Millennials are the most jaded generation yet. The average relationship today lasts only 2,9 years. That's because couples spend more time online than with each other and, when it comes to dates, the most romantic thing they do is go to unromantic movies. If we look at the Romanian box office, the top grossing movie of 2016 was the action adventure flick Suicide Squad. We needed to engage in a conversation about the power of romance, with an audience that clearly doesn't put value on it.

So we decided to catch them by surprise with films about their love story, projected 30 years into the future.

First of all, on January 26th, we launched a social media contest offering movie tickets in exchange for couples' love stories. In only a week, we got over 200 replies. We chose 3 winners, based on the love stories that most inspired us. Next, we created 3 emotional short films using details from the stories sent by the couples. Each story was set 30 years in the future, symbolically celebrating the power of love.

On Valentine's Day, we invited the unsuspecting couples to the movies and screened the films featuring their love stories before the entire audience. We documented their emotional reactions and put together an online film which we launched on Grand Cinema& More's Facebook page and YouTube channel on February 15th.

"From the future, with love" is Grand Cinema& More's most successful social media campaign up to date. The positive online reactions from the millennial audience were overwhelming.

With a small social media investment, the campaign was mentioned in local and foreign press, the video reached over 550,000 views (Facebook + Youtube) in the first week after the launch and it was shared over 1350 times in social media.

"From the future, with love" is a campaign meant to engage audience through surprising use of media, in more ways than one, online and offline. First, we engaged the online audience and used their stories to co-create the scripts for 3 short films. Next, we showed this original content at the cinema, to surprise the unsuspecting couples who were present.

Without insightful and carefully planned media placement this campaign would not have generated the expected results.

Our challenge engaging in a conversation with millennials, an audience coveted by most entertainment venues. Because we were dealing with a small budget, we had to carefully choose the media strategy in order to ensure the most effective reach.

We launched the campaign in social media, continued with a smart use of offline media by broadcasting the co-created branded content in the cinema and returned to the online with the final campaign movie. This way, we ensured maximum visibility and an efficient budget split.

Grand Cinema& More is a premium cinema, targeting hip young millennials who are looking for the complete experience when they are choosing an entertainment venue. For Valentine's Day, we were briefed to engage this audience in a smart and memorable way, on a limited budget. We needed to make Grand Cinema& More the top choice for millennials who were looking to spend a romantic date at the movies during the holiday that celebrates love.