BAMN Productions: ‘Grimey’ Social Media Campaign Proposal Assignment: Social Media Campaign CCT110H5S
Group Members: Michael Tsirakis, Karam Dawood, Francival Fernandez TA: Harrison Smith (Tuesday 1-2, 0401) Due: Tuesday January 29, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS Grimey
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII
Introduction/Situation Analysis Objectives Target Audience Strategies Activities Management Timing Evaluation Budget A Note About Donating Campaign Video Idea About Us
p.3 p.4 p.7 p.9 p.12 p.26 p.28 p.31 p.32 p.34 p.34 p.35
We hope you enjoy the journey through our campaign proposal for Grimey just as much as we enjoyed planning and composing it for you.
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1. Introduction/Situation Analysis Our client for this social media campaign is BAMN Productions – a company comprised of three individuals whose main objective is to communicate stories through film and television. BAMN stands for “By Any Means Necessary,” and is a clear reflection of the company now and where they came from. It is usually tough for newcomers to produce their own content, get funding for projects and to get grants. With this, individuals who are faced with these challenges will do whatever is needed to make their films because the ultimate goal is to communicate a message through a visual medium. BAMN Production’s latest endeavor is a film that is deeply connected to the group and the writer’s experiences growing up in the West End. The company has named the film Grimey, which is appropriate in terms of the experiences and events portrayed in the film. It is a film about being young and to a certain extent wannabe kids who feel that they are something and therefore act a certain way. These kids continue to act in ways that disregard authority and rules set in place until it is a shocker and a detriment to their life – and that detriment is the shock they experience. The goal is to translate the trailer for Grimey into a full-length film; however, as with most independent film companies, collecting and having the money to fulfill this is challenging. The extended trailer that we viewed was essentially a microcosm of a feature film that BAMN Productions wants to shoot, and they want to independently fundraise money for the movie. There are reliable methods such as setting up a profile on Kickstarter – a website where people can donate and receive a return on their donation – but there are limitations to this method which include losing the personal and intimate aspect of involving your target audience and the amount of people who have 3
actually heard of the website. Although the website has these limitations, it is an adequate foundation to begin starting a campaign. We met with BAMN Productions on January 17th of 2013, and they want our ideas for fundraising money for filming and producing the full feature. One of the main characteristics that identify the company is that they are unconventional and are composed of different personalities. Therefore, the campaign it to reflect this and be something cool, unique and original. A central goal of ours is to have an effective campaign that is original and to have something that people will be talking about and passing on to their friends and family. One of the toughest goals to achieve with most independent campaigns is reaching those who have never heard of you and making them feel some sort of emotion and want to contribute to the cause. The subsequent sections will outline our social media campaign for BAMN Production’s Grimey. Our key goal is to communicate our ideas both textually and visually by including actual illustrations that we have designed that could be used for the campaign. We have developed a story for our campaign to allow all of the elements to revolve around one central theme. The details surrounding the story will be addressed in a consequent section, along with explanations discussing our thought process behind the elements that compose our campaign. We hope that you will understand our thinking behind the ideas for the campaign, and most importantly connect with the message and story we are translating through words and images. 2. Objectives By carefully analyzing what BAMN Productions conveyed to us in lecture, we were able to brainstorm different aspects of the social media campaign. These aspects are expected to lead to the company’s ultimate goal of raising enough money to fund the 4 Â
production of the full-length feature film. What we are trying to stray away from are the messages that are overly apparent from the trailer – violence, disregard of rules, love and betrayal. While these themes are made clear throughout the trailer, we do not believe they should be used to form the foundation of the campaign. Our main objective is to create a campaign that translates the message(s) of the film in a way where people can connect with the campaign and reflect on their lives and experiences (this will be further discussed in the “Strategies” section). Furthermore, by wanting to evoke an emotion in those who view our campaign, another objective of ours is to create imagery that coincides and explains the various options and ideas we have with regards to the campaign. Text will only go so far in communicating plans, and with this being a campaign that will use various mediums to communicate a story to people who are outsiders to the film, images and illustrations are required to fulfill the void that is present in those who are unaware of the film. Thus, we want people to feel something when they view our campaign, and to view themselves as the characters in the film – not in a literal sense, but in a symbolic one that may resurrect past memories that are similar to situations in Grimey. This means that we want to get people involved in the campaign since a good campaign is one that initiates a reaction and sparks discussions. One of our goals is to get people in different parts of the world interested in our campaign and to possibly donate towards the fundraising. Even if people simply pass one of our campaign items to one of their friends, that is still helping the cause and is valued because it helps promote our story. Moreover, we do not want to restrict our campaign to one avenue, but would like for it to branch out from its foundation into multiple paths in order to maximize the campaigns growth and attraction value. By attraction value we mean the 5
