Home Why use enjoy! Services Our Work & Views Contact Book a strategy call by enjoyadmin | Jan 16, 2020 | Blog Hustlers became one of the surprise cinema hits of 2019, grossing $150 million globally on a modest $20 million budget. With the gritty drama set to premiere on home video this week, it’s worth it to look at some of the ways the film was able to cut through the clutter and become a must-see in theatres. Something that was hardly preordained given that “Hustlers” is the story of a group of strippers who plot revenge on their well-heeled clientele – a somewhat less than jolly plot at best. At a time when the movie world is dominated by moral laden, SFX generated Lycra clad superheroes, it was going to need more than a few lobby posters and in-cinema trailers to drive sales… Working closely with Fandango, the leading movie ticket business, STX partnered around a fully ‘behavioural selling’ focused marketing campaign. Attract The foundations for the campaign were built around one question ‘How do you get this movie in front of the right people at the right time with the right message?’ Generate The first step – the key to any successful launch – was self-selection. By adding a ‘fan alert’ to all pre-sale marketing activity Fandango was able to generate tens of thousands of people who asked to be notified as soon as release dates and tickets became available. Alongside this, working with partner websites it ran a sweepstake to build a second-tier database of movie goers. Fandango doesn’t want specific results shared but the pre-sale campaign reached tens of millions and the self-selected fan alert data were four times as likely to buy tickets than in similar movie campaigns. To help keep potential ticket-buyers engaged, STX furnished Fandango with exclusive movie clips and interviews with the stars of “Hustlers” that were then shared across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, as well as on radio and through targeted emails. In one case, an interview with Jennifer Lopez, where she broke down the dance lesson scene from the movie, generated close to 300,000 video views and more than 1 million impressions on digital and social channels. STX selected clips by utilizing data that Fandango collected to better understand what materials might resonate. Early in the “Hustlers” campaign, Fandango helped STX create customized audience segments to reach potential ticket buyers, identifying those who would find “Hustlers” most relevant to their movie interests. In some cases, the company grouped ticket-buyers based on past purchases — finding audience members who had previously bought tickets for films with Lopez or other cast members such as Constance Wu or who had shown an affinity for female-driven dramas or crime films. Convert To convert non-ticket buyers after the film opened, they also reached out to audiences who had not seen the film yet, but who had previously showed similar interests to those of opening weekend ticket buyers. It appeared to work. “Hustlers” opened to $33.2 million, the biggest debut ever for a Lopez film and roughly $10 million more than most tracking firms had predicted. On the home entertainment front, “Hustlers” currently has more pre-orders on Fandango NOW than any other movie releasing this week on digital, including “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Downton Abbey” and “Ready or Not.” If you’d like to discuss all things ‘Behavioural Selling’ or anything related to our specialist area of Customer Acquisition we’d love to chat. Free client acquisition consultation. Book a free 30 minute strategy session with one of our senior team. Book Now Tel: 01925 570513 Email: hello@enjoymarketing.co.uk Quayside Wilderspool Business Park Greenall's Ave Warrington WA4 6HL Home About enjoy! Why use enjoy! Behavioural Selling Services Sales Funnels Lead Generation Customer Acquisition Consultancy Fintess Our Work & Views Contact © 2021 enjoy! All rights reserved. enjoy! Marketing is a trading name of enjoy! Sales Ltd. Registered in England No. 4418166 Registered Office: Newport House, Newport Road, Stafford, Staffordshire ST16 1DA. VAT Registration No. 784 4248 02 Privacy Policy | Terms of Business We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Cookie Settings Accept All