11. Anything arising from audience use
of technology that we can influence,
track and measure
digital
strategy
11
12. Anything arising from audience use
of technology that we can influence,
track and measure
digital
strategy An adaptable plan that will keep us
focused on our goal – no matter
what happens
12
14. So you’re making a movie…
Q: When should you start thinking about digital strategy?
14
15. So you’re making a movie…
Q: When should you start thinking about digital strategy?
A: As soon as possible
15
16. What you need to consider
AUDIENCE • Who will watch the movie?
• Where can you find them?
HOOKS
• Can they be segmented?
ASSETS • Who to engage first?
PROPERTIES
ACTIVITY
OUTCOMES
16
17. What you need to consider
AUDIENCE
• What will draw people in?
HOOKS • Theme, source material?
ASSETS
• Cast, location, genre?
• Historical events?
PROPERTIES
ACTIVITY
OUTCOMES
17
18. What you need to consider
AUDIENCE
HOOKS
• What can you use?
• Trailers, behind-the-scenes?
ASSETS
• In-world media?
PROPERTIES • Interactive content?
ACTIVITY
OUTCOMES
18
19. What you need to consider
AUDIENCE
HOOKS
• Websites
ASSETS
• Social media profiles
PROPERTIES • Who can you influence?
• Where will you send people?
ACTIVITY
OUTCOMES
19
20. What you need to consider
AUDIENCE
HOOKS
ASSETS • What will you do and when?
• Who will do it?
PROPERTIES
ACTIVITY
OUTCOMES
20
21. What you need to consider
AUDIENCE
HOOKS
ASSETS
• What will you achieve?
PROPERTIES • Focus on hardcore fans?
• Build audience database?
ACTIVITY
• Promote cinematic release?
OUTCOMES
21
22. What you need to consider
AUDIENCE
Look for the
connections HOOKS
between these
areas… ASSETS
PROPERTIES
…each one
ACTIVITY influences the other
OUTCOMES
22
24. This is where it’s more like a plan
“No plan survives contact with
the enemy”
24
25. This is where it’s more like a plan
“No plan survives contact with
the enemy”
No plan survives contact
with reality
25
26. 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
26
27. 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?
27
28. 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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29. 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
29
30. 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?
30
31. 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
31
32. 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
32
33. To recap
Creating your strategy Executing your strategy
1. Audience 1. Set up properties
2. Hooks 2. Roles & Responsibilities
3. Assets 3. Tone of Voice
4. Properties 4. Think about the Links
5. Activity 5. Measurement
6. Outcomes 6. Unexpected Events
33
If you watch the apprentice…you'll have heard people say things like "we didn't have a strategy" - but do we really know what it means?
Plan vs StrategyStrategy comes first: before the planStrategy needs to take into account different eventualities and unforeseen eventsStrategy can contain multiple plans which would kick off at different stages, or in different events
So we need a strategy to begin with - when we know very little, when anything might happen - and if is a good one we'll still be using it when nearly everything has been said and done
Now “digital” – what do you think it means?
Go back a few years and this generally meant "the web"
But today it means a lot more than that, every year there are more networks, services, websites to consider. Overlap between digital and analogue worlds… when you go to a venue that used to be an analogue event but (app) it's digital now: expect more of that in future
however if the cinema has a computer system that tracks ticket purchases, that doesn't really fall into this definitionSo I'd say a good working definition is "anything arising from audience use of technology that we can track & measure"
So that's "Digital" and "strategy"
OK so you're working on a film and you need to have a digital strategy in place. When should you start thinking about it
It’s never too early. Start early and you can shape what you shoot, capture footage etc
do your cast or crew or production company have websites or twitter accounts you can use?Maybe create a flow diagramshowing where you expect people to go, e.g. see a trailer posted on a forum, view it on youtube, look at facebook page, friend us, etc
Is your digital strategy to focus only on hardcore fans and expect them to evangelise the film on your behalf? Then maybe you want to concentrate more on direct approaches to bloggers and critics, rather than building rich interactive promotional gamesIs your film likely to get a limited release at certain cinemas? Then maybe you want to get contact details and postcodes of potential audience members, so you can directly contact them when your movie is screening near their house ("geo-location")
For example, as you get an understanding of the sites, networks, blogs, forums etc your audience is using, this will influence the properties you choose. Or the hooks in your film will influence the assets that form part of your campaign. If your film's about a comic book author, for example, you could consider making the in-movie comics central
