Screen Awards 2013: Celebrating a year of the Big Screen

The great and the good of the cinema industry got together last week to celebrate a year of excellence in film distribution, marketing, advertising and exhibition at Screen International’s fourth annual Marketing and Distribution Awards.

The awards pay tribute to any film of any size that exceeds the expectations of its target audience – whether a £100m breaking film such as Skyfall or a foreign language film like No that resonates with a small, but passionate audience.

For the first time ever, DCM sponsored a new award to recognise brands that have aligned themselves with film to achieve outstanding results, presented by DCM’s Commercial Director, Joe Evea on the evening. The DCM Brand Partnership of the Year category was won by Film Tree Entertainment working with Ford Motor Co for its collaboration on The Sweeney. Judges described the activity as “A perfect alignment of product and film brand, interwoven through a long-burn campaign.”

With the Ford association dating back to the original 1970s television series, the relationship was reinstated last year, with Ford launching a new Focus ST when the film released. Ford created a multi-platform partnership targeting The Sweeney’s core male 18-40 audience, beginning six months before the film’s release with a special episode of the BBC’s Top Gear motoring programme. With the film opening top of the box office on release with £1.6m and a healthy overall total of £4.8m, the partnership delivered both targeted sales and image shift results.

“It was the kind of gold-standard partnership every distributor dreams of,” said one judge. The integration of print, cinema and digital channels that formed their primary advertising campaign ran a month before The Sweeney’s theatrical release, all aimed at both the film’s and Ford’s core audience. Partnerships shortlisted in the category included Twentieth Century Fox working with Gap Kids for Epic; Lionsgate UK working with Orange for The Expendables 2; Network Distributing working with Amnesty International for No; Brand Culture Sport & Entertainment working with Churchill Retirement Living for Quartet; Sony Pictures working with Odeon/UCI Cinemas for Skyfall and Swipe Films working with Clos Fourtet wine for You Will Be My Son.

Congratulations also go to Target Media for winning the Media Planning Agency of the Year category. Target worked on a third of all films released at UK box office, creating campaigns for more than 200 theatrical releases and more than 300 DVD releases. The media agency was praised by judges for continuing “to innovate and be creative with whatever they have to work with.”  The Award for Creative Agency of the Year went to Empire Design for its iconic Skyfall campaign and work on The Bourne Legacy, Kick Ass 2, Fast and Furious 6, Despicable Me 2, and Les Misérables. Judges said Empire is a “consistently exceptional creative that delivers campaigns of the highest quality.”

The CEA sponsored two brand new categories that recognised Exhibition for the first time in categories for exhibitors with over and under 50 screens. Vue Entertainment picked up the gong for cinemas with over 50 screens, while Picturehouse garnered the award in the category for smaller chains and independent cinemas.

Judges appreciated the emotion that Vue put into its campaigns for new cinema openings in Bicester and Cramlington, which put people at the heart of the cinemagoing experience. Picturehouse was noted by judges for continuing “to push the boundaries and opportunities for film fans.” A number of DCM’s other exhibition partners and industry colleagues were also in attendance including representatives from Odeon, The Glasgow Film Theatre and The Olympic Studio.

The team at Screen International magazine laid on a memorable evening at London’s Riverbank Plaza hotel, fronted by editor Wendy Mitchell and Edith Bowman. Digital Cinema Media would like to congratulate all winners and nominees for their achievements in an epic year of cinema distribution, marketing, advertising and exhibition.

A full account of the evening and details of winners can be found here.