“Branding is more effective when people experience something as opposed to being told something.”
I’ve heard that (and said it myself) in countless meetings, but the point was reinforced for me during the Mondo Mystery Movie screening here in Austin last week. The whole idea of the Mystery Movie is that you buy a ticket without knowing what you’re going to see. Right away this puts you in a specific group of people who love and trust the Mondo and Alamo Drafthouse brands. A couple weeks after buying my ticket, I received an email telling me where to go. It was a church off of 360.
“The Exorcist!” I thought to myself, completely satisfied that I would see a genre classic with an enthusiastic crowd. But when I showed up at the church, there were 10 luxury buses lined up, and we were quickly herded inside. The buses left, full of hundreds of film fans who had no idea their destination. Thanks to a police escort, we quickly made our way downtown to Highland Mall. Like any film nerd worth my salt, my first thought was “Dawn of the Dead!” the Romero classic where a small band of survivors wait out a zombie apocalypse inside a shopping mall.
Sure enough, as the buses pulled up, 200 zombies rushed forward to attack. We had to make our way out of the buses, past the zombie hoards and into the mall. Inside, we not only got to see Dawn of the Dead in a mall surrounded by zombies…but George Romero himself was on hand to introduce the film. After the film, we all received limited edition (and highly collectible) Mondo posters for the event.
As I got on the bus to return to my car, I was reeling from the experience. And then it hit me. That wasn’t a film experience, it was a brand experience. What Mondo did that night wasn’t make me love Romero zombie movies any more. That’s impossible. They made me love the Mondo brand even more. They showed they understand genre film fans, and what sort of experiences we’ll find most meaningful. And they delivered on that experience on every level possible. There were countless ways they could have made the production of the evening cheaper of more cost effective, but they held nothing back. What they got in return were hundreds of film fans loyally following their brand to see what they’ll give us next.
That’s a powerful brand experience.
