Like everything else in the past year, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival has been forced to go online but there’s a silver lining to it: many of the festival’s offerings are open for the public to view.
To promote this year’s fest, the festival commissioned advertising agencies Battery and Havas Media to create a campaign that included social, digital banners and a 30-second film (above) that is running across multiple platforms.
“This is a totally unique project, for our unique times,” said Battery Creative Director Michelle Nam Fischer in a statement. “In this extraordinary year of isolation, the Festival recognizes the essential need and desire to connect. So this year we’re also helping the Festival use this as an opportunity to reach new audiences who can now access the Festival in a way that works for them.”
“With this largely online festival we’ve crafted a new meaningful media experience that connects with potential attendees using customized addressable audiences who likely have never had the opportunity to attend the festival before,” said Lisa Evia, president, Havas Media overseeing Chicago and Canada. “As part of this campaign we also activated our Social Equity Marketplace that enabled us to use publishers that are traditionally underrepresented in the marketing industry and reach new, more diverse audiences for the Sundance Film Festival.”
The 2021 Sundance Film Festival will premiere more than 70 feature films on its custom online platform January 28-February 3. Films being showcased at this year’s festival include features Playing with Sharks, Pleasure, President and many more, as well as shorts and indie films.
There also will be a network of independent satellite screens—including art house cinemas, drive-ins and pop-ups—across the country screening portions of the program.
CREDITS
Client: Sundance Film Festival
Agency: Battery
CCO: Philip Khosid
Head of Brand: Mike Parseghian
Head of Strategy: Sean McNamara
Jr. Strategist: Casey Hoeschler
Head of Production: Danielle Tarris
Producer: Tyler Divine
Exec. Creative Dir: Scott Brown
Creative Director - Design: Drea Schneider
Creative Director - Writer: Michelle Nam
Brand Coordinator: Elijah Patterson
Sr. Brand Manager: Liberty Padre
Production Company : Good Form
Designer: Jullian Ablaza
Music and sound design: Jeff Moberg
Agency: Havas Media
President, Chicago & Canada: Lisa Evia
SVP, Client Lead: Kaitlyn Murphy
Media Supervisor: Jenn Mevorah
Media Planner: Alexandra Dorr
Associate Director, Social: Ashley Fletcher
VP, Group Director, Programmatic: Sarah Koch
Senior Programmatic Strategist: Tom Watson
Programmatic Trading Manager: Mandaline Dunne
SVP, Group Director, Analytics: Becky Prindable
Analytics Supervisor: Bob Burkhardt
Analytics Specialist: Jenn Rodriguez
Ad Ops, Supervisor: Chris Bridenstine