Swiss films soaring

Entertainment industry Domestic film productions are more successful than ever thanks to clever marketing strategies. "If it works, the movie was good.
If it doesn't work, it was the marketing's fault," says one
common bon mot in the film industry. Apparently the calculation works. Because
Swiss films have been flying high since last summer.
Since then, at least one Swiss film has always been shown for several weeks in
the top ten of Pro Cinema - the association for cinema and distribution. And
According to Thomas Tribolet, Managing Director of the association
Swiss Film Producers, will hardly change in the future. What has changed
the image of Swiss film, which is perceived as top-heavy and
and the audience hardly ever went to the movies.
attracted. In addition to financial support from the federal government and Swiss
Television is currently carrying the latter with the Sunday program
Film series - eight domestic productions celebrate their TV premiere this year -
This contributes to correcting the image of Swiss film.

Marketing begins in the mind
Even if this commercial success has various causes, all -
also intrinsic ones such as the better themes and scripts or
cinematic and acting performances - ultimately go back to the
professionalization of marketing. "Marketing has become
producer sector has gained in importance," says Tribolet. "Left to
the promotion task to the distributors, they are now taking over this task.
more and more frequently together and much earlier, as in the search for
Sponsors." Today, the consideration is paid with concessions to
potential sponsors already in the script or then in marketing
of the end product. The win-win situation is exemplary
between the producers of "Mein Name ist Eugen" and Mobiliar,
which also used the trailer for its own image purposes and, incidentally, to promote the
audience to the movie theaters.

Need more examples? The audience success of the season, "Grounding" -
a quarter of a million viewers in one month -, raised with the help of over
30 partners; from the fruit juice producer to the art gallery, there were
pretty much everything is represented. But that's not all. For the launch, too
new measures to increase awareness: After a threatening
teaser poster motif (r. above), "Grounding" was the first Swiss
stripes with three different subjects on the runway.
"We knew that we couldn't hide behind the US blockbusters
wanted to. On the contrary: the motto was to at least keep up," says Micha
Seger, who designed the posters for "Grounding" at Egli Swiss Effects and the
Eugen created the rascal movie.

Also new, and officially justified by the explosive nature of the film
was an increasingly popular choice for the US film industry.
Promotional ploy: launch the film without any media vision, fill
the halls with curious visitors on the first weekend, climbs the hit list
and relies on the more efficient word of mouth from viewers,
instead of the often divided opinion of film critics. Gone are the
Times in which the media are brought on board as cuddly accomplices.
had to be made. New alliances are much more promising - with
promotion partners.

More and more film producers are looking for direct contact without fear of contact.
contact with potential investors. And they, for their part, know
increasingly aware of the value of the movie medium as a good image producer
with the younger target audience. Since brands are no longer just for
certain properties of their products, but for a
lifestyle, they recognize the potential of staging in a
Entertainment film. Merchandising, product placement, online stores,
Events or visits to the shoot for the promotional partners are not
new terms, but have only been used for a few years as elementary
parts of professional marketing strategies. "Commercial to
is still a taboo. This must be broken. Only then will
the whole industry more successful," says Micha Seger.

"My name is Eugen", for example, was only realized with the support of
SBB and Mobiliar, which supported the production of the film by
from the very beginning. Both brands conveyed in the film as in
the following media reports a sympathetic image. The fact that even
certain audiences were reached, the independent distributor
Frenetic Films. "In addition to 'classic' advertising, we have
targeted interest group marketing and, among other things
groups and school classes into the cinemas," explains Uwe
Luetzen, Head of Marketing at Frenetic Films. In return, the
advertising of the promotion partners, the otherwise expensive
media buys. So that the movie will be remembered for a long time and
simple moments of recognition are awakened, today not only the
DVD or books are available. All conceivable measures are
coordinated and cross-referenced - from the shop window display
to the downloadable ringtone from the Eugen site.

Advertising cake has grown
For the small Swiss film market, only large distributors can afford
the necessary media pressure to achieve a promising production.
advertise. However, compared to the international films, there are also
these budgets are quite modest. Although the advertising pie for cinema films is
according to Media Focus from around 10 million in 1993 to over 42 million in 2005.
million francs and has mostly grown at double-digit rates since 2000 - the
However, campaign budgets for domestic films still rank in the
The Big Donors list was published in 2005 by
"The Chronicles of Narnia", for which six times as much was paid in
was invested in traditional advertising media than in the Eugen film.
In order to be able to play in the international league, it is not
The decisive factor is not only the advertising budget, but also its efficient use. For
Paul Fischli, Head of Marketing at United International Pictures
Switzerland, progress has been made: better communication mixes,
well thought-out strategies, professional promotional partnerships with
corresponding above- and below-the-line support. Above all
The young filmmakers' self-confidence and self-awareness paid off.

The poster for Marco Rima's "Handyman" from the
Atelier Heinzelmann reflects the growing self-confidence of the Swiss
Films. The eye-catcher is based on the US poster for the
Bond film "For Your Eyes Only", as the film journalist Marc Bodmer
was noticed. For Buena Vista - the distributor with the most
Swiss cinema successes in the bag - more than a good omen. In the future
Buena Vista also has 007 films in its range, reveals Matthias Keller,
Head of Marketing Switzerland.   

Luca Aloisi