华和团队合作的硅谷。公司员工没有正式的头衔，方便员工随时挑战创始人。

而对于《房间》的导演伦尼·阿伯拉罕森来说，A24让他改变的是对电影营销的看法。以往的合作中，导演交出影片给发行方后，就不再参与宣发工作，而和A24合作，导演的意见是贯穿宣发始终的。因为没有谁比导演更了解自己的电影。这就使得A24的宣发与电影风格一脉相承，继而吸引特定粉丝走进电影院。

A24迄今为止最成功的一部电影是《伯德小姐》。这部电影由格蕾塔·葛韦格执导，收获包括最佳影片在内的五项奥斯卡提名，并在北美取得了超过5000万美元的票房成绩，烂番茄网站影评人一度给出了100%的新鲜度。《伯德小姐》制片人斯科特·鲁丁不吝赞美，专门写邮件称，“以我六十多年的经历作证，A24是我人生中合作过的最优秀的团队”。

去年，A24的美国市场份额名列12，以微弱优势超越了艺术电影发行巨擘福斯探照灯影业（Fox Searchlight），打败了定位相似的梅根·艾利森创办的Annapurna公司。A24的能量不可小觑，他们的经验或许可以为国内艺术电影制片和发行方提供一定参考。

精准的选片定位：深挖被忽略的边缘化故事

A24的特立独行表现在他们出神入化的选片眼光上。

三位创始人在选片时把目光聚焦在了那些被好莱坞大制片厂忽视的边缘化故事。无论是聚焦非洲裔男性同志成长的《月光男孩》，还是被囚禁七年的女孩重见天日后向死而生的《房间》，亦或是关注青春成长和母女紧张关系的《伯德小姐》，A24的选片标准一以贯之的独具一格。

他们懂得电影的价值，善于挖掘这些电影中被忽视的亮点和特质。而这些电影作品也确实无一例外没有令人失望，口碑与票房皆有所获。

这种独到的选片眼光和魄力，让A24的电影与奥斯卡一次又一次的结缘。《月光男孩》是2017的爆冷黑马，成为了奥斯卡最佳影片得主。《机械姬》诡异又酷炫，一举拿下了奥斯卡最佳视觉效果奖，并让观众熟悉了未来的奥斯卡得主艾丽西卡·维坎德。此外，《房间》的主演布丽·拉森斩获奥斯卡最佳女演员，《灾难艺术家》提名奥斯卡最佳改编剧本，《弗罗里达乐园》威廉·达福获得最佳男配角提名。这也让A24在短时间内获得巨大消费认同。除了选片上的独具慧眼，A24的异军突起也表现在他们巧妙的宣传策略上。

宣发精准到位：利用“杀手锏”制造爆点

A24的人气并非凭空而来，他们以独特的营销手段培养了一批忠实拥趸，社交媒体成为了他们的杀手锏。

A24有两个秘密武器：一个是专注于网络营销的Watson DG公司，另一个是数据调研公司Operam，可以帮助制片公司生成算法，锁定社交平台上的潜在购票者。A24一般会投入95%的预算，用作院线电影的线上营销，通过数据分析把影片讯息植入到社交网络中，让资深影迷“发现”这些电影，再自发地向朋友们传播。也就是说，A24做到了“说服”影迷去说服更多的消费者。

而在好莱坞，大部分成熟的公司对社交媒体数据分析工具感到陌生，他们习惯于传统的电视广告营销。电视广告营销尽管潜在观众广大，但是反应未知，效果难期，价钱高昂。社交媒体营销不仅能减少成本，而且能够直接触达消费者。于是，A24大胆地把社交媒体作为市场营销的主要力量，把“千禧年一代”作为他们的目标受众，以极富创意的营销理念制造着一个又一个话题爆点。

A24在社交平台上成功塑造了一个招人喜爱的“人格”，以幽默和聪慧征服了众多粉丝。除了自身的形象外，他们还曾为电影中的角色建立社交账号，以新奇的方式拉近观众与电影的距离。以《机械姬》为例，A24曾经在国外的社交神器Tinder上给艾丽西亚·维坎德所扮演的智能机器人建了一个账号，以此来跟网友们进行互动。这一举动在社交平台上引发轰动，用户纷纷与之互动，上映后票房收入也随之水涨船高。

