The Impossible Campus transformed the passive activity of streaming films into a powerful act of support for the cause of free Hungarian film art. In the campaign, teachers of an annihilated film art faculty offer world-class lectures about the most outstanding movies on the platform. The Impossible Campus enriches the experience of everyday users with the knowledge and experience of these Hungarian film luminaries, and creates an opportunity for any subscriber to become a student of film. This simple solution turned the streamer into the most important platform for the survival of the local film industry.

Cinego is a Hungarian streaming platform whose purpose is popularizing film art in the country. To gain more subscribers without the large budget of major streaming services like Netflix, they needed a campaign that makes them famous as the go-to place for quality movies.

In 2020, the world-renowned University of Theater and Film Arts (SZFE) made news at home and around the globe. The ruling party, Fidesz, passed a law that allowed them to take over the university leadership, pushing their ideology on the curriculum, and loyal followers into the faculties. Despite protests from people on the streets and from entertainment powerhouses like Cate Blanchett, Salman Rushdie and Sir Ian McKellen online, the government seized the institution.

The teachers quit and founded the Freeszfe association with the mission to raise the next generation of free-thinking filmmakers. But they struggled to find financial supporters with people fearing blowback from the government.

With the takeover of SZFE, Hungary lost yet another of its cultural cornerstones. This 150-year-old university raised legendary artists like Acadamy Award winners István Szabó and Elemér Ragályi, Camera d'Or and Golden Bear winner Ildikó Enyedi, and recently, Emmy Award winner Marcell Rév. It joined a growing list of institutions that fell victim to the government's political agenda. Their stories follow a similar pattern: despite protest from activists and intellectuals, the government follows through with their plan, and, with no hope in sight and no obvious way to show support, people often give up and let go. The Impossible Campus managed to break this apathy and re-energize an important cause.

University lectures hidden in a streaming service. Cinego placed the film art lectures of Freeszfe professors under movies as an audio track, giving the teachers a new, virtual campus to replace the one that was taken from them. People can easily access the Impossible Campus through the language menu on Cinego's platform – an option that film enthusiasts often use.

By turning the streaming platform into a platform for academic freedom, The Impossible Campus transforms the everyday viewing experience into an act of support for film art. Through the lectures, people gain a deeper understanding of the films they love, and also the activism that drives the brand.

Cinego already has a steady subscriber base of cinephiles. But we identified a new potential target audience for the brand: intellectuals with a conscious spending habit who like to vote with their money. They see their purchases as ways to support the causes that are important for them. Instead of being loud activists, they rather choose quiet value creation through their financial decisions.

With our choice of uplifting Freeszfe, we targeted them without having to advertise to them directly, because they are attracted to the story. We wanted to position Cinego as a brand that not only offers quality entertainment, but also works toward making the country a better place—a promise that was not associated with streaming platforms before.

The collaboration is beneficial for Freeszfe too: with direct access to young film enthusiasts, the teachers' lectures can reach potential new students.

The Impossible Campus opened for its first virtual semester in April. For the launch, we recorded lectures with three prominent teachers covering the foundations of filmmaking: screenwriting, dramaturgy and directing.

Cinego and Freeszfe together chose the most thought-provoking films from its catalogue, among them a fresh movie from cult director Park Chan-wook and subtle societal critique from the Iranian Ashgar Farhadi–works of art that elude simplistic ideologies. As the Impossible Campus is a long-term platform, new courses will start quarterly. The lectures are available for all subscribers, with 30% of the proceeds going directly to Freeszfe.

The launch of the programme has been communicated on owned and paid online surfaces, along with a larger influencer & PR push, enlisting the famous alumni of the old university.

By bravely giving refuge to Freeszfe on its platform, Cinego proved that they really stand for film art, and managed to insert itself and the cause in Hungary into the news cycle.

The campaign vastly outperformed its original objectives, making the Impossible Campus the most watched film collection on the platform, bringing 3x more subscribers than other recent new releases, and, with 30% of all streaming proceeds offered to Freeszfe, raising funds to cover 67% of their next semester's expenses.

Cinego's brand act gave hope to the dormant Hungarian art film industry, and brought them out into the limelight. Despite risking state financing for their projects, they stood up en masse on their socials in support of Cinego's and Freeszfe's cause.