campaigns ability to attract people who are initially unaware of the film and are intrigued to donate or promote the film because of the uniqueness of the campaign. Grimey “Mind Map”
The above illustration is an outline that shows our goals, objectives and how we will achieve the objectives. The main goal is found at the center (“Raise Money For Grimey”), with all of the main objectives in a broad sense directly stemming off from this point. We then further subdivided the mind map into actual methods that will assist in achieving the objectives. The red lines demonstrate the relationship between how the campaign will be communicated and all of the methods involved. The blue lines represent direct relationships between the methods. For example, online and offline share a direct relationship with one another because they are both methods that branch off of the “explore” objective. The green lines represent the relationship between “online” and the methods that will take place online (i.e. YouTube, Twitter and
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Facebook). Finally, the pink line represents the relationship between “offline” and the method that would primarily occur offline – events. 3. Target Audience For this campaign there is no set target audience since we want everyone to be able to relate to our story; however, the film is most relatable to young individuals. Typically, these people would be comprised mostly of Internet savvy people who have a manifestation of themselves on at least one social networking site. One point that BAMN Productions made clear is that they want to be as accessible as possible. They went on to explain that the stories are not necessarily targeted to a certain group, but rather that they like for their films to feel universal. With this in mind, we will now discuss our two primary target audiences: young people and older individuals. 3.1 Generation Y Most of our target audience will fall under this category because of the nature of the film. The film is about being young and living in the moment while you are young and experiencing events and occurrences that people cannot necessarily get away with when they are older. A lot of the situations present in the film are ones that people who fall under this category are currently experiencing. Consequently, they can relate to the film and they will feel what the characters are feeling because they have either felt the same emotions or are currently feeling them. Moreover, we believe that to have a successful social media campaign, it has to be marketed to websites like Facebook and Twitter. Generation Y comprise a large portion of users for both sites, and are therefore more likely to share content with friends and family. One of the target objectives of this campaign is to increase what we call the “sharability” features. What we mean by this is that while there are certain items that 7
cannot necessarily be promoted online, there are others that will thrive through solely online sharing. If young people are able to relate and connect with the story, they are more inclined to share the promotional items that are attached to the film, therefore increasing the sharing capacity of the film. 3.2 Older Individuals Our other target audience for this campaign is individuals who are over 30-35 years old. While the film does cater towards a younger crowd, one of the main focal points of our campaign deals with reflection and remembering past experiences that help shape your life’s story. Everyone has some form of a past; whether it was good or bad, and one of our goals with this campaign is to have older people connect with our message about reflecting and remembering what you have experienced in your life. Although your past might not be the same past as displayed in the film, it is still a past experience nonetheless. In addition, from a monetary perspective we believe that targeting older individuals is advantageous. Generation Y are known for being innovative thinkers, and to harvest this innovation and apply it to various avenues most of generation Y are in schooling. This means that they are not the wealthiest of people, and with the campaign ultimately needing money in order to produce the feature film, targeting an older audience is required. Of course this cannot be done in an overtly direct manner since it could be more of a challenge to connect with this group, therefore it becomes less enticing for them to want to donate. However, these individuals know more people who are willing to contribute something monetary to the cause. Moreover, their children might belong to generation Y and inform them of the campaign because it strikes an emotion in various members of a family (either for different or similar reasons). 8 Â
