marketing teardown: 🎬 a24 films

hey, marketer! 

you ever finish a movie and just sit there like, “ok, i’m never gonna be the same after this”?

that’s me with pretty much any a24 movie. but it’s not just the films that hit different — their whole vibe, branding, business model, and marketing have totally shifted how the movie industry plays the game.

like, sure, actors and directors usually bring the star power that gets people to the theaters, but a24 pulled it off as a studio.

how?

brand in the hot seat: 🎬 a24 films

today's treasure trove

• who is a24?

  • a24’s business model and vision

• a24’s branding

• social media marketing

• press and public relations

• experiential marketing

• wrap up

who is a24?

quick stats:

• youtube – 1.31m followers, 700 videos

• instagram – 2.5m followers

• facebook – 536k followers

• x/twitter – 1.8m followers

• tiktok – 1.6m followers

• monthly website traffic – 773k

a24's social game is massive, but i mean, they’re a media company — this is kinda their thing, right?

a24 launched in 2012, thanks to three film industry vets who saw a major gap: artsy, indie films for millennials and gen z weren’t getting enough love.

so, they decided to get creative and hit social media (which was actually kinda fresh back then) along with some off-the-wall marketing moves to reach their crowd, while the big studios were still dumping cash into trailers and posters.

here are a few of a24’s titles you might recognize:

• everything everywhere all at once

• civil war

• uncut gems

• moonlight

• ex machina

• hereditary

this strategy has paid off for them – having built a loyal base of raving fans in a business where no one thought that was possible.

a24’s business model and vision

a24 took more of a venture capital approach to movies – choosing to release a higher number of lower-budget films, but giving the filmmaker carte blanche creative license, with the idea being that their major hits will cover financing for the rest.

blumhouse does it too, but they’re all about horror. a24? they crush it across every genre.

take a peek at those movie again:

• everything everywhere all at once (action, comedy, sci-fi)

• civil war (action, sci-fi)

• uncut gems (drama, thriller)

• Moonlight (drama)

• ex machina (sci-fi)

• hereditary (horror)

the vision of a24 is to let the writers and directors express their art without limits, unlike many other hollywood studios that constantly push filmmakers towards more approachable content.

a24’s branding

how does a film studio create a brand?

besides the movies they make, a24 uses social media, press, its app, newsletter, and website to stoke the fervor about its offbeat style.

their target market is film buffs – not the casual moviegoer that plops down for the summer blockbuster.

no, they appeal to the film fan that wants art, story, creativity, and pushing the boundaries when they watch a flick. the sxsw film fest badge holders.

just take a look at the landing page for their app. it offers much more than just the ability to watch movies (which is what you’d expect):

• filmmaker commentaries

• behind-the-scenes footage

• free screenings

• subscription to their “zine”

• included in their “close friends” on instagram

• and more

social media marketing

I mentioned they were early to using social media as a viable marketing channel – but they didn’t just post their trailers and some director interviews.

for one of a24’s first big horror releases, the witch, the company created a twitter account for the satanic goat character named “black phillip,” complete with clever clapbacks and meme-able moments.

this approach isn’t novel anymore, but at the time, it was unique – most other studios thought of digital as secondary, but a24 saw it as the backbone of their marketing.

another social-centric campaign started at sxsw, while promoting their upcoming film ex machina.

this movie has a robot character named “ava” – one idea in the flick is determining if ava is sentient. so, the a24 marketing team created a fake tinder account and matched with folks in austin for sxsw. “ava” would message the unsuspecting user and eventually draw them to a fake instagram profile.

a bit creepy (especially in today’s world, where this is so close to reality)?

yes, but that’s kinda what they were going for.

press and public relations

a24 knows how to create something worth talking about. 

and they know who get listened to when they talk.

as in, movie reviewers and journalists. 

a campaign for it comes at night included sending nightmarish greeting cards to movie reviewers – knowing that they’d love to share with their audience of film fanatics.

another idea that helped an a24 film gain earned media was their a24auctions website. It’s a website basically selling memorabilia, but it’s the wild things listed for auction that catch the attention of the internet – whether or not they actually sell any of these items.

e.g. peep the hat for sale below from everything everywhere all at once. the essential iykyk, and if you don’t know, you’re definitely curious now.

experiential marketing

a24 has taken the road less traveled so often. and they’re good at it.

but it doesn’t stop at digital campaigns and pr – they’ve created some brand collabs and experiential marketing campaigns that fit right into the stories their movies tell.

kevin smith wrote and directed an early a24 film called tusk – to help build buzz, the company collaborated with a california marijuana dispensary to create two unique marijuana strains.

to promote its film a ghost story, a24 partnered with a creative agency to create “a ghost store”: an online shop that offers musings on the infinite nature of time, and offers a one-size-fits-all product, and immortality. they expanded this into a physical pop-up store where visitors would get an iconic white sheet to wear, similar to the ghost character in the movie.

wrap up

a24 is a powerhouse of creativity – in their movies and their marketing.

this approach has helped them build a loyal fanbase (which hadn’t really existed for any movie studio before), a ton of awards, and healthy revenue.

I hope they keep it up and continue making unique movies (they’ve made some of my all-time favorite films) and push the boundaries.

thanks for reading and I’d love to hear what thoughts you have about a24 and this teardown. (and read the other deep dives here)

✌️,

tom from marketer gems

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