A24在社交媒体上的成功，离不开与用户的积极互动。一方面，A24采取传统手段，与具有巨大影响力的流量明星合作。火爆美剧《怪奇物语》的主演菲恩·伍法德推荐的《伯德小姐》，脱口秀主持人推荐的《八年级》，都为A24带来了大量的点赞和转发。另一方面，A24也发起各种大众活动，采用超级粉丝的创意，不仅为自己制造了可传播用的素材，也让粉丝感受到了被倾听被赏识。

为了配合《灾难艺术家》宣传，A24鼓励大家在日常生活中重现托米·韦素的《房间》情节，最具勇气的竞争者可以获得托米奖。大家不仅在与朋友的“尬演”和陌生人的惊愕中收获了欢乐，也为A24影片迅速带来了关注热度。对于A24来说，精彩视频成为了短片素材，YouTube的获奖集锦视频又成为新一轮的推广材料。

同时，他们还善于把电影宣传变成各种社会或文化事件，有效打破电影这个圈层，成为社会或文化话题。例如A24发行的第三部电影哈莫尼·科林的《春假》。A24在网络上用片中詹姆斯·弗兰科等所扮演的角色，制作了一张春假版的《最后的晚餐》，造成了不小反响。哈莫尼·科林曾经跟滚石杂志说，他想做最激进的电影，但是以一种最商业的形式发行，而A24就在帮他完成这件事。

A24的高频率更新也对素材提出了高要求。为了节省精力和时间，A24有时也会把素材稍加改变文案，跨平台使用。例如推特上《伯德小姐》的截图三连，展现一只狗慢慢变成伯德小姐风格的过程，就可以发在Instagram上。

除了社交媒体之外，A24还有许多出人意料的线下宣传方式。A24与史蒂夫·乔斯·潘和数码设计公司Watson DG联合发起了《鬼魅浮生》的沉浸式市场营销。因为鬼的形象是电影的亮点，所以在曼哈顿中国城的小店后间摆了一间快闪鬼屋。穿上长床单，露出黑眼洞，参观者俨然是一个极简风格的鬼魂，进入镜面重重的房间，徜徉在空灵的电影配乐里，反思自身存在。店铺关闭后，观众还可以在线互动，按住鼠标探索鬼的记忆。导演大卫·洛维称赞这个活动不仅仅是营销，更是对私人经验的一次神秘的探索。

目标方向明确：重塑业界生态，提供优质内容

现在的A24已经不能同日而语了，它每年大约发行20部左右的影片，其中有10部会登陆银幕，而这10部中2-3部是在一年中的颁奖季发行，它们的发行策略都会量身定制，目标就是在让更多的影片受到各大奖项的青睐。同时，他们不只满足于发行工作，还致力于成为一个优秀的制片公司。在A24的计划中，每年大约要制作6-8部电影，在全年院线发行的电影中，也计划60%到80%的电影为A24制造。

除了制片和发行的业务，A24还开设了播客，进军电视界，同时创办免费杂志，在线售卖限量版周边，筹备音乐活动等等。它的终极理想是制作优质内容，并不局限于以何种形式呈现。品牌发展规划师迪迪·戈登说：“A24最有意思的是他们在挖掘一个新的娱乐狂热群体。这就像‘吃货’文化，最初只是个小众市场，后来全民‘吃货’，无论处于什么收入水平、人生阶段和地理位置的人们，都会受到感染。”

但不管触角伸多远，A24的终极方向依旧在于制作优质内容。他们用事实证明拍最不商业的电影也可以获得巨大的商业价值。至少从现在的成绩来看，他们的成长路径是对的。艺术电影的制作和发行依旧长路漫漫，需要新锐力量去探索各种可能，希望这股行业暖流，能够重塑业界生态，帮助艺术电影的营销发行找到春天。

-The End-

参考资料：

①：http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/inside-a-ghost-store-a24s-strange-moving-immersive-promotion-for-a-ghost-story/

②：https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/business/media/a24-studio.html

③：http://www.indiewire.com/2017/03/a24-neon-blumhouse-moonlight-get-out-colossal-distribution-1201791026/

④：https://www.gq.com/story/a24-studio-oral-history

⑤：http://news.mtime.com/2017/03/17/1567407-all.html