Case Study

Analytical Essay
Emily Kratz
11/19/15
Boulder International Film Festival & Linhart PR

The prestigious, critically acclaimed festival, named one of the

25 Coolest Film Festivals by MovieMaker Magazine (BIFF-about),
didnt accomplish this all on its own. The Boulder International Film
Festival, BIFF, has earned a reputation as one of the most influential
and innovative film festivals in the United States and its only been
around since 2005. With the help of Linhart PR in 2011, BIFF was able
to start creating this name for themselves. Linhart PR was successful in
boosting awareness, ticket sales, and building the reputation of what
the well known Boulder International Film Festival is seen as today,
because of their media relations and social media plan, and having
such influential people in the film industry attend their event.
The location of Boulder International Film Festival already does
wonders for the event. This four-day festival, located in Boulder,
Colorado, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, is accompanied with over
300,000 people (BIFF-about), a wide variety of culture and interests,
and an incredible food destination. It was a great investment for
Linhart PR to team up with BIFF because the potential of the festival
was obvious. Linhart PR, located in Denver, provided BIFF with pro
bono public relations and marketing support. The challenge Linhart PR

was faced was that the festival was only in their 7th year of being. BIFF
was determined to drive attendance and ticket sales, build awareness
and develop their reputation as a must attend event, locally and
around the world. The work done by the Linhart PR team and BIFF
festival leaders was successful for many reasons.
Linhart PRs first success was in boosting awareness. After their
efforts in creating more online buzz and reaching out to a broader and
more diverse audience, they had more than 21 million consumer media
impressions. They were successful in achieving the most media
coverage in BIFFs history in 2011. An example of how Linhart PR
increased awareness was they promoted the 2011 event on their own
Facebook page (Linhart PR). The PR team also boosted awareness
during the festival for the future by having both national and local
journalists attend (Withoutabox). Linhart PR knew that to be effective,
getting more people in the know of the event was very important and it
is clear they achieved this goal by the number of people that attended
the festival that year.
A second success the PR team achieved was in the business side
regarding attendance and ticket sales. In 2011, ticket sales increased
by 9.2 percent from 2010. This jump in sales happened because they
boosted awareness for the festival and made it more intriguing to a
wider audience than they had before.

The reputation of the festival grew in 2011 because of the names

that are thought of along with Boulder International Film Festival. That
year, Linhart PR and BIFF festival leaders landed two very popular
celebrities in the industry. First was filmmaking legend Oliver Stone and
actor James Franco. Both had a lasting impression on the festival that
year. Having these celebrities associated and attend the event was
huge in increasing awareness, creating online buzz, and enhancing
BIFFs reputation.
James Franco and Oliver Stone did wonders for BIFFs success.
Franco and Stone were influential in gaining national media coverage,
a feature story in national film trade publication, IndieWIRE, and
widespread statewide coverage of Boulder International Film Festival.
The question of why and how was Linhart PR successful in achieving
higher ticket sales, boosting awareness, and enhancing the reputation
of BIFF can simply be answer by having these influential people of the
film industry attend the event in 2011. It was also extremely powerful
that Franco and Stone were both so popular that year. Oliver Stone was
being honored with a Master of Cinema Award. James Franco was a
2011 Oscar contender and was hosting the Academy Awards eight
days after the festival. Linhart PR took advantage of these stars
popularity and used it to reflect that status on BIFF. The media buzz
they created to the public of having these stars at their event both
contributed to more awareness and increased the ticket sales in 2011.

Everything Linhart PR and BIFF festival leaders did in 2011 to

promote the festival all ended with positive results and continued the
trend every year after. The facts from BIFFs press release archive
represent why this is true. In 2012 there was a 21 percent increase in
ticket sales from 2011 and a 10 percent increase in attendance (BIFFarchive). In 2013 the festival again had a 10 percent increase in
attendance (BIFF-archive). On their 10th anniversary in 2014 there was
a total of 23,600 people in attendance (BIFF-archive). At their most
recent festival in 2015, there were more than 25,000 people in
attendance, the best in their 11-year history (Miesnieks). These results
support that with the help of Linhart PR in 2011, BIFF was able to
develop a lasting reputation as a must attend event each and every
year since.
Overall, the public relations and marketing support that Linhart
PR provided to Boulder International Film Festival in 2011 was a
success in boosting awareness, ticket sales, and enriching a wellknown reputation. Their most successful effort in accomplishing these
challenges was landing the two stars that year, James Franco and
Oliver Stone. Having them associate themselves with BIFF has helped
to draw in larger audiences of film enthusiasts, other famous actors
and filmmakers, each and every year since 2011. With the continual
effort of these tactics from Linhart PR, the skies the limit for the future
of Boulder International Film Festival.

Bibliography
"BIFF Boulder International Film Festival." BIFF Boulder International
Film Festival. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015. <http://biff1.com/about/>.
"BIFF Boulder International Film Festival." BIFF Boulder International
Film Festival. N.p., 2011-2015. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
<http://biff1.com/press/press-release-archive/>.
Linhart PR. "Facebook Logo." Happy Friday! Tonight, Members of The...
N.p., 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
<https://www.facebook.com/linhartpublicrelations/posts/18996914437
1415>.
Miesnieks, Drea. "BIFF Boulder International Film Festival." BIFF
Boulder International Film Festival. N.p., 9 Mar. 2015. Web. 8 Nov.
2015. <http://biff1.com/2015/03/this-year-best-biff-ever/>.

"Withoutabox." Withoutabox. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.

<https://www.withoutabox.com/03film/03t_fin/03t_fin_fest_01over.php?
festival_id=3932>.