Projecting Hope
Cineplex
Issue 57 | December 2020
Agency
Zulu Alpha Kilo
Creative Team
Creative Director Zak Mroueh Associate Creative Director, Copywriter Dan Cummings Associate Creative Director, Art Director Vic Bath
Production Team
Agency Producer Houng Ngui Production Company Zulubot
Other Credits
Account Team Mike Sutton, Matt Sinuita, Jenn Gaidola-Sobral Planner Heather Segal Clients Dan McGrath, Sara Moore, Lauren Aitchison, Cathryn Levine
Date
June 2020
Background
When COVID-19 made the world come to a standstill, Cineplex, Canada’s largest theatrical cinema chain, was forced to close each of its 165 theatres. But they wanted to let Canadians know the company would be there when normal life returned.
Idea
The insight: people are not just missing each other, they’re missing shared experiences.
If they couldn’t go to the movies, maybe the movies could go to them? The task was to find a COVID-friendly way to present a film (outdoors, in a setting where people could maintain their distance, but still feel connected), but projected on a cinematic scale.
The answer was found in the form of an enormous wall directly across from a high-rise apartment complex in downtown Toronto. Residents’ balconies became front-row seats for a surprise screening of “How to Train Your Dragon”. Residents were provided with FM radios tuned to a frequency that ran the movie soundtrack.
A special partnership was formed with Skip the Dishes so everyone could order genuine Cineplex popcorn and movie snacks.
Results
Roaring applause from the residents capped off the screening. Social content was posted organically to the Cineplex social channels: there were more than 30,000 views in the first 72 hours with organic reach and engagement numbers doubled compared to other Cineplex social content. Many of the comments focused on how excited consumers were about the thought of theatres opening up again.
Our Thoughts
Did you ever see “Cinema Paradiso”? Alfredo, the projectionist, screens a movie in the piazza of a small Sicilian town. Magic moment in a magic film. “Shall we make them happy?”, asks Alfredo as he runs the film for free. And that’s what Cineplex made happen in a neighbourhood of Toronto, creating an experience none who saw the film will ever forget.
They turned the audience into a community and reminded everyone that cinema beats TV every time. Magic.