Projects.
Gruen – Revive the Cinema
The pitch:
Revive the cinema
For the second year in a row, the SBM team was asked to create a pitch for an episode of ABC’s Gruen, going up against another agency pitching for the opposite.
The prompt: get audiences back to the cinema.
In the midst of lockdowns and social distancing restrictions, the SBM team brainstormed ideas and got to work on the perfect way to package the messaging in a way that would convince the judges.
The solution
The concept was simple in theory, and elegant in execution: a cinema-esque ads showing that you could never quite capture the cinema experience without an actual cinema.
Underscored by stress-inducing classical music, the video depicts some truly awful movie-watching experiences, hammering home the message to audiences that cinemas are the way to go.
Issues around social distancing and lockdowns made for a unique challenge when it came to finding specific sets (e.g. a public train) and making sure actors and crew were kept safe.
The result
The end result was a punchy, visceral and hilarious advertisement fully in support of cinemas across Australia and beyond. Despite strong entries all around, SBM ended up impressing the judges and walking away with our very first Gruen trophy.
Here’s to further success next time around!