4. Strategies In this section we are going to explain our basic plan of action in order to achieve the objectives outlined above. We will start off by explaining our idea for the “story” that will form the basis of our campaign, accompanied by a few illustrations that we designed to further communicate our ideas. While more details about actual ideas that will be implemented into our campaign will be explained in the proceeding section on activities, this section is meant to give an overview of our story so the rest of the proposal and all future illustrations you will see make sense. 4.1 The Story
The above image represents what we believe will be a valued campaign for Grimey. From the start, we were thinking of ways to connect with individuals of all kinds and ages, and one thing we remembered from lecture was that BAMN Productions pointed out that the title was purposely spelled with an “e.” While the reason for this spelling was because the main character is nicknamed Grimey, we decided to use this acknowledged spelling error to our advantage to form our campaign’s story. As previously mentioned, it is a film about being young and to a certain extend about kids 9
who feel that they are something and act a certain way because they want to achieve certain goals in life. However, by wanting to achieve these goals, the path that will get them there is sometimes detrimental. Our thought process behind our story was thinking about the film in terms of it being about being young, remembering your youth (which includes the good times, the fun times and the bad times). It is about stories, personal events, being with friends and ultimately just about being young and having a good time. However, that good time and your choices can have severe negative consequences. Overall, everyone has some sort of “youth” whether it was like the film and includes some suggestive stories and experiences, or completely different from the film and includes positive ones. Furthermore, these stories are all part of us, and even if they are not relevant now when people were young it was the best thing at the time. So, the film is called Grimey (with the added “e” because a friend of the company’s is nicknamed Grimey, and the main character is also named Grimey). What we did was use this to our benefit and extracted “ME” from the title to have it act as: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
“Me” “Myself” “My Story” “My Youth” “A story about ME” “You know MY story, now what’s yours?”
Grimey is about all of us, our individual stories, and the movie is supposed to connect with that youth in all of us and have us remember our stories and memories. So, when we think about it the question becomes, “what is MY story that has to do with or involve ME?”
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4.2 Other Strategies Additionally, aside from the overarching story forming the groundwork of our campaign, there are many supplementary strategies that we will be implementing that stem from the story. For example, another strategy we developed was not only targeting online social media sites in a direct manner, but targeting these websites in an offline way. This means that it is our goal to develop an awareness and interest of the film in areas such as schools, downtown squares, malls and businesses by alternative methods that utilize offline space and contacts. This can include holding a mini film festival, promoting the film through posters and other advertisement materials, giving a speech at a school, publishing an article in a newspaper, along with a multitude of other offline outlets. The ideas listed above in addition to others that have not been mentioned will be elaborated on in the “activities” section of this proposal. The other set of strategies that we will suggest in this proposal deal with targeting the online community. This includes creating profiles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Stumbleupon among many others. In addition, the most vital action that needs to be carried out is designing and creating an independent website for the film. This will be separate from BAMN Production’s website because in order to generate interest and awareness around the film specifically, it is important that it has its own website. In sum, our overarching strategy is to develop a story that not only relates to the film, but a story that people will connect with and one that will initiate response form a multitude of individuals. By establishing a campaign that connects with people and strikes an emotion in them, we believe the campaign will be successful. We will accomplish everything listed above through online and offline activities, which are explained in detail below. 11
5. Activities The purpose of this section is to describe and illustrate how we are going to achieve the strategies outlined above. What we have done is divided this section into different sub-headings so each activity can be easily identifiable. Under each subheading there will be an explanation of what the activity entails, accompanied by an illustration(s) to further communicate and express our ideas. (Note: This is not the specific timeline of events/activities, but simply a list of all activities). 5.1 Creating a Website On this website, the company will be able to upload videos, behind the scenes updates, merchandise that will be available for purchase, therefore not only advertising and helping with the promotion of the film but also contributing to raising funds for the full length feature film. Other sections of the website will include still images that people would otherwise not have access to, a bio page where individuals can read background stories of the characters who star in Grimey and possibly a game where people can interact with situations related to the film in a fun and engaging way. In addition, another section would be a contests section where you can hold weekly contests, and for the top five subscribers who get your pages the most “likes,â€? these people will receive a free download or t-shirt. Lastly, a blog section for daily/weekly updates would be a unique idea too. Furthermore, one interesting strategy we developed was having the trailer or campaign video play as soon as one accesses the website, and the viewer will have the option to record their reaction as they watch the trailer, and then upload their reaction to YouTube and/or share it with friends on Facebook and Twitter. This will develop attentiveness for the film and should generate interest based on viewing a wide range of reactions. 12 Â
