Flow recently worked on promoting a science-fiction movie titled Life, starring Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film is about a team of scientists aboard the International Space Station, who discover an evolving life form that threatens the crew and life on Earth.
The screenplay is certainly interesting, and viewers hardly see signs of forthcoming twists and turns. And that is the beauty of this film – it leaves you on the edge of your seat.
Flow’s client, Ster-Kinekor Entertainment, used our PR expertise to amplify the release of the film. Our task was to get mention of the film into publications and onto broadcast stations around the country, and to make sure that most entertainment journalists knew about it.
“We were definitely excited when we were briefed to work on this movie, and aimed to go all the way in terms of creativity,” says Flow account director Qiniso Makopo.
In order to get as much traction for the film as possible, Flow organised and hosted two different press screenings in two cities ahead of the film’s release, and also hosted a private screening for Independent Media and its readers.
There were a few mountains that Flow needed to climb along the way, as is always the case with every good campaign – including organising three screenings in one week, which would test any cool and calm PR practitioner.
“There were times when the team felt like achieving its goal of the widest media coverage possible may not happen – but for us Flowstars, nothing is impossible. Each day there was a different challenge, and although these carried some sense of urgency, the team overcame them with enthusiasm,” says Qiniso.
Flow measured the success of this campaign by the number of publications and broadcast media that carried reports on the film. There was coverage in The Star, Saturday Star, Pretoria News, The New Age, Beeld, The Times, GQ and 13 other print publications, as well as online on Channel24, Themovies.co.za, Cosmopolitan, IOL and People magazine.
“Nothing beats that winning feeling,” says Qiniso. “We rose to the occasion and presented the client with an impressive return on investment. You cannot help but feel pleased.”
Some of the other films that Flow is currently doing PR for include Bleed for This, which is released at the end of April; Free Fire, which comes out in May; and a large production with a July release date, Spider-Man: Homecoming, which will keep Flowstars on their toes.