Cinionic Captures National Attention With Agile Trade Show PR

The Challenge

Cinionic needed Walker Sands to develop a PR campaign that would land coverage in trade media surrounding CinemaCon and expand the brand’s visibility with national entertainment and entertainment technology reporters. During a period when event cancellation was entirely possible due to increasing infection rates in Las Vegas, where the trade show was being held, our team was pushed to think outside of the box.

The Solution

As some studios and reporters started to hedge on their plans to attend CinemaCon, our team continuously monitored event updates and cancellation notices — staying ahead of the curve and adapting with strategies that were critical in achieving Cinionic’s goals for the event.  

The team also developed a PR and social support campaign ahead of the trade show with strategies that included:

• Media preparation: Our team created a fully accessible digital media kit with executive bios, headshots, product tech sheets, FAQs and company backgrounders for Cinionic, making it easy for reporters to quickly locate information. And by constantly monitoring trade show news, the team ensured Cinionic remained up to date and relevant in conversations with reporters. This continuous media landscape audit allowed our team to draft show releases, talking points for executives on product features, COVID-19 theater protocols and other industry topics.

• Social media themes: To inject Cinionic into social conversations surrounding the event, we developed a social strategy centered on several key themes – one for each media day at the trade show. Social posts included company announcements like the news that Cinionic was moving to an all-laser portfolio, promotion of Cinionic’s live podcast taping, and sharing information about earned media coverage in real time. Onsite client contacts were prepped with information about the preferred cadence of social posts and optimal visual images to capture.   

• Constant communication: The goal was to stay aware, available and communicative, so our team created on-call schedules and a group text with the client and internally to keep all lines of communication open and quick for news announcements and media opportunities. A daily recap was sent to Cinionic each evening containing hot items for immediate action, coverage updates, interviews and media schedules for the next morning, social post themes and any required assets. The team also posted a shared media tracker containing information and logistics on scheduled media conversations and deskside briefings, as well as future media placements.

The Results

Cinionic earned 20+ placements in outlets like The Hollywood Reporter, Digital Cinema Report, Celluloid Junkie, Boxoffice Pro and DCinema Today — resulting in a total potential reach of 21.5M media impressions. The team successfully coordinated six onsite media interviews with Cinionic executives and the 28 posts on social media generated more than 20,000 total social media impressions for the brand. Just as importantly, Cinionic developed relationships with 10 new media outlets and contacts as a direct result of trade show conversations — more than doubling its original goal. 

In addition to helping Cinionic earn significant trade media coverage, we also helped them achieve their goal of building deeper relationships with entertainment technology reporters — far surpassing the brand’s expectations for the CinemaCon event.