Millennials are the most jaded generation yet. The average relationship today lasts 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. The proof? The top grossing movie in the Romanian Box Office in 2016 was the action adventure flick Suicide Squad. We needed to engage in a conversation and show that romance still has the power to entertain and to create a long-lasting impression, with an audience that clearly doesn't put value on it.

So we decided to catch them by surprise with branded content films that used their own romantic experiences as a storyline.

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 most inspirational love stories.

Next, we used their stories and created 3 scenarios for 3 emotional short films. Each story was set 30 years in the future, symbolically celebrating the power of long lasting love.

On Valentine's Day, we invited the unsuspecting couples to the movies and screened the films featuring their love stories projected in the future, in front of hundreds of people. The films had an extremely emotional impact and had the entire audience cheering for the couples.

We documented the reactions and put together an online film which we launched on Grand Cinema& More's Facebook page and YouTube channel the next day.

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 500,000 unique 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, has branded content created for entertainment at its core. For this campaign, we successfully encouraged real people to share their stories, which we then turned into unique branded content for an intimate and uplifting experience. The content was widely shared across social media an amplified positive brand perception.

Our challenge was targeting millennials, an audience coveted by most entertainment venues. If most brands use Valentine’s Day as an occasion to offer promotions and discounts, we wanted to engage the audience in a more meaningful way. Valentine’s Day should be about people, not about brands.

That’s why we decided to offer couples a more personal experience through content created especially about them, stories which anyone in the audience and at home watching could relate to and later talk about.

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.