JD Sports invited cinemagoers to see themselves with their chosen family on the big screen during the opening weekend for Wicked, to amplify the retailer’s Christmas campaign.
For one weekend, visitors who went to see Gladiator 2 or Wicked at Vue Stratford in London or Vue Printworks in Manchester had the opportunity to see themselves on a cinema screen, alongside JD’s Family Portrait festive ad campaign.
Participants could take a photo in a JD-branded photo booth in the foyer of the cinemas with their friends or ‘chosen family’, in the parlance of the campaign. Images were then scheduled in real-time to appear as part of an end card that played after JD’s Christmas cinema ad — which ran before the films. As well as seeing themselves on the big screen, participants also saw their images across a number of out of home placements around Westfield Stratford and Vue Printworks Manchester after the screening.
The idea was created by Goodstuff and brought to life by Digital Cinema Media (DCM) and Grand Visual.
According to Jaz Hogben, business director at Goodstuff, the cinema activation was created to amplify the Family Portrait film, while ‘making sure that we’re connecting JD to culture, and creating noise around their key stores.’
She added: ‘Our brief was: How can we generate something that’s going to get people excited when they can go straight into the store?’
The activation ran from 22-24 November, which was expected to be the biggest weekend of the year for cinemas, thanks to Wicked and Gladiator 2.
As well as aligning with a cultural event that was almost guaranteed to attract a lot attention and conversation, Goodstuff had another reason for choosing cinemas as the place for the activation.
‘JD’s audience is centred on youth (16- to-24-year-olds), and we know cinema is an important place for them,’ said Hogben. ‘They don’t just go to the cinema, but spend 30-40 minutes in and around the foyer before and after, hanging around with friends, buying food, and so on. Way more than any other audience, they’re spending time in this environment. We thought this was a nice way to capture them, grab their attention and some of their time. We know they have a much more positive attitude to cinema advertising, over a lot of other advertising. We wanted to make sure that not only were we in that environment with our main ad, but elevating whatever we did in an experiential way, putting that in an environment that we know they’re receptive to — from an advertising point of view.
Hogben added that the agency opted to use cinemas within malls because they are a great way to reach JD’s youth audience.
‘They make up a vast proportion of mall visitors, and we know it’s a way to capture their attention in a place where they’re spending lots of time,’ she said. ‘It was the idea of doing something more experiential on a more interactive level.’
‘We know that media works a lot better and advertising works better when you can generate deeper engagement,’ added Hogben.