a24casestudy-blog

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A24 is an American entertainment company. It was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, John Hodges, and David Fenkel, three men who previously worked in film production.

 Its main activity is the distribution of independent movies. A film distributor buys movies from production companies; it is responsible for the release of movies. Its main role is to promote its films.

  These last four years, A24 managed to have commercial and critical success for some of their movies.

A24’s accomplishments peaked in February 2017, when their movie Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is A24's highest-grossing release ever at the box-office.

 A24 has garnered attention for its marketing strategy, which stood out from the traditional model set by other independent film distributors. What is this marketing strategy and how did it turn A24 into a successful brand?

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What is an independent movie? Giving a simple definition nowadays would be difficult. Traditionally, a movie was labeled as independent if it was produced outside of the Hollywood studio system. This system includes six big film studios which are owned by media conglomerates. But since the late 1990s, most of these conglomerates have an independent film subdivision:

Many film companies specializing in independent cinema exist outside of the big studio system. Only a few of them have succeeded in making a name for themselves in Hollywood. The most emblematic example of these mid-level film companies was, until recently, The Weinstein Company.  

Now, in the media, it is widely accepted that an "independent movie" is not actually independent. It qualifies any movie that is not a blockbuster and thus is expected to do less at the box office. It can also match the definition of an arthouse movie.

 An independent movie can have two types of fate in the U.S :

If the distributor believes in the movie, then they release it during award season (between September and December) so that the movie can garner award attention.

If the distributor does not fully believe in the movie, either because it has no star in it or because it is bad, the movie is released at any other time of the year. It usually gets almost no promotion.

    Most of the time, Hollywood studios prefer developing innovative marketing campaigns for their blockbusters. In their independent subdivisions, they adopt a traditional and safer way of promoting movies with billboards and TV spots. The main audience for independent movies in the U.S. is old and metropolitan. It explains why distribution companies do not try to innovate and to explore the possibilities offered by digital platforms.

 Indeed, the recent advent of social media has not been fully incorporated in traditional distributors' plans. Studios like Fox Searchlight or Sony Pictures Classics do the bare minimum on their social media accounts, where they post limited content.

  It is precisely in the digital field that A24 stood out from other distributors. As we will see, A24 adopted a marketing strategy that targeted a younger audience.

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In 2015, A24 received unprecedented coverage for the marketing stunt that promoted their movie Ex Machina.

Ex Machina tells the story of a programmer who is invited to interact with Ava, a humanoid robot who looks like a young woman. It could be seen as a difficult movie to promote. It belongs to the rare genre of science fiction movies that are not also action movies. The film’s script requires the audience to understand the Turing test and to be familiar with the stakes raised by the emergence of artificial intelligence. Its actors (Oscar Isaac, Domnhall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander) were relatively unknown to a mainstream audience in 2015.

 A24 decided to generate buzz around the movie at SXSW (South by Southwest), a major festival that takes place each year in Austin. The choice of SXSW is already interesting; the film division of the festival showcases innovative filmmaking but also features premieres of blockbusters. Concerts and conferences on technology are also held at SXSW. It means that a wide range of people was present in Austin when A24 screened the movie there: film critics, journalists, people working in the tech industry.

 SXSW attendees were precisely the target audience of A24’s publicity stunt. A24 set up a profile for Ava (the robot in Ex Machina) on Tinder, a popular dating app which is location-based. Tinder users who were in Austin during SXSW could stumble upon the profile of a 25-year-old woman (A24 used pictures of actress Alicia Vikander). When they engaged with Ava, it was actually a bot that answered with questions such as “have you ever been in love?”. The Tinder conversion quickly ended with Ava telling the user to take a look at her Instagram page. It was only on Instagram that the stunt became apparent. The Instagram page "meetava" featured a trailer for the movie, information about the festival screening, and a link to an interactive website where "Ava" would draw a picture of you.

  This marketing strategy was particularly effective. The Tinder scam was not meant to reach a lot of people but only key people who were in position of sharing news about the movie. It became viral. During SXSW, you would find two types of articles on digital media about Ex Machina. They were the good reviews of the movie written by film critics. But articles about Ex Machina were also published in the tech or business sections; journalists praised A24's marketing campaign and commented on the artificial intelligence issues that were raised by the movie.

