Top 99 Ideas for Marketing the YERT Feature Film

Here they are! The survey results are in and we're getting the results out there. The multiple choice answers can be found here: http://questionpro.com/s/1-326297-1481493And we loved all the advice in the open answer section, where we asked "Please offer your suggestions for getting the YERT film seen by as many people as possible." The results might help you market your own environmental film. Here are the top 99 responses:

• e-mail sociology/biology/aware college profs & ask to set up a screening
• a community theatre in chapel hill (a place where your film will be well received): http://www.varsityonfranklin.com/
• A social media awareness GRASS ROOTS campaign.
• Advertise
• advertise on the PlanetGreen Channel on DirectTV!
• Ask for donations along the way...
• Assign YERT college fans to write pithy, clever, YERTy phrases (less than five words) in chalk all over their campuses and sign it YERT . . . or just post lots of pictures of Mark; he's one irresistible cutie!
• BUT most importantly continue your positive vibe in all that you do!
• but you could exploit the Hollywood avenue...Oprah, The View, Jay Leno, 60 Mins.;
• Buy Blu-ray - $20
• Buy DVD - $16-$20
• Can you get on the Daily Show? Colbert? :-)
• check out mobmov.org.
• check out the radio stations in major cities that have the most listeners in your demographic. In KC - it would be KCUR and KKFI. Get an interview - in conjunction with a viewing.
• College campuses are great too, but college kids don't have money either. But if provide free or low-cost screenings, you'd get a pretty big return in terms of word of mouth, activism, and name recognition that might pay off in bigger ways.
• college campuses, story on local news, fliers, e-mail blasts, etc.
• Colleges!!!!!!
• Connect with like-minded organizations (e.g., in Pittsburgh have presentations/screenings in conjunction with Venture Outdoors, the Sierra Club, etc.) or even businesses (e.g., R.E.I.), and tap into their member bases
• Connect with sustainability programs/professors at business schools. Many B-schools now have at least one prof who does sustainability work. They might be interested in hosting an event or using the film in class. If you are interested, I can introduce you to some professors at Oregon State and one at Notre Dame.
• Contact Transition Louisville, Sustainable Louisville Network, other greenie networks.
• Continue to blog (I am connected to you via Facebook). You may try "selling" the film (or articles about the film) to all the green sites (I work for Green Joyment [greenjoyment.com], and he would like an article regarding your film. I am in the process of writing the article.).
• Debbie Ford (author of "The Dark Side of the Light Chasers" and others) is showing her recent film: THE SHADOW EFFECT around the country. I saw it last year to a large group in a SF Unitarian Church before it was even released. I don't know how she's doing it exactly, but I know people are having "Salons" at their home to show the film. You may want to contact her people. I know there is someone in Louisville who shows her film. Check out www.debbieford.com
• distributing the dvd or video file to environmental focus organizations at colleges and universities. I would love to throw a house party or dorm party and show the video. We did this with 'Coal country' this year already and it worked really well.
• Do a Rolling Roadshow with the Alamo Drafthouse (based out of Austin, Tx). They put on a large screen outdoor/non-theater event related to some location of your movie. Past examples: Xanadu at a Roller Rink, Open Water in innertubes on Lake Travis, Field of Dreams on that very field in Iowa, The Goonies in a cave, etc. They're very creative. If you can incorporate/relate food with it, you can even do one of their dining events.
• Farmer's Market short film screenings?
• for traditional DVD purchases, interview segment on mainstream talk shows with similar appreciation for good humor (as shown in YERT film); for online downloads, stimulate buzz on discussion boards
• get a BIll and Melissa Gates Grant
• get an interview with Jon Stewart
• get into schools via science teachers and classes
• get the blessing of a celebrity (rock star who tells the audience to buy DVD and has it for sale at a concert); or
• get the film on an airline film roster;
• Get the movie to activists from different environmental groups. Greenpeace, 1Sky
• Get your movie added to Netflix and Blockbuster repertoires, especially as one of the on-demand streaming movies. You could also try to add it to Hulu and other on-demand internet sites.
• Go to as many colleges, schools, etc. as much as possible.
• Gogoverde.com has great environmental communities linked together. Ours in Rutland VT just did a showing of Food Inc.
• have college students at a prestigious university; take it on as a marketing project assignment
• have FOX news run trailer
• Hit up college campuses! We like to network with other schools, so the word spreads twice as fast!
• hmmm. You tube videos...sharing on FB, mainstream distribution, indie release (coffee houses, indie theaters. etc), hosting the film at eco-conferences, eco-events, maybe BIONEERS.....
• Hopefully you'll get a big break - maybe even from a totally unexpected source. You guys have done an amazing, amazing thing. I can't believe that somebody won't snap it up soon. How 'bout PBS? (If a well-publicized documentary could bring you income. I have no idea how that works, but I'm sure you do. Which might be why you want to keep it a feature film. I'm rambling now. Bye. ;-)
• House Party - $10
• https://www.withoutabox.com/
• I am happy to keep passing the word through the folks I know..
• i could attend but not HOST screenings - just too much on my plate right now as i'm trying to start a community farm and protect against marcellus shale exploitation
• I guess this doesn't really get the entire film seen, but it does increase the film buzz, right?
• I think some kind of streaming/dowloading online would be great.
• I work in the Center for the Arts in Jackson, WY - might be able to help coordinate a screening of the feature when it is ready...don't know if we could pull it off for free, but you never know!
• I'd say provide it for free download, but ask for donations. That might work well.
