Movie Event Marketing

The Challenge

Intel and ePlus have forged a partnership that has been mutually rewarding and has endured over many years. The two technology giants’ strengths have complemented one another seamlessly, as they jointly work to design innovative IT foundations for their clients, help them scale successfully and keep them safe from cyber threats all the while. But even though the partnership has been thriving, there was still room for improvement and certain aspects of driving sales that weren’t entirely effective.

Intel and ePlus were looking to gain more awareness and close more deals. They were also searching for a way to make selling their solutions easier for their sales reps, as well as trying to find ways to make the sales process more enjoyable for their prospects. And above all this, the two companies wanted to rise above the very crowded IT space and ensure its offerings (and brands) were more memorable than the competition’s.

Intel and ePlus decided to engage Yeager Marketing in order to help them devise a strategy around these goals, and provide a framework they could use to execute the strategy.

The Solution

It didn’t take long for Yeager and the two brands to land on the idea of using a Star Wars theme. They wanted to play off the partnership and use an intergalactic alliance as the symbol of how their brands work together. But this in and of itself presented a challenge, as there were numerous businesses piggybacking off the Star Wars theme and they had to be careful to stand out from this crowd.

To this end, Yeager came up with the idea of inviting sales reps and prospects (and their families) to premiere showings of the newest Star Wars movie and using the preceding outreach efforts and time in the theatre to relay their most important messages. In order to do this, and to drum up maximum attendance, Yeager developed an entire brand book that sales reps (and others on the team) could use to reach their prospects.

The brand book included different fonts and imagery that reinforced the theme, and kept all involved parties consistent. It also provided sample email headers that ePlus and Intel could use as they reached out to the people they wanted to attend these events. The brand book had designed elements, as well, that could be used as the two brands saw fit throughout the entire initiative. This book gave the companies the resources they needed to be successful, along with boundaries to keep everything aligned across the board.

Yeager also created a video trailer that was shown at the beginning of the movie premiere, which was 30-60 seconds in length and highlighted the partnership between Intel and ePlus. Their challenge in developing this trailer was that they wanted it to be fun and entertaining to watch for everyone, including the children of prospects who were coming to the showing, and not completely business-focused. But they still needed it to reinforce the value of the ePlus and Intel partnership.

Yeager and the team successfully met these objectives by centering the trailer on the same idea of an intergalactic alliance. They created two animated robotic characters to drive their messages home; one of these characters represented ePlus and one represented Intel. The company used humor and eye-catching graphics to keep viewers’ attention and convey the idea that the two companies were unstoppable when paired together.

The Results

The Star Wars premiere was shown at 11 movie theatres, and there were so many attendees that every theatre was nearly at maximum capacity (many of which even sold out). The total reach of the initiative was at least 2,400 people, although many more were reached online through email and social campaigns that Intel and ePlus rolled out as well. Most noteworthy of all, the companies gained $16 million in opportunities from these events.

Among all of the partners, the campaigns have generated a substantial number of leads and performed very well with an average open rate of 8% and a clickthrough rate of 10%.