2020 was a bad year for movies. Film festivals across the world were cancelled due to the pandemic. However, The Chicago International Film Festival - the longest-running film festival in North America - wasn’t interested in taking a year off. So, after making the decision to hold it virtually, we were tasked with convincing cinephiles in the U.S. and abroad that an online version of the festival was still worth attending.

How do you hold a film festival when people can’t go to the theater? You bring it to them. Introducing, How To Festival From Home. We decided to provide step-by-step tips to help movie fans create a true festival experience from the safety of their home. We showed attendees how to simulate everything from total theater darkness by bricking their windows to that moment your shoe gets stuck to the floor by pouring out some old soda. The tongue-in-check instructional feel showed that while the 2020 festival was going to be a little different, the emotions, post-film discussions and snacks would be the same.

Our insight was to turn a negative into a positive by showing movie lovers that they can still have a true film festival experience from home. The How To Festival From Home campaign got people talking about and interacting with our brand like never before. Our target audience was film lovers who were very skeptical of a streaming, online festival. We had to convince them that a festival from home was still worth the price of admission. Our trailer, social posts and posters gave movie lovers simple, entertaining instructions for how to create an at-home festival experience. The trailer ran on TV, in digital media, and streamed before every film. Instructional social posts made those tips shareable. Instead of traditional OOH, we distributed hundreds of movie marquee signs. The signs promoted festival films and symbolically transformed homes into theaters. QR codes even turned the signs into virtual ticket booths.

Our How To Festival From Home trailer, social posts and posters gave movie lovers simple, entertaining instructions for how to create a festival experience from home. The trailer ran on TV, in digital media, and streamed before every film. Instructional social posts made those tips shareable. Instead of traditional OOH, we distributed hundreds of movie marquee signs. The signs promoted festival films and symbolically transformed homes into theaters. QR codes even turned the signs into virtual ticket booths. The campaign ran throughout the month of October, before and during the festival.

The campaign was covered by Forbes, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune, Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Time Out, Deadline, Variety, Univision, CBS, Fox, Screen International, Reel Chicago, WTTW, Chicago Reader, ABC, Daily and WGN America. The coverage was all very positive including quotes such as, “Responding to COVID, the Chicago International Film Festival trailer makes lemonade out of viral lemons.” The campaign received 525 million earned impressions. Cinephiles around the world participated by showing us how they #FestivalFromHome as they got up close with famous directors and actors. They even proudly placed our theater marquee signs in their yards to promote the films and help us sell tickets. We brought together over 40,000 film lovers from 103 countries, showing that the power of film could even transcend a pandemic.