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WHAT IS DISTRIBUTION 2.0?

Distribution 2.0 is a professional network created to explore new means of marketing and distributing independent international feature films. Created as a pilot project in 2011/2012, Distribution 2.0 is designed to become a model in the worldwide film distribution of independent films. Distribution 2.0 encourages distributors, sales agents and filmmakers to pioneer and exchange ideas and experiences to market films foreign to their markets through social networks, viral marketing, digital distribution, day and date releases and flexible programming structures. Many of these are discussed frequently and this project is about putting these into practice and evaluating the results. All partners explore the options that the digitalization process (theatrical, promotion and Video on Demand), new marketing and distribution means can offer to the circulation of independent films outside their home markets. Surprisingly, the evaluation of our business shows: many independent distributors are eager to explore new paths but very few are capable to implement their vision. Each independent distributor is a single unit. Testing new distribution means is time consuming and increases the risk of investment. Independent companies lack the investment capacities with which vertically integrated companies can force experiments into the market. Nevertheless, independent companies can create new strategies with much smaller investments. Distribution 2.0 supports a group of selected distributors in these investments. Within this project, trade shall not be limited to films but shall include ideas, concepts, and visions. 

Distribution 2.0 2012/2013 This first session shall be seen and evaluated as an initial implementation phase. Summarizing it, most partners have selected to initiate long-term projects. One of the core findings when analysing the initial session is that no matter how quickly developments may appear to be, the implementation of new  schemes is either a heavy investment or a long way down the road of perceiving results. 

Distribution 2.0 fused multiple singular projects with no apparent connection into a single vision at the end of the session: Our Mexican partner Canana’s efforts to exploit European films on newly emerging legal VOD platforms in Mexico and pushing on release schemes led to their initiation of the “Canana on Demand” channel. 

Taiwan’s Joint Entertainment’s idea to research their Arthouse audience and create an App which would remind them in a personalized way of visits to the cinema, shifted towards building a Video-on-Demand platform. Since their research indicated a lack of Arthouse films available to the Taiwanese audience online, the platform will be dedicated to these films and shall additionally serve Joint Entertainment’s communication with their theatre audience. 

The Match Factory’s efforts to create social media profiles for their directors and initiating direct to VOD releases across a number of territories revealed the need for additional marketing and promotion when releasing online only. In consideration of the current limited revenue streams for online exploitation of films, such marketing efforts must be cost efficient in order to be economically justified. Consequently, the investment in a single, long-term brand may lead to a more sustainable result rather than an investment in a single title. A slate  parties. We have chosen this to become a target issue of the 2013 session. Independent companies will rarely be those establishing On-Demand platforms in a heavily competitive market. However, it will become a crucial tool to position independent films on multiple platforms in a competitive situation, not only competing with thousands of available films. The establishment of branded channels and dedicated fan groups is a must to stand out from this competition. It is our aim for the coming sessions to explore the options on the best marketing and positioning in this regard.

During the Europa International conference many more parties have already profited from sharing the knowledge and ideas.

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ONE YEAR'S EXPERIENCE

Distribution 2.0 was initially designed as a singular pilot project with a duration of 1 year. Knowing of our desperate need and that of our partners to plunge into the field of digital, online promotion and distribution, the concept for the first session in 2012 was set up on a partially theoretical basis. Of course, having a great overview of business developments worldwide, the position of the sales agent seem a perfect fit to initiate such project. Our business knowledge helped to shape the design of the project. At the same time, tackling new fields of communication and distribution is unpredictable. 

At the end of the first session all other partners had established their projects and even more importantly, they had integrated Distribution 2.0 in their everyday routines. The same can be said for The Match Factory. Some actions such as the exchange platform remain unfinished to the very last detail. Nevertheless, at the end of session 1 we had achieved a natural communication through the channels we created. A continuous discourse is established internally to evaluate and adjust any action taken. 

The process of analysing the first session showed that we could very well profit from the results of our Co-Beneficiaries. Findings on how to establish VOD channels, on online marketing and engaging audiences as well as difficulties encountered could be shared and used further on. Of course the environment and needs of a Mexican distributor and a European sales agent may seem to be substantially different. Surprisingly, we experienced that many questions and difficulties faced by the massive supply of goods and information online remains the same for all of our partners. This is something we could not predict with certainty.

Working on an international level  For the film business one of the most controversial aspects of the growing importance of the online environment is the disappearance of borders. It opposes the licensing and economical structure, which has been set up through decades. We have started to create awareness of films and directors from a global point of view. It is crucial to start thinking about creating an international image and to transform them into worldwide brands. 