Ex Machina appeared not just as a good movie but as a movie that was relevant to current debates.

 Ex Machina was released in the U.S. in April 2015 (outside of award season). It was a moderate commercial success. But, more surprisingly, the movie went on to win an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, beating the new Star Wars movie.

  Three key aspects of A24's general marketing strategy can be outlined from the example of Ex Machina.

  T A R G E T E D  C A M P A I G N

Given the theme of their movie, A24 chose to target an audience that was not usually the concern of independent distributors: young people. They thought that Ex Machina could interest attendees of the festival who did not necessarily care about independent cinema.

  D I G I T A L  M A R K E T I N G

If A24 wanted to reach young people, they had to use digital platforms, like Tinder. Their strategy was also based on cross-channel marketing: they used Tinder, Instagram, a website.

Thanks to this multiplication of platforms, A24 managed to create transmedia storytelling: their online marketing expanded on the universe of the movie, which contributed to building an identity around Ex Machina.

 B U I L D I N G  A N  I D E N T I T Y

A24's marketing campaign was specifically tailored for Ex Machina. All the promotional material was designed in relation to the themes that are examined in the film. It looked as if their strategy was well thought-out and not opportunistic. There was an actual dialogue between the content of the film and their campaign. It was part of building a strong identity for the movie.

Now, let’s take a look at A24 in more general terms with three points:

- A24’s bold posters

- A24’s social media presence

- A24’s strong branding

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The release of posters is a big part of a distribution company's role. Since its creation, A24 has been known to deliver high-quality posters that would generate attention around their movies.

  Sometimes A24 makes bold choices concerning the graphic design of its posters. For instance, for The Lobster, they chose to release a poster inspired by the minimalist poster trend. It contributes to giving a specific identity to a movie. Furthermore, it conveys the idea that A24 movies are art movies (with corresponding posters that feature real artworks).

 Each film released by A24 has its own brand, starting with its title, which often has a striking typography, as we can see with Ex Machina, Good Time, and Lady Bird.

  Paying close attention to the graphic design of posters is not new in the film industry, but A24 is the only distributor that does it on such a large scale and for independent movies. The release of A24 posters on their social media accounts has become an event.

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A24 has a strong presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. There again, their strategy contrasts with what we usually see from traditional film distributors.

 In addition to the usual film extracts, posters and general news about their movies, A24 publishes a lot of funny and often refined content.

 The starting point of their social media strategy was the publication of this photo montage on Facebook, which put characters from Spring Breakers in a "Last Supper"-style scene.

  The montage, which mirrored the ironic and edgy tone of the movie, went viral. It was a way of advertising the movie in a non-traditional way; the caption that went along the picture linked users to a website to purchase tickets for Spring Breakers. A Facebook post, that cost nothing to A24, turned into an actual ad.

This edginess and irreverence became defining characteristics of A24's social media strategy.

 Their boldness on social media has led A24 to gain a large online following, to which the company has skillfully responded. A24's team creates their own content but also acknowledges what social media users do. On Twitter and Instagram, they often share movie-related memes that users created themselves. An Internet meme is anything remotely funny that goes viral online. In the case of A24, the memes they share often spread in relatively small circles that are made up of films critics and film buffs.

 For instance, A24's Twitter account often retweets the account "Simpson Films", which posts stills from the TV series The Simpsons that coincidentally corresponds to the plot of a movie. The act of sharing ("retweeting" on Twitter) these memes creates engagement. This type of meta-humor is deeply appreciated by fans of A24 movies, who enjoy seeing themselves as a community who shares private jokes.  

  A24 pays close attention to its followers. Here is a tweet in which they showcase one of their fans' costume.

  They treat their movies the way big studios treat their blockbusters. A24 movies exist outside of the movie theater: movies are events that young people can take a part of. A24 acknowledges videos, costumes, jokes, articles made by fans. The term "fan", which would traditionally be used for superhero lovers, is fitting here. A24 made auteur movies accessible by giving them an identity that a young audience could relate to. An A24 movie appears as a multi-faceted brand that can generate all sorts of content.  