The above image shows a mockup of a potential website to market the film and deliver content to those who want to track the film’s progress. Our vision for the website was to make it as minimal and straightforward as possible because we want the focus to be on the trailer and/or campaign video – in addition to being able to film your reaction while watching. The three main social media icons are strategically placed in the top right section of the website to draw attention to them and to provide special emphasis to their importance (i.e. the “sharability” aspect of the campaign can be achieved through social media). Furthermore, we want to draw specific attention to the type-treatment we provided to the movie’s title. Since the trailer consistently flashes back to a gun, and the trailer ends with a gun, we decided to transform the “r” in the title to represent a gun (see subsequent page).
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We believe this sets the film’s name apart from others because of the association that we have created between the name of the film, the nature of the film and the importance of the gun in relation to the characters and general storyline of the film. By rotating the gun, we were able to display the “r” while allowing people to make an association and a connection between the title and the content of the film. 5.2 Promo Cards This will deal with an offline approach to marketing and will include the distribution of promo cards (around 5”x5” in size). The purpose of this technique is that it is an effective way to spread the word about the film and provide people with a simple artifact that they can bring home and keep (or even pass along to others). Below you will find three examples of our idea regarding what the promo cards will look like, in addition to why we placed specific information on the card. Moreover, as you progress through this proposal, you will see an underlying theme throughout all promotional materials.
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All three of the cards on the previous page share the same purpose – to have people become aware of the film. In addition, the cards also speak to our story (i.e. “ME”) and this is beneficial because when someone obtains one of these cards, they are automatically exposed to our campaign and the ideas we want to communicate from the film. Furthermore, the layout of the card is strategically designed to draw attention to the centre, which is essentially the foundation of our campaign. Seeing “ME” will generate discussion, in addition to interest and self-thoughts about the meaning of the word and its importance in relation to the film. The text above this is meant to be a powerful statement that lends itself well to the film and our campaign. The bottom line of text will display the website so people are able to obtain more information (since we believe the bold text along with a sense of mystery will generate a form of curiosity in people). Below we have outlined the idea behind the statement on each card, and please note that these are three samples but many more can be generated. A: This is the most direct message in relation to our campaign because we are ultimately having people reflect on their own experiences, trying to tap into their own story. B: This card represents what we feel are major themes throughout the film (based on the trailer). C: The meaning behind this statement is that we all have a story from our past that is inevitably still a part of us. While it might not reflect Grimey’s story, everyone has a story. (Note: These cards can be handed out to students in schools, individuals in areas with high concentrations of people (example: downtown squares) in addition to other populated areas and places). 16
5.3 Posters
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Illustration of a proposed poster that will be used as a marketing tool for Grimey
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The posters you viewed on the previous two pages will be another marketing item. As evident in its design, it maintains a similar design as the promo cards. These posters can be placed throughout downtown Toronto and if permission is granted, can be placed in certain institutions and businesses. One of the primary goals of this poster is to spawn an online discussion and response through an offline method. By going to the website, people will be able to answer the question the poster asks, “Have you seen me?” Those who take photos of the promo cards and/or the posters can upload them to the website or their social networking site and tag the film in order to further increase awareness for the film. 5.4 The “Ad MoveMEnt”
Our idea with this activity is creating an ad campaign/movement (or “moveMEnt”), which is directly related to the story aspect of our campaign. The individuals pictured in 19
the ads all have a story, and their stories will be present on the website for the film. People can go read their story and then reply with an account of their own story (so it becomes a conversation about stories with people reflecting on their youth).
