When projects are broached with a creative eye, and a certain amount of curiosity, this opens the door to remarkable possibilities for effective digital marketing with high engagement levels. When VASIL got to us here at The Film Agency, through Distinto Films production company, distributed by Filmax, we realized that Avelina Prat’s debut feature wasn’t only a subtle and genuine film, but also a story in which storytelling was as important as the story itself.

Starring Ivan Barnev, VASIL is the story of a Bulgarian immigrant who lives on the street and, unexpectedly, moves in with Alfredo, a retired architect played by Karra Elejalde, who takes him into his house. Ivan and Karra, ex aequo Best Actor Award winners at SEMINCI for VASIL, forge a unique relationship around their passion for chess. But Vasil has another talent: he is also a brilliant bridge player.

With this in mind, we vouched for alternative marketing and grassroots outreach. This type of outreach, conceived as a digital campaign complement, allowed us to bring the public closer to the universe of the main character through his passion for cards by creating a film cards special edition. In collaboration with the leading card brand, Fournier, we designed a deck, which you can see below:

The specially designed 1000-card deck was made available to avant-première audiences and winners of a draw, as well as to National Card Champion, magician Pepo Capel. Using the key rules of bridge as inspiration, Pepo conjured up an amazing trick, which you can find on Filmax and Fournier Social Media, and on the VASIL IG account. Through cross-posting and post collaborators, we succeeded in engaging a much broader public than would have been reached via only one channel.

Thanks to this alternative marketing initiative, linked to the digital campaign, Avelina Prat’s debut film won’t only stay in the memory of the audience. It will also be in their homes when it’s time to play cards!

From cinema to literature: #MicroVasil

Another amazing attribute that jumps out at us from Vasil is the passionate and charming way of telling stories. Through the short stories contest, #MicroVasil, launched in collaboration with Ámbito Cultural, we involved the Twitter community in order to achieve higher engagement and awareness through an initiative that turned participants into prosumers. Also, teaming up with Greek restaurant chain, Egeo, allowed us to engage a community that is out of the scope of our digital campaign… And also offer attractive compensation to those who wrote in on Twitter. There is strength in unity.

Avelina Prat is definitely one of the new voices of Spanish cinema, likely to become consolidated over the next few years on the national film landscape. Along with her producers, we are working with her on her next film through THINK EARLY, our stages of development marketing services, that we could implement to a new Distinto Films MEDIA Slate Funding.