The campaign summary is as follows: 1) The film Broken faced challenges of difficult subject matter and lack of critical acclaim, so the campaign aimed to build a sense of endorsement through news brands. 2) A cross-platform campaign was launched, dominating the morning commute and screening program, to reach the target older ABC1 audience and drive box office success. 3) Partnering with news brands like The Guardian and The Independent helped overcome the muted critical response and engage the target audience across multiple platforms, leading to high engagement and box office returns that exceeded expectations.

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A challenging subject matter & lack of support from traditional news critics for the film ‘Broken’ meant we
had to create a sense of endorsement through news brands in our media campaign. Dominating the
morning commute for our specific target audience, we used cross-platform packages to drive reach &
frequency as well as a screening programme to build word-of-mouth. In using newsbrands for our campaign
we were able to overcome the muted critical response to drive high engagement & corresponding box office
success for Broken, with the film going on to win Best Film at the British Independent Film Awards.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
 To position Broken as a must see arthouse film within the opening weekend/week of release
 Connect with a harder-to-reach, older, upmarket audience who are lighter media consumers
 Gain a higher share of voice in key ABC1 Ad 35+ environments vs. competitors.
INSIGHT AND STRATEGY
Competitive insight
A review of key genre comparative film releases (Another Year, Tyrannosaur, Fish Tank, Submarine, We
Need to Talk About Kevin, An Education, Boy A, Control, Shame) revealed that budgets were higher than
our own enabling them to buy into premium placements across broadsheet press. On a much lower budget
of £50k we needed to be clear on our audience and how to deliver this impact.
Analysing the audience demographic from the above releases showed the older end of the audience was
key to hitting the box office target. On average, 46% of audiences were 45+, but represented 50% of box
office takings. This audience rarely turn out to the film’s opening weekend – vital to sustain screens at
cinemas
We were releasing within a very competitive window, opening on the same weekend were Oz the Great and
the Powerful and Parker which held the majority of screens at the cinema and would be able to achieve a
higher SOV with a larger media budget, Robot and Frank and Side Effects were competing for the same
arthouse film fan and Guilt Trip catered for an older audience with known leads.
Film insight
1. London and South East Skew – The film was releasing in 35 cinemas, the arthouse cinemas
where the film was going to be shown skew towards London and South East regions so focus had
to be weighted here
2. Britishness – Instant quality positioning
3. Film Festival awareness – Early reviews from festivals were mixed, it won best film at BIFA’s but
couldn’t rely on day of release reviews being more than 3*. Reviews are imperative for this
audience
4. Tough subject matter – In comparison to competitor releases which were opening lighter fare at
the same time, Broken was a story of families in breakdown
5. Cast – Lack of recognisable pedigree, debut director and unknown lead, Tim Roth and Cillian
Murphy were the only known cast members
Audience Insight
Extensive analysis of comparative theatrical releases and the cinema market established our audience as:
35+ ABC1 Adults + Heavy Cinema goers + Art house film fans (those who have seen an arthouse film
in the last 6 months or state it’s their favourite genre) + London and South East skew
Three key insights were used to shape the strategy:
1. The 45+ audience had to perceive this as a ‘must see’ for them to go to the opening weekend of
the film’s release
2. They have clear trusted sources – news, reviews, peers
3. They are traditional in their media brands – but have adapted new technology - tablets & smart
phones

2. Media Insight
1. Phase the campaign to allow for time to plan in cinema visit
2. Denote quality through premium placements
3. Dominate their daily media journey to drive frequency and give the feel of a bigger
campaign and put on the agenda
4. Secure London and South East weighting
Strategy and Execution
1. The target audience are heavily influenced by quality press editorial, including reviews. However
we know we could not rely on positive reviews and therefore needed to align ourselves with a
press partner to create the feel of editorial support early on.
2. To sustain a campaign for several weeks, we needed to balance reach
(Times/Guardian/Telegraph) with highly cost efficient and indexing titles (Independent/IoS) to
reach our audience and still create standout with premium placements on a limited media
spend.
3. London would represent a high proportion of our box office: we need to build from the Capital, use
quality press which skews towards London and South East and commuter press such as The
Evening Standard.
4. The Guardian and The Times were identified as key press titles – Tablet/mobile use fills the gap
when print readership drops later in the day
THE PLAN
Our older upmarket audience are naturally more difficult to reach, living busy lives to balance work and
home. As such, targeting them throughout the day was essential, gradually building frequency and telling a
story across all media channels. With such a complicated storyline, engaging them through various media
channels and providing them with information about the film through a continued dialogue across all
touch points was crucial.
Campaign phasing:

3. Independent Screening programme
Editorial endorsement was essential for buy in from our target. The bleak subject matter
had divided critics at the early screenings; therefore we
had to give the feel of editorial support early on to drive
WOM and give reassurance. We partnered with the
Independent in the form of a screening programme which
was designed by the editorial team so was in the tone of
the paper and ran online and in print.
Quality premium placements
Cover sites in the arts sections core press titles - The Independent on
Sunday and The Times – were used to deliver scale in the right
environment. To drive frequency & maximise reach beyond print we ran
Times iPad, utilising interactive capabilities to drive engagement with the
film.
Guardian Package – online, print and tablet
The Guardian was the most important title for this release. It indexes highly
against art house film fans and is also one of the best performing quality for
London and South East ABC1 readers, thus meeting two of our
implementation objectives.
To maximize reach, we negotiated a package deal across the iPad, print and
online.
Leading up to release, we used weekend supplements to encourage long-
lead planning of the cinema visit, and using the weekend down-time mindset
to engage. Heading into the week of release, we wanted to capitalize on this key time spent with
newsbrands, and drive frequency in conjunction with London Underground activity. iPad/tablet
placements ran each day to showcase the trailer, in conjunction with high impact display on
guardian.co.uk. The use of tablet/online only was not the norm in the week of release for a film,
however research showed that the iPad is consumed more than the print version during morning
commuter hours - by running during the same time as our London outdoor campaign we ensured
we built frequency as consumers saw their outdoor on their commute and then logged onto the
Guardian iPad app.
RESULTS
The opening weekend surpassed the target by 79% and a final box office of £165k made the film one
of the standout success stories for Art House cinema of 2013, going on to win Best Film at the British
Independent Film Awards.

4. CLIENT VIEW
In promoting Broken, we faced a number of challenges, including tough subject matter, a lower budget vs.
competitors and muted critical acclaim. We knew we needed to focus our spend on the right audience and in
the right environments. Historically newsbrands have a strong association with independent film however
declining print readership brings a challenge to the way we reach these audiences. Cross platform
partnerships offer a way to ensure we reach the right audiences, as well as driving frequency throughout the
campaign. Both partnerships – the Guardian cross platform & Independent screening programme– delivered
high engagement as well as reach & frequency amongst our audience. We were pleased with the results of
the campaign for Broken.
Leo Draper, Marketing Manager, STUDIOCANAL.