Proposed designs for an “adâ€? campaign movement for Grimey 20 Â
Our primary goal with these advertisements is to produce a buzz around the production of the film (of course, in order for the film to be produced, people need to donate, therefore creating this buzz is essential to the livelihood of the film). The primary location we plan to implement these advertisements are in the TTC subways. In addition, we plan on placing these advertisements in similar areas that were chosen for the “ME” posters. Moreover, we carefully considered how much information we were going to reveal on the promotional items and decided on keeping it very minimal in order to get people interested and have them go to the website for more information.
These advertisements will display a unique statement in addition to the website 5.5 Other Activities The above sections under the “Activities” heading outlined our primary offline and online methods for promoting the film. The activities listed above all implement graphics
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that have been designed by us. However, we will now suggest other activities that will be included to help produce more awareness and interest in the film. The above graphics and activities are vital because the activities listed below are moderately contingent on the prior activities. I. Use of Social Media Sites People are now using social media sites more than ever, and the connectivity and instantaneous nature of these sites (i.e. you can post something and a multitude of people will instantly see it) makes these sites helpful. For example, setting up a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube account is essential for this campaign’s success; which leads to the film’s success. BAMN Productions can post instant updates on Twitter, upload photos, videos and longer updates on Facebook, use Instagram to post photos while on set or around the city and utilize YouTube’s ability to post and share videos to maximize the viewership of uploaded videos. In addition, you should make sure to have incentives on the website in order to have people share the site with others, like other pages and to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to donate. Offer free downloads of exclusive content, or depending on how much they donate or how many people they individually get to like your page(s), they can receive a t-shirt or a special meet and greet with the company (see a rendering of a possible t-shirt design on the next page). Also, a lot of promotions are typically done through Facebook and Twitter, so it is vital that people know about these social media sites and that there are incentives in place in order to increase the “sharability” of the website. There can also be a “store” section on your Facebook page and website where people can purchase posters, t-shirts, etc and that money would go towards the overall fundraising total.
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T-Shirt Designs (focused around the “ME” campaign with logo on the back)
These designs stem from the promo card designs and would be available on either a white or black t-shirt. Other items of apparel are also available (i.e. hats, sweatshirt, etc)
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II. Host a mini Film Festival This is almost like a screening; however, it is not specifically about Grimey. The film festival can either be a collection of other films BAMN Productions have written/produced or other films that fit the genre. At the mid-way point of the festival, BAMN productions will show the extended trailer for Grimey and have a short Q&A, which will answer any questions about the film. III. Blog There are two options for this activity: create and maintain your own blog or contact a blog that is film related and see if they want to feature your trailer on their blog’s website. Option one allows for more freedom and frequent updates since it will be your own blog, although it does require more maintenance. The second option is an effective choice if you want to have a write up on a well-established blog. However, the main limitation is that you cannot make it as personable as your own and frequent blog style updates would be challenging. IV. Targeting Newspapers Newspaper articles and/or advertisements are a great marketing tool because thousands of people read them on a daily basis. The Metro Newspaper, a free newspaper catering to those living in downtown Toronto and commuters, would be an excellent choice for featuring an article on the company and the film. Since this newspaper specifically caters to those living in the downtown area, they might relate more to the movie and to the main character. In addition, if you want to target families, a newspaper that is regularly delivered in cities surrounding the downtown core would be an option. The actual article itself can be in the form of an advertisement, or a photo with
