Turner Classic Movies is going after younger viewers who like to socialize around movies with a new branding campaign — above the tagline “Let’s Movie” — the first such outreach in about a decade for the Turner Broadcasting System-owned channel.
New on-air and online spots show groups gathering to watch, for example, The Wizard of Oz projected onto the side of a Kansas barn, John Wayne in The Searchers played off a butte in Monument Valley and Ben Hur on the outside walls of The Colosseum in Rome. (Click to view a :30 spot and a :60 spot.)
“We want to appeal to broader movie lovers, not just classic movie lovers,” Jennifer Dorian, TCM’s general manager, told The Wire.
The message: "These iconic films should be enjoyed by everyone and they’re timeless, so if you love movies, check them out. It’s about getting people together and everybody making an event out of seeing an iconic film.”
Here’s where the clever spots will be seen, starting Sept. 1: on TCM’s air; on TCM.com; cross-promoted on CNN.com; on TBS, TNT and CNN Airport Network and on electronic billboards in New York and Atlanta and on-screen ads in some 750 movie theatres across the country.
There also will be a social-media campaign — #LetsMovie — building toward a “Let's Movie” holiday on Sept. 19, when TCM will encourage fans to watch films with family and friends and share their experiences socially.
Dorian also hopes to stage live events in iconic locations, possibly including a Rocky screening on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
“We feel like we’re the movie place, so let’s movie,” she said.