• If it were in the theaters, like Inconvenient truth was, I'd definitely go see it and make my friends and family come too, or at least see it afterward when I bought it. I'm a little too mobile in my life right now to see it any other way :(
• if you can somehow tap into the entire organization and get a coordinated screening going, that might be a great grassroots thing. although, cars and movies about the environment maybe don't go so well together...
• I'm a member of my local Holistic Mom's group. This would make an excellent event for an HMN meeting open to the public!
• I'm sure it's already in the plan, but I'd offer a portion of it for free viewing on "social" sites like YouTube.com and Facebook.com and Twitter.com, with a link to a website that allows you to order/pay for the entire film via either a traditional DVD or downloadable file you can view on your computer with most popular media players.
• It's really hard to cut through all of the noise out there. I don't have any specific suggestions other than to have people WANT to view your work rather than feeling like they have to because it's the right sociopoliticaleconomical cause. Bring the spirit of your videos (which are very engaging) to the way you promote it.
• I've been thinking about contests recently--what about a contest for people to produce their own YERT segment and submit via youtube. You select 20 top entries to be voted on (a whole second step of engagement with people online) and then the winner gets to be included in the feature film. Or maybe you reserve the right to re-shoot that segment...
• Keep on traveling around to schools :D Students eat this up and are always looking for things like this to inspire them and to get involved with! Good luck!
• Keep up the good work!!! Someday soon the US will be ready for your awesome work. Hope everyone is doing well.
• Live presentations!
• local tv
• Luv you guys!
• make it available for on-line and download for donation and ask that it be widely distributed
• Make it available to Conscientious Projector, the monthly sustainability film screening organization at All Saints Church, Pasadena, CA. Advertise on radio station KPFK.
• make it free to watch online - if you really want to make it seen by as many people as possible.
• Make the first 15 minutes available for free. Leave 'em hanging and then make 'em pay! :-)
• Movie night screenings projector on the side of a building.
• No specific ideas for now, but definitely concentrate effort on college kids, who seem most likely to road trip!
• Nudity, and plenty of it. Or, a strategic marketing plan that identifies target markets and considers what effects that the film, its price, the place it can be accessed, and its promotion have on the target consumer. In doing so, the YERT value proposition will become more aligned with the needs of its largest and most loyal customer base.
• Offer it through the permaculture network
• Okay, not sure that would actually work or be the best idea, but I think you have to lead with something substantial that's free. There was a popular on that topic recently, no?
• Online first??
• other film festivals, green fests,
• People somehow respond to grass roots and the fact that they are helping a worthwhile project.
• Please do a screening at the University of Pittsburgh. We'll advertise it and make sure a lot of people come to watch it. Thanks!
• Provide free copies to extension agents located at land-grant universities in each state (1/state). Ask them to share with a professor who might screen it for a class or allow them to show it an event they might be participating in. Use your YERT followers to select at least one local environmentally-focused community organization per state and provide a free DVD.
• put an eco-oriented celebrity in the film;
• Put it on the YERT site and market the hell out of it on social networking sites, twitter, maybe doing 1 minute YERT tips like--"YERT TIP #46: When recycling aluminum blah blah blah insert correct tip here" and have it be funny and quick and quirky. OR with your connection to the theatre, contact the broadway green alliance and see if you can partner with them and have a concert and screening. Just thoughts.
• Question 8's "$11 - $20" response is too wide a margin, especially when $0 - $10 gets broken down into three separate answers.
• Reach out to colleges and don't give up on the film festivals!
• release it!!! :)
• screening at hipster bars
• Secure spots in summer outdoor movie screening schedules. Have an introduction/taped testimonial by Al Gore or other eco-friendly high profile figures to use in publicity materials. Get a distributor (even if small indy studio) so your movie is presented/available to all their clients. And the idea of a series on PBS or Discovery or similar channel could work really well as a lead up (and publicity) for the DVD release.
• Short film screenings on the street?
• Show it at Flicks at Stanford!
• sometimes hooking up with another group helps and you can promote each other;
• Take a look at examiner.com for environmental peeps to write reviews, post clips, etc. (I need to add you to my twitter ...)
• talk to Dreamworks people
• tap into braddock youth project (BYP) and GTECH
• Theater - $11-$15
• Try to contact news outlets about it... I'm sure some newspapers would be interested in the story
• visit college campuses more often. I attended the USC presentation, I think that age range is the easiest to target and the easiest way to spread your message rapidly. best of luck
• We already had a YERT Live presentation at my college (Westminster). In the future, the Westminster Chapter of the Sierra Student Coalition would be very interested in hosting a screening event for the YERT film :)
• We could still try to get it to be shown at our Panida theater here in Sandpoint and possible coordinate to do a fundraiser.
• We have a college extension office that offers a lot of education and research opportunities here in Nebraska City connected to UNL - I would think those types of facilities would be a great way.
• We have told several friends about YERT and everything you are doing to help the environment. Getting everyone to spread the word is one good way.
• What you are already doing with Facebook. Facebook is how those up to age 35 and women above age 50 communicate.
• Why not market the movie as educational model for teaching environmental awareness? In a contest, encourage mimickers to submit their own local segments to you or on YouTube and offer a monthly prize for the best video to be featured (embedded) on your website.
• Word of mowf... in the words of Luda.
• Yert itself needs to become a social networking site in which qualified green professionals (who you three have met) can interact. These are the same people who act as opinion leaders in the field and will get your word of mouth moving.
• You have prob. already tried these!
• You need money to finish, and then you want to make some from it! I need to think this over and give you realistic suggestions later on...