You’re sitting in the movie theater and a trailer for an upcoming movie plays. Before it even begins, the A24 logo flashes across the screen. You’re already so loyal to the A24 brand that it almost doesn’t matter what the movie is – you’re sold on it and you know you’re going to pay to see it when it comes out later that year.

A24’s movies are boundary-pushing, much like the millennial generation – and that’s a huge part of the company’s power. Here’s how A24 is connecting with millennial audiences.

The Trailers Deliver on Their Promise

A24 trailers often tease something you’ve never seen before – an actor in a role unlike anything he’s ever been in (Rob Pattinson in Good Time); a style that’s new (the combination of oddity and beauty in Swiss Army Man); or a level of horror that’s unlike any other movie (Hereditary, and possibly the upcoming Midsommar). Then, the movies actually deliver. The promising trailers don’t lead to disappointing films. The films are what you expect, and usually even better.

A24 Uses the Power and Reach of Social Media

A24 is taking advantage of the fact that social media is a fantastic, free way to market a movie.

For example, when promoting Ex Machina, they launched a marketing campaign on Tinder. Users who matched with Ava, the main character in the film, were redirected to an Instagram page that promoted the movie with video marketing and details about the movie’s festival premiere. Visual identity is huge for films, and certain social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, do exceptionally well with video marketing.

When A24 started marketing The Witch, they launched a Twitter campaign, followed by a Facebook page. A24 also launched a Snapchat account for the movie, and this was in 2015, before Instagram started edging Snapchat out. They then partnered with The Satanic Temple, an activist group based in Salem, to promote the movie.

Here’s when the real brilliance started, though: they launched a Twitter profile for Black Philip, the goat in the movie. For an otherwise dark and moody movie, this Twitter account was fun and engaging – and millennials noticed (It helped that the movie’s other Twitter account and Facebook page had already become popular).

A24 Varies Their Marketing Methods

A24 puts out fantastic trailers and also utilizes social media for marketing. But if you miss one or the other, you’re still bound to hear about their movies either way. For example, they often hold Ask Me Anything sessions on Reddit with film directors. Also, when promoting The End of the Tour, they teamed up with Medium to create the Just Words project, which gathered all sorts of artists to celebrate David Foster Wallace (who the movie was based on). 

Wrapping Up

A24 caters to one of the most important aspects of marketing to millennials: authenticity. Millennials see right through inauthentic brands. If A24 delivered disappointing movies, they’d no longer be trusted. Marketing may get audiences in seats, but the movies themselves are also a form of marketing, one that will spread via word-of-mouth and keep moviegoers coming back.