With roughly 330 films opening theatrically in Toronto alone in the past year, distinguishing a film in the minds of potential audience members, capturing the spirit of the film and disseminating it to the widest array of the right people for practically no money remains a challenge for promoters.

With increasing competition among theatrical releases and tighter budgets, cost-effective yet memorable promotions are often an important ingredient in the success of a film.

For many Canadian distributors, working with small budgets, narrow lead times, and ‘arty’ films means more creativity than money is funneled into promotion efforts.

‘When you don’t have huge studio budgets you have to be as creative as possible in a fairly inexpensive way,’ says Bonne Smith, publicist at Malofilm Distribution.

Alliance Releasing vp of marketing Mary-Pat Gleeson acknowledges the explosion of films in the marketplace and the commensurate challenge for marketing films in Canada.

‘There is more competition, more films, a limited number of venues, and costs of advertising have risen dramatically,’ says Gleeson, distinguishing between marketing and advertising, and promotions, which, ideally, cost nothing.

Gleeson says marketing and promotions efforts and spending hinge on an accurate read of a film’s box office gross potential. ‘It can be difficult for Canadian distributors since the money we spend comes out of the Canadian office, not from headquarters in l.a.,’ says Gleeson. ‘Many studios get their direction from the u.s. and are told what to spend; box office potential is never discussed with Canadian marketing and sales departments.’

Promotions spending is indeed often minimal and promotions efforts usually center on contra deals with sponsors for logo placement, ticket giveaway contests, and grassroots, word-of-mouth-oriented initiatives. Attracting corporate sponsors, however, can be a challenge with lower-profile films, which often aren’t immediately released nationally.

Wendy Boylan, director of marketing for Montreal-based cfp, says where releases from major studios will ‘open wide,’ limited runs affect promotions budgets and sponsorship opportunities. ‘If a film goes straight into a festival theater it ends up affecting our promotions because it dictates what kind of budgets we’re working with,’ says Boylan. ‘Companies usually want a wide release date for tie-ins.’

Kim Yu, director of communications at Toronto-based Norstar, says it’s easier to attract a national sponsor with a wide release. The distributor’s promotion for the family feature Salt Water Moose, released in southern Ontario on April 19, was the first project to benefit from the Canadian Project Pictures initiative (see p. 22).

Yu says to pick up the movie’s readily available animal/baseball themes, the Metro Toronto Zoo and Spalding Canada were brought on board as sponsors. Norstar also held a coloring contest in all the theater chains, with winners receiving a trip to Halifax.

Short lead times provide another hurdle for distributors’ promotions efforts. ‘Where big studios would know that a picture was opening at the end of July, we never know that,’ says Smith. ‘Sometimes we don’t know until a few weeks ahead that we’re opening on a certain date.’

Smith says Malofilm aimed promos for the April 19 release of Ark Films’ Once in a Blue Moon at parents as well as children. Moon-ish blue bubble gum was distributed to stores and schools in Vancouver and photos of the film’s young protagonist sitting terror-stricken before a dental assistant and her assorted instruments of torture were distributed to Vancouver dentists.

Smith says directors and stars of films like Once in a Blue Moon and Imagex/Skyline/Tele-Action’s Margaret’s Museum are also important promotional tools. The actors in Blue Moon participated in interviews as well as handing out bubble gum and flyers.

Having an international star like Helena Bonham Carter was a built-in promotion for Margaret’s Museum and meant the film opened in five cities. According to Smith, ‘everyone chipped in’ to promote Margaret’s Museum, including Carter, who did over 100 interviews across Canada in support of the film. ‘If they’re doing an independent film that they really believe in, rather than a ‘Hollywood factory film,’ they really seem to get behind it,’ says Smith.

Creative, targeted, grassroots promotional efforts are often an important complement to advertising and ticket giveaways.

Anna Maria Muccilli, vp publicity and promotion at Alliance Releasing in Toronto, says grassroots efforts like preview screenings to speed word-of-mouth are a promotions mainstay. Alliance has a large network of word-of-mouth groups and is always seeking to expand its repertoire, looking to associations or even offices which represent the film’s target audience.

For appropriate films, Muccilli says ‘opinion leader’ screenings are useful. Prior to the release of the controversial film Priest, Muccilli says a screening was held with an assortment of religious leaders to generate and disseminate discussion about the film in advance of its opening.

Michele Larouche at cfp in Montreal says placemats were printed for distribution in the cafes of choice of target audiences for a pair of recent cfp releases. cfp also struck deals with retailers like The Bay for the release of Indochine, for which the retailer displayed an Indochine theme in 13 store windows.

Muccilli says retail tie-ins, which usually take the form of contests and point-of-purchase displays, are frequent tactics for Alliance releases, especially those with book and record stores.

Opening events

Making the film opening itself an event is also important, says Muccilli, and for her, has entailed everything from martial arts demonstrations for Rumble in the Bronx and Civil War re-enactments for Gettysburg to theater lobby mock weddings and distribution of bonbonieres for Muriel’s Wedding.

Most distributors are also expanding promotions onto the Internet: all of the distributors mentioned have Web sites in the works, while Alliance is revamping an existing site.

Alliance began posting a Web site about a year ago and recently updated its Web presence into a Multiplex Site, which features information on about 17 upcoming releases. Visitors to the site can see stills and get the scoop on what’s coming up, and Muccilli says plans are to include director and star interviews, audio and videoclips, and links to the sites of distribution partners Miramax, Fine Line and New Line.

In its previous incarnation, the site hosted contests for Alliance features Johnny Mnemonic and Mortal Kombat, which Muccilli says were successful, drawing 50,000 and 45,000 hits respectively.

Muccilli says long-term Web plans include seeking sponsors and tagging advertising materials with the site to increase visibility.

Gleeson says Web sites are effective not as a replacement for other marketing initiatives but in combination with other media. ‘It (a Web site) is effective, but people sometimes overestimate its importance,’ says Gleeson. ‘The key is keeping it updated, and that is costly and time consuming.’ Gleeson says the Alliance site has great potential for promotions and advertising.

Alliance was also responsible for the first Web site for a Quebec film, Eldorado. Andrew Noble at Alliance Releasing in Quebec says the film was aimed at a young urban crowd, and though the Web site drew a modest 3,000 hits, it was spectacularly successful in terms of media attention and positioning the film in the desired hipness category.

The film’s opening was also supported by a MusiquePlus promotion and followed by a rave at a Montreal night spot.

Noble says Alliance has been approached to link to promotional sites of radio stations whereby films would get exposure on the site as well as free on-air mentions.

Gleeson says while marketing films independently in Canada can be more of a challenge, it can also be more rewarding. One of the basic principles, she says, is getting people involved in the film. ‘You have to make it fun, creating your own sense of the film’s potential and passing it along.’