Creating an international image of a movie is a challenge. A film can be perceived very differently in the various parts of the world. Through the actions implemented during this first year, we became aware of the best practices when communicating our films to a global audience and creating international brands out of them. 

One of the actions that helped most with this objective was the creation of our digital exchange platform through which the distributors are now able to easily share their ideas, experiences and difficulties when marketing our films. Although we are still on a phase in which we are refining the functionality of the platform, we could already use it with some of our titles. Thanks to the exchange of the distributors ideas and experiences we were able to identify the differences but also the common aspects of the audiences in the several territories. This information is very valuable in order to become more effective in the future when creating the international marketing campaigns of upcoming films. 

As mentioned before, it is our goal to make it possible for all partners to be able to benefit from all this generated knowledge. The project was initiated including both distributors and filmmakers and this has proven to be a crucial point. It would not be possible to design longterm online actions and campaigns without the participation of the creators. This could be seen as another change initiated through the online environment, the filmmakers can in no way be spared from the marketing process anymore. In the auteur driven focus of the company profiles of the partners involved in Distribution 2.0, the filmmakers have always been a focus in the marketing campaigns. This could now become the strong side of the independent industry.

An Important Perspective for our Business Profile  At the end of the first session, Distribution 2.0 has already become a longterm project. All partners remain for the 2013 session and they have created projects with an important perspective in their business profile. Canana and Joint Entertainment are developing their skills to compete in the on Demand market. The Match Factory has started to create online profiles for films as part of the promotional package, which distributors receive with standard delivery. Strand Releasing is adjusting online marketing strategies and Cinefil managed to release films successfully, which would have not had  a release otherwise. 

Apart from working continuously with these partners, Distribution 2.0 has added partners for the 2013 session, most of them from territories in which the distribution of Arthouse films is a high risk action, such as Portugal and Russia. The project will increase internal and external communication and exchange, one of the center pieces being the Europa International conference. From our perspective, all partners assumed this to be the starting point of a business development, which would improve their competitive situation in the future. And of course this includes The Match Factory: We could not think of a better outcome for the first session.

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CONCLUSIONS: THE ONLINE PARADOX

An extremely interesting case is the huge divergence in the online attention for the film “Oslo, August 31st” released in the US by Strand Releasing. It sesulted in a widely disappointing box office and even more disappointing on-Demand performance. The film had such high viral potential and coverage online that the Box Office which turned up around US$100.000, - had initially been expected to reach five times as much. The disengagement of online attention and cinema tickets is noteworthy and stirs plenty of questions on the behaviour of the audience for Arthouse films. 

Out of this very notion, Cinefil in Hungary is operating under an entirely different radar, acquiring projects, which can thematically be connected to differing platforms for a release - online, social institutions, niche interest groups. 

Their releases are not designed for a mainstream competition but try to develop cooperation’s, activities, interest groups, which are dedicated to small but committed releases. Their activities developed greatly through the three releases Cinefil was able to achieve during the 2012 session and these specialty releases could become a business model, not just in crisis stricken Hungary. 

On another note, The Match Factory’s activities aim to increase communication and collaboration among all parties in the exploitation scheme, starting with filmmakers, sales agent and distributors, which was extremely well perceived. The creation of an online platform for the exchange of promotional materials and strategies as well as actual face to face meetings to brainstorm release ideas clearly hit a nerve. Within that same idea of exchange and reflection of developments by B2B exchange, sales agents found the Europa International Conference valuable and agreed that it should be repeated in 2013 to continue reflecting the latest market developments.

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CONCLUSIONS 2012: DAY & DATE CHALLENGE

All of our partners considered Day & Date releases with the movies they chose to be part of the project, but they were facing obstacles from the very beginning. For instance Cinefil did not receive rights holders’ approval on their strategy. Canana and Strand Releasing are dealing with highly competitive exhibition markets in which they could not risk sanctions of the exhibitors. Our partners will continue to consider pushing the limits on their releases thanks to Distribution 2.0. We will be able to gather experiences in this field little by little but the current focus is on marketing strategies and positioning of our films. The outcome of the collaboration with partners who work in diverse environments turned out to be a rich experience.

All this valuable knowledge has been combined with the experiences we made on our own international marketing concepts. At the end of the 2012 session, the three columns of this project had clearly come to a twofold focus – creating awareness for independent films online and enhancing synergies in sharing knowledge between participating parties. We have chosen this to become a target issue of the 2013 session. Independent companies will rarely be those establishing On-Demand platforms in a heavily competitive market. However, it will become a crucial tool to position independent films on multiple platforms in a competitive situation, not only competing with thousands of available films. The establishment of branded channels and dedicated fan groups is a must to stand out from this competition. It is our aim for the coming sessions to explore the options on the best marketing and positioning in this regard. During the Europa International conference many more parties have already profited from sharing the knowledge and ideas.

