Cinéfranco is the leading International Francophone Film Festival in English-speaking Canada. Founded in 1997, the event promotes francophone culture through film and storytelling. Despite being around for close to 20 years and feeling it connected well with the middle-aged francophone population, Cinéfranco recognized that it was falling short in reaching anglophone and younger audiences.

To begin a strategic transition, we made the identity more contemporary and simplified the name by breaking it into “Cine” and “Franco”, making it easily understandable for anglophone audiences. We then worked with the festival team to create campaigns that highlighted the identity and had cross-cultural appeal.

With a goal to increase awareness of the event and boost ticket sales, especially amongst a younger and a more anglophone audience, the campaign concept reimagined and appropriated typical movie concession with iconic french items like the baguette, the macaron and the bottle of wine. The approach was playful, cheeky and bold, evocative of both francophone culture and cinema. The graphic focus was simple with colourful, retro-esq, quirky food styling and Cinéfranco-branded packaging to build brand recognition.

Cinefranco’s festival season was marked by a significant increase in advance ticket sales and a 22% growth in total ticket sales from previous years. Audience feedback demonstrated positive brand engagement and an increase awareness and interest for the festival through its promotional materials.

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branding
creative & art direction
campaign
photography
print and digital promotional materials
swag