The modern cinematic experience extends far beyond the doors of the auditorium. In an environment rich with diverse entertainment, cinemas face the challenge of going above and beyond to curate experiences that excite and engage moviegoers, creating meaningful connection to both movies and the cinema experience.

Leveraging over 25 years of industry expertise with Vista Group’s products and data, cinemas have many ways to create moments that foster genuine and unique connections with their audiences and drive increased engagement and attendance by doing so.

The innovation of immersion

The impact of sound and screen are the core of the moviegoing experience. But today’s moviegoing journeys encompass so many more interactions, from the moