2013, the film distributor Betta Pictures acquired the Spanish broadcasting rights for The Last Exorcism Part II. The reviews of the sequel were very bad and the premiere was scheduled for one year after its official premiere in the US. The distributor only managed to market it to 30 movie theaters and needed the film to be profitable in theaters and VOD. All this had to be done with a budget of only €5,000.

We decided to launch a PR campaign in order to be covered by the press for free and draw attention away from the bad reviews. We found an interesting article. A few months before, Cardinal Rouco Varela had appointed 8 exorcist priests to deal with the increasing number of cases of demonic possessions in Madrid. We decided to sell the movie as a quick training course for priests, an exorcism training.

Therefore, we invited priests to the movie theater to watch “The Last Exorcism Part II” for free. They had to apply for tickets via a website and they received them a few days later in their parish. We even invited Rouco Varela himself and his 8 exorcists to the premiere where they would be seated in a special row for VIPs. And we told the press about it.

With a simple execution that consisted of sending mailings, a small website and a careful press contact policy, we achieved a media return of €630,000 and we increased the number of distribution copies to 100.

To claim their free ticket, they had to request it via ticketsforpriests.com. Once we confirmed their details, the tickets were sent to the priests’ parishes. We also compiled the addresses of 120 parishes in Madrid, available on the website of the Episcopal Conference, and we sent them an invitation to the film. Of course, we also sent personalized invitations to bishops and archbishops, which could be distinguished by their ecclesiastical colors. And to attract the full attention of the media, we reserved a VIP row of seats for the premiere of the film for Rouco Varela and his 8 exorcists.

With a big idea and simple execution that consisted of sending mailings, a small website and a careful press contact policy, we achieved a media return of €630,000, based on a campaign investment of €5,000. We received 72 ticket applications from priests.

The specialist cinema media, such as Fotogramas, spoke favorably of the film on their cover page, and the campaign even managed to form part of mass media opinion articles.

The film generated such interest that the distributor managed to have it shown in an additional 70 cinemas, in addition to selling the rights to pay TV channel, Canal+.