Streaming apps, tablets and mobile phones have replaced the big screen experience. People are staying home, and cinemas are struggling to survive. In the age of Netflix, the Film Festival needs to turn movie-streamers into moviegoers.

The brief was to come up with a creative and sensational idea strong enough to break through the international media noise while offering something unique that cannot be experienced either at home or at other festivals.

The objective was to attract international attention that positions the festival in an innovative and creative context and by that get more visitors to the festival.

Göteborg Film Festival decided to offer something Netflix don’t. Introducing: The World’s Most Claustrophobic Cinema. The highlight of the festival was Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson’s end-of-the-world movie, Aniara. Like the film’s characters, we wanted the audience to feel claustrophobic in deep space. The comfy theatre seats were replaced with 8 coffins. Each coffin was constantly monitored and equipped with a panic button.

We decided to offer something Netflix don’t. Introducing: The World’s Most Claustrophobic Cinema - that became the key message pitched to media, a trigger phrase to early awaken curiosity and newsworthiness in headlines.

The creative initiative was to spark media attention about the festival, extending beyond the cultural verticals, with a clear PR strategy on reaching out to much broader media by merely deserved attention and zero media budget.

We started teasing about the upcoming activation by leaking dramatized images of the claustrophobic cinema, and then follow up and hyping up the news with a film trailer about the unique screenings. The usual media target audience for film and culture was obviously important, but the strategy was to reach a brand-new audience: not just the usual festival goers, but also those difficult to win over – the “Netflix addicts”.

The film trailer for The World’s Most Claustrophobic Cinema was published on YouTube four weeks before the Film Festival opened. The International buzz came quickly and become a viral hit that kept on going.

The Main assets: a film trailer, dramatized images, a press release.

Media Budget: 0 €.

To get an extra hype we had limited ticket sales, where people had to sign up early and challenge others to attend and creating an exclusive feeling. You registered for tickets on a unique website, where 28 screenings were exclusively dropped.

The limited screenings were also available to select media, leading to even more buzz live from the event.

This became a global news event with over 500 shared articles and great engagement on social media. The initiative got an over 1.2 billion reach and a media value of over $13,533,532 and an all-time high number of festival visitors, the best result in 42 years. Articles were published from The Times, CNET, People Magazine, AV News, as well as reports and articles in major Swedish media outlets. The event got through to the Hollywood entertainment sector media such as Hollywood Reporter and Perez Hilton X.

New target groups that had never before visited the festival began discussing the campaign and planning their upcoming visits on global digital forums and social channels such as Reddit. Media mentions for Gothenburg Film Festival increased with 30%.

The event was globally one of the most trending festival events on one of the world’s largest trend sites (Trendhunter) and featured on Google News.