Paper Planes: Helping a Little Aussie Film Fly
Award Category
Best Integrated Media Campaign
Agency
OMD
Client
Roadshow
Sponsor
Objectives
Australian kids’ film Paper Planes was up against behomoths DreamWorks’ Penguins of Madagascar and Disney’s Big Hero 6. In the competitive summer movie season. OMD’s task was to make it stand out.
Campaign
To get paper planes back in the air, the strategy was to create connection through the act of making paper planes. OMD worked with Network 10 to integrate paper plane-themed content into nationally televised Big Bash cricket. Interstitials showed cricket heroes competing in paper plane competitions, directing viewers to vote online to win a holiday. The partnership culminated in a major televised cricket match the night before the film’s release, with families invited onto the ground to throw planes in front of hundreds of thousands of fans. Two ‘Paper Plane Pilots’ were recruited as ambassadors, one of whom ranked third in Red Bull’s Paper Plane World Championships. Families were encouraged to make paper planes and bring them to the cinema to let fly during screenings. Paper plane kits were handed out in cinema foyers, retail points and at swimming pools. Long-form content made for Nickelodeon (cut into a 30-second parent-targeted piece for other channels) showed children making paper planes, taking them to the cinema and reviewing the film. Parenting blog Essential Kids urged parents to take kids to see the film. This content was seeded out on Facebook. A search campaign also focused on keywords around holiday activities for kids, sending families to a mobile-led site with interactive paper plane games and how-to videos.
Results
The week before release of Paper Planes, there was 37% prompted awareness and more than double the awareness of every other Australian film released by Roadshow in 2014. It opened as the #1 film in Australia, ahead of its biggest rivals. The film smashed the $5 million box office target, doubling it just shy of $10 million. Paper Planes has become one of the top five most successful Australian family films of all time. The term ‘paper plan’ spiked massively on Google.
Judges Comments
This campaign received unanimous support from the judges. It had it all: an innovative approach at its heart, it took real risks, and yet was so simple. Capturing the hearts of the communities around the country in a really natural and organic way. It was clear that the success of this campaign was down to the great strategy and execution of the media plan. The judges LOVED this campaign – every single part of it. Congratulations!!