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CONCLUSIONS 2012: TREADING A NEW PATH

The increasing digitization of our world is challenging for a lot of media companies. The sales and distribution models that were successful over decades may become dysfunctional. Companies dealing with the sale and distribution of Arthouse films such as The Match Factory are facing these difficulties. The free consumption behaviour in the internet, declining revenues in cinema and not very profitable video on demand returns are just some of the keywords that characterize the ground breaking change happening right now. However, technological progress does not only imply unpredictable economic risk but offers new opportunities and options which must be identified. It is therefore important to face the challenges and to exploit the potential of new communication means and distribution channels. Within the pilot project “Distribution 2.0” The Match Factory is treading this very path. To test and evaluate modern marketing concepts for Arthouse and independent films is the central idea of this initiative. Films with a low budget for promotion should increasingly benefit from social networks’ efficient ways of communication.

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THE MATCH FACTORY: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING CONCEPTS

The Match Factory focused on developing singular marketing activities for four films:

JUST THE WIND by Bence Fliegauf

WADJDA by Haifaa al Mansour

WHEN I SAW YOU Annemarie Jacir

POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO by Edwin

For JUST THE WIND we focused on creating an international brand through the intensive presence of the director, Bence Fliegauf, on social platforms like Twitter and Facebook. WADJDA helped us to introduce the digital exchange platform, which we have been developing throughout the session, to enhance the work with the different distributors of the film, as well as encouraging direct communication among them. As for WHEN I SAW YOU it was our first attempt to specifically promote an international premiere of one of our films through the social networks in cooperation with the producers and director. All these actions were combined and prepared to identify the best steps when implementing a release strategy for POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO. Focusing on one aspect during each of these actions allowed to gather valuable information.

WHEN I SAW YOU: For WHEN I SAW YOU by Annemarie Jacir we decided to implement a campaign before the Berlinale 2013 in order to raise awareness about the movie taking part in this A-list festival. The campaign was meant to engage the fans of the Berlin IFF and attract their attention to the film through social networks. The main challenge that we had was to find common points between the topic of the film and the mostly occidental audience attending the festival. We managed to raise awareness of the film being at the Berlinale but we failed in involving a local audience in the campaign. The audience remained passive, which prevented a strong exposure of the film.

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JUST THE WIND- CREATING AN INTERNATIONAL BRAND

The campaign designed for JUST THE WIND aimed at a long term development of branding the director’s name through professional Facebook and Twitter profiles. 

The director was very dedicated to engage in the project since the long term advantage he could gain from it was evident. Bence Fliegauf was predestined to work on this action as he had already established an active social media profile with a high number of fans, which did however not differentiate between private and professional sphere. These profiles have yet become a very solid basis for the director communicating with his audience for future projects but it showed to be an extremely complex and time consuming work to feed such personal profile. Since the administration of these profiles was the director’s responsability, he might or not use the same for upcoming films. The Match Factory, however, needs to question the efficiency of installing singular profiles per film or director.

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WADJDA AND THE DIGITAL EXCHANGE PLATFORM

We used the movie WADJDA to test the new digital exchange platform that we have created for our distributors to share and discuss their ideas and experiences. 

The first face to face meeting took place in Cannes 2012 and it was initiated by The Match Factory to bring together filmmakers, sales agent and distributor to discuss and exchange strategies and ideas for a certain film. The first film was JUST THE WIND. The meeting received a very positive feedback so that the concept was continued and developed further e.g. for WADJDA and AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER. One essential outcome of the first meeting was the express need of distributors to have a basis to exchange concepts. Consequently, Reelport, our partner in this project, shifted focus of their participation and began to design and programme an online platform with restricted access to make such exchange possible. Through this platform the distributors will be able to upload artwork, posters, marketing and press strategies and to share and discuss it with other distributors. After six months of development, a Beta version of the platform was available and presented at Berlin IFF 2013. The development of the platform is an ongoing process. It is impossible to foresee everything the user will need in advance when designing this tool. After the first trial of the platform we have identified aspects which have to be removed, other aspects which have to be included and aspects that have to be corrected. The Match Factory will keep improving the platform, adapting it to the needs of the distributors, which are already using the platform with the aim of shaping it as a daily work tool. Nevertheless, the process is still active and has taken longer than expected.