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a written section further explaining the company and more specifically the film and the reasons why people should contribute. V. Mailing List A mailing list is key to establishing contacts and people who are fans and want up to date info (more specifically, those who do not have a Facebook or Twitter page). This means whenever you meet new individuals you should ask them for their contact info and ask if they want to be included on the mailing list. Or, if people sign up on the website to get exclusive updates and news, they will automatically be added to the mailing list. Vi. The Big “Viral” Event This would essentially be a publicity stunt that would be executed in a densely populated area (possibly a mall or somewhere with a lot of foot traffic like Dundas Square). Our basic idea is that a man/woman walks up to a random individual who seems to be idle and tells them that there is someone very angry with them (male or female depending on the gender). Then, tell that same person to run to the nearest security guard (who would be specifically hired for this role and will be easily identifiable). To make this more interesting and adrenaline pumping, multiple events and obstacles will be added throughout the “course” (which ultimately leads to the security guard). Moreover, to be more effective, the name of the person should be noted when the two initial individuals (one stranger and one hired) meet. This name would be broadcasted between the team members that are involved so it becomes more personal and unique. The events that take place (i.e. the whole situation and the obstacles) can be actual scenes from Grimey. For example, the random individual will be told that 25
someone is looking for them because their significant other told them that the random individual has slept with them (hence why someone is “out to get you”). So you have to get to the security guard in order to be “free” all while experiencing Grimey’s story in the process. Of course, this is a very general idea and will probably be adjusted according to the ideas raised by the production team. However, this is our idea based on what we saw while watching the trailer. 6. Management The ideas in the proposal will require a fairly high amount of management; however, a lot of the activities can be put together if the right people are found for the job. For example, a blog writer can easily be an administrator for a Facebook fan page, or would post things about the movie on Twitter on the movie’s page in order to advertise the movie to others. This part of the activities can be managed through a very small group of people, quite possibly an individual working on producing the film since it would be most efficient. With regards to the blog, we need to think about who is going to do the writing for it? Someone with experience in writing blogs and with an attention grabbing style must be hired to write the blog. After this is complete, a lot of work should be done with that person and the production team, such as sharing ideas on what should be posted and what is appropriate to be posted without revealing too much information about the movie (you want build suspense and excitement about the film). Social Media Sites (such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) should utilize someone with previous experiences in being the administrator of a page and preferably some with experience in relation to promotions in order to be successful in promoting the campaign and the film’s message. Furthermore, close consultation with the
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production team in order to share ideas on what is suitable and what is not appropriate to post should be completed on a weekly basis. Of course a website for the film (exclusively) must be designed, preferably for the film itself (i.e. not through BAMN Production’s website because people can just type the name of the film in Google and find the website, which would make it easier to remember). The website should preview ideas about the film and what the film is about, with a section entitled “about us” so people know who they are donating to. Moreover, links should be put on various areas of the website to make it easily accessible for the visitors to go to the donations page to donate. The website will require outside management; though, this would not apply if the production company has capable programmers that can create a website from scratch. If not, another company would have to be hired to produce a website for the film.
Promotional cards and posters will need to be made by someone with a good
background in graphic design, then be mass produced in order to distribute them to people who will go around various areas and advertise. These individuals can be obtained for minimal fees because a lot of people would be willing to work for volunteer hours (high school/post secondary education students). If the number of volunteers (or helpers in general) that is required is not met, the company could make an announcement that if the campaign is successful, whoever volunteers will receive an exclusive item(s). This will work as an incentive for those who volunteer in addition to attracting people who wish to volunteer. Furthermore, as an added incentive a challenge can be set up where volunteers who raise more than “x” amount of dollars in donations will have their names placed in a special section during the credits.