 The community that A24 has built on social media is constantly growing. However, A24 has not changed its strategy: they keep publishing niche content that demonstrates their cinephilia and self-reflexive humor. As a result, the members of their community feel like they are part of a small group of movie fans who share the same jokes. This group might not be so small now: A24's Twitter account has close to 1 million followers.

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We have seen that A24 tries to give its movies specific identities in a branding process. But more recently, A24 has turned into a brand itself.

  Despite the fact that A24 releases a wide range of movies, it has managed to build itself a persona. A24 has an identity that other film companies lack. With their disruptive way of marketing on social media, they appear as the "cool kid" of the film companies.

  A24 has put a lot of emphasis on its logo. On their website, you can buy a "Logo Motion Print". On Twitter and Instagram, A24 often post pictures of actors or filmmakers at A24's office: they always pose in front of a white wall branded with a black A24 logo.

Obviously, the logo also appears at the beginning of all the movies they release.

This predominance of the logo is the sign that A24 wants to become a brand itself.  The company wants filmgoers to associate A24 with good filmmaking. The appearance of the logo before a movie trailer would work as a seal of approval.

  The media attention surrounding A24 has been central to this branding process. Filmmakers or actors who worked with A24 often talk about their experience with the distributor. For instance, the GQ article "How A24 is disrupting Hollywood" begins with a long list of quotes by celebrities praising A24. A24 wants to have the prestige that other film distributors have gained because of their parent company (like Fox Searchlight), without becoming big structures like them.

  A24 does not just want the audience to know about their movies; they want the audience to know that these movies are from A24 and not any other distributors.

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From our study of A24’s marketing strategy, we can answer the question “How did A24 become an exciting brand for a young audience in the independent cinema landscape?”

  A24 buys a specific kind of movie: before anything else, it is an independent film company that wants to put art movies into theaters. They seek to deliver a high standard form of cinema.

 This idea is in tension with A24's desire to build a community around their movies and their own brand. They offer a demanding vision of cinema that must draw the attention of people. A24 has chosen to attract an audience through non-traditional ways: in addition to making people see their movies, they have tried to create a community of followers (or even fans) on digital platforms.

 This digital community is built on two seemingly contradictory principles.

 A24s positions itself as a proponent of cinephilia: they consider movies as pieces of art, as we can see by the care they take in the making of their posters. A24 wants its audience to know that they all share the same love for cinema. It is in keeping with their image as a high standard brand.

 However, this sophisticated way of considering movies does not fall into earnestness. A24’s social media presence demonstrates the company’s desire to look irreverent and edgy. Self-reflexive humor is part of their brand. Their approach is contrary to traditional studios’ over-seriousness and conservatism.

  As a result, A24 has managed to appear as an innovative brand that makes independent cinema accessible and exciting for a young audience.

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Now that A24 has established itself in the independent film industry, the company must face new challenges.

 A24 is not an edgy outsider anymore. The simple fact that this case study exists, along with countless articles about A24, shows that the company’s strategies have been studied and deciphered. A24 cannot go on with the same model.

 It is difficult to reinvent yourself when your whole success stems from your ability to innovate. In some ways, A24 could be compared to startups that suddenly became very successful and then reached a tipping point.

 At any rate, A24’s emergence has shown that demanding art cinema could push the boundaries that had existed for decades and be marketed to young people.

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- “How Do You Define Independent Film?”, Tambay A. Obenson, IndieWire (2013)

- “A24: the brains behind 'The Bling Ring' zing”, Chris Lee, Los Angeles Times (2013)

- “Tinder Users at SXSW Are Falling for This Woman, but She’s Not What She Appears”, Tim Nudd, Adweek (2015)

- “Indie Newcomer A24 Hopes to Find Love for Low-Budget Slate”, Peter Bart, Variety (2015)

- “From Ex Machina to Moonlight: how A24 disrupted Hollywood”, Steve Rose, The Guardian (2017)

- “How A24 is Disrupting Hollywood”, Zach Baron, GQ (2017)

Images:

- Studios’ logos: studios’ official websites 

- Tinder screenshot: Adweek

- A24 posters: A24′s official website

- Spring Breakers / The Last Supper : Contently 

- Screenshots of tweets: 1 + 2

- The Moonlight team: A24′s official website