Leading review website Flicks is popular with movie fans across Australia, the UK and New Zealand. Now it’s reaching even wider audiences with its first ever TVC, directed by Kiwi comedian and film-maker Tom Furniss.
StopPress caught up with Flicks Co-Founder and CEO Paul Scantlebury to talk about the motivation behind creating the ad, how Flicks has grown its Australian and UK audiences, and why Flicks partnered with The Spinoff to embed a widget into film reviews so readers can act on recommendations more easily.
What was the motivation behind creating Flicks’ first ever TVC?
Flicks has been undergoing a transformative growth phase globally, we are seeing massive audiences across our key markets – NZ, Australia and we’ve launched in the UK. So we’re connecting with people because we solve a problem, helping our users find a movie to watch and where they can watch it. But, we see the next level of growth coming from building our brand. This TVC is step one of that larger branding effort.
How did you come to work with Tom Furniss and why did you choose him?
We also needed someone who would get our tone and humour, to execute the idea in a fun style. His background as a comedian and filmmaker made him the perfect man for the job, and he nailed it.
How did the idea for the TVC come about?
We worked with Sam and Tony at Studio Unlimited, who developed a bunch of creative ideas for us. We knew that we wanted something simple, that pitched our brand and our tone of voice. They really focused us on addressing pain-points, as with this TVC – of not being able to find something to watch. So, the idea was to take that first-world pain-point and exaggerate it to ridiculous levels. What if it got so bad, you lost everything.
What made Flicks decide to partner with The Spinoff?
Part of what Flicks does is bring together huge amounts of data – nationwide showtimes, movie metadata, streaming links – into an easily digestible package. We had the idea that other publishers, when writing about movies and TV, could add a Flicks widget which showed users where that title was available. Showtimes near you if it’s cinemas, or what platforms to watch it at home.
Pop culture is a key pillar of The Spinoff’s, so we thought they’d be the perfect launch partner for the widget and other content sharing. Also, they do amazing work and who wouldn’t want to partner with them. As well, we developed the widget with their agency, Daylight.
What does Flicks hope to achieve with the TVC?
Brand awareness, and for people to get what we do and what we’re about. We want to become allies with our audience, helping them find something good to watch.
Where will people most likely see the TVC/where is it being aired?
Our campaign is targeting Gen Z and Millennials. It is live across all top indexing channels that resonate best with our target audience – Podcasts, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Display, and in cinemas.
Check out the TVC below:
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