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Advertisement images and newspaper articles will require professional editing from people with good knowledge relating to both areas before they are published. Then the owners of the advertising space have to be contacted and paid in order to rent the advertisement space for the film. Moreover, with establishing an email database, one would be required to set up automated emails that would send to subscribers at certain time intervals. The sent email would need to be processed by someone in the productions team before they are inputted into the system that would forward that message to all the subscribed emails (Note: people would subscribe to the newsletter/updates on the website). 7. Timing The timing of these activities is critical because if everything is released at once, you lose the suspense and “build-up” aspects of the campaign. One activity that will remain fairly consistent is the daily/weekly updates to the social media sites. For example, you can post the signs “Have you seen ME” in various locations (known), but give a clue each day revealing the location (not directly revealing it) in addition to a new location with a photo and an update acting as a clue. Then, you will have those who find the poster/sign/card take a photo and tweet or Facebook it to their page, making sure they tag the film in order to receive some form of a prize. Also, if someone finds more than one item and uploads it to a social media site of their (or the company’s) choosing, they will receive a special prize. This not only keeps your social media sites active, but also allows your fans and followers to be actively involved on a daily basis. Please view our proposed timeline on the next two pages for a detailed illustration concerning the timing of events.
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The above 2 images are our proposed timeline for our campaign
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8. Evaluation Evaluating the success of your campaign is one of the most important aspects of the campaign itself because it tells you what you are doing right and what needs to be adjusted. This displays the campaign’s level of success, and we have asked two questions below in relation to evaluating the success of our campaign. Below each question is our reply on how we would measure the success of the campaign. 8.1 How do you know the Campaign is being Successful? One way to know if the campaign is achieving success is by checking the amount of hits that the film’s website has received and compare it to the number of donations that they have received to see if they are appealing to the target audience or a general crowd (i.e. to the masses). Moreover, you can check the amount of money that has been raised at every point in time when donations were being collected. If a certain percent was met at early levels of the donation times, then the campaign is being very successful in attracting the attention of the masses. 8.2 What are the measures built into our design that lets you know that we are achieving what we set out to achieve? From an online perspective, you can look at the number of shares, likes and comments on Facebook, the number of replies, favourite tweets and retweets and followers on Twitter, and the number of views, favorites, shares and subscribers on YouTube. There are specific evaluation measures built into social networking sites that allow you to evaluate your campaign’s progress. Since a lot of the campaign deals with offline marketing in order to drive people to our online establishments, it may be difficult to directly track the success of the offline methods. However, if increases are seen in all of the areas listed above, then one can gather that the offline marketing and promotion 31
activities worked and are still working. In addition, the amount of money that is made through donations in comparison to the amount of days that have passed since the inception of the social media campaign is another measure of success. 9. Budget People can dream up large-scale events and over the top promotion techniques, but with most things there is an attached cost. For an event such as a film campaign, much planning goes into all of the details that are fundamentally attempts at making a film successful. With our campaign, the cost of all events and activities will rely on who is required to produce and manage everything. For example, the website can cost anywhere from $500-$1000+ depending on how detailed you want it. We have designed a relatively simple, eight page website that meets all requirements needed to make it a successful website. Also, where the cost shows itself is when you require flash and/or forms of interactivity. Another factor is who you decide on doing the actual coding and designing of the website. If there is someone in house that will do it for minimal to no cost it will save you a large amount of money as opposed to outsourcing the project. One of our other ideas – the TTC Ad Campaign – can cost either a reasonable amount or a large amount of money depending on the number of advertisements being displayed. The cost of one vertical TTC subway poster (20”x28”) is $170 for a four-week station-specific media cost ($95 per panel and a $75 production estimate per panel). For example, if you want ten panels for a 4-week time frame, it will cost $1700. While this is a large cost, this will be one of the most effective methods for driving people to the website and promoting the film. Thousands of commuters will see the advertisement on a daily basis, which will surely generate an interest and increased traffic to the website.
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With regards to the newspaper article, for a quarter page ad/article in the Mississauga News, it costs approximately $500. This means that it truly depends on how much space you want to occupy in the newspaper, where in the newspaper you want your ad/article to appear and the actual newspaper itself. Still, no matter which newspaper you choose, it will be read by a very large number of people, and it is an effective way to communicate why Grimey needs to be fully produced. The design and printing costs of the promotional materials will depend on if these tasks can be accomplished in house or if other individuals will be required and will charge a higher price. The main cost here will be printing the materials because you want the colours to pop, the graphics to be clear and have the advertisements (not so much the promo cards and the posters) to be on a quality material. Furthermore, the film festival’s main cost will be finding a place to host the event – unless the company already has a place from past events that can be used for little to no cost. The campaign video would be another hefty cost; however, the actual cost depends on how much production the company wants to invest into the video. Moreover, the big/viral event can be accomplished by hiring volunteers to act out different parts of this event, and if not volunteers you will want to hire people who do not require a large fee. In addition, for the actual distribution of the promotional items, volunteers would be hired at no cost and can receive school credit/credit hours for volunteering with the campaign. Overall, there are a few items and activities that require a high investment, but the return on the investments will achieve the overall goal – creating an effective campaign that communicates a story to everyone. Through this process, we will raise enough money to produce the full version of Grimey. 33
10. A Note About Donating It might be a good idea to have certain perks for donators. As an example, we have outlined some ideas below (as always, they are completely adjustable): 1. Donate $25: receive a half price ticket when the film is released. 2. Donate $50: receive a free ticket when the film is released and copy of the promotional poster. 3. Donate $100: receive a ticket, a poster and a shirt for the movie. 4. Donate $250: receive multiple tickets; a poster, a shirt and a signed thank you from BAMN Productions. 5. Donate $500+: everything that has been mentioned plus the donators name would be in the ending credits under a special thanks section and a special behind the scenes look at the production of the film. Something like this can be carried out either on the film’s website or through Kickstarter or Indiegogo. In addition, please view our campaign video idea below. 11. Campaign Video Idea Our idea for the campaign video is to make it a personal story, with a somewhat serious tone. Have it begin with various shots of downtown Toronto and different areas of the outskirts of the city. There can be 3-4 individuals featured in the film, with the last one being Grimey. They all have different stories, and the campaign video is meant to give viewers an inside look into the lives and past experiences of these individuals. This is meant to connect with everyone and for the masses to understand why the message that emerges from Grimey needs to be heard by all. In addition, segments with BAMN Productions explaining their idea behind the film will also be included.
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BONUS IDEA: APP This is our extra idea that we thought up for the campaign. While it was the final idea we had, we believe it will also be one of the most effective tools for reaching out to those who live outside Ontario (more specifically, those who live in the United States). One of the challenges with the campaign is connecting with and finding those who have no idea who BAMN Productions is and are unaware of the film. Therefore, we consider creating an app to be a useful way to connect with that twenty-five year old living in Ohio who might share a similar story to Grimey. In terms of the actual app itself, we want it to maintain a minimal design, have an efficient user interface design and we want it to serve a specific purpose that is similar to our campaign overall. One possible idea is integrating a very simple game (maybe similar to the one found on the website). The user can be Grimey and has to run through a series of stages to get to the “safe zone” (so in the app you will run into various obstacles/challenges, just like Grimey faces in the film). With this idea, people can invite friends who have the app and can play a two-player mode where they can help each other through the stages. Another idea that might be more cost effective is to have an app that strays away from the traditional idea of an app being a game, and have them explore the lives and stories of those who submit their stories online and who are featured in the advertisements for the campaign itself (this will be known as the “explore” section of the app). Moreover, the app will allow the user to connect with the
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website with one simple click of the button, which is a great way to increase traffic to the website and generate interest in Grimey. As a final note, the user will find three social media icons located in the bottom right section of the screen. These are the same as the icons found on the website, and allow for easy access to various social media sites directly through the app. In terms of connectivity and appealing and attracting the masses from all parts of the world, creating an app is a great way to accomplish this. Apps are on the rise and are effective in various avenues, which makes having an app a benefit to this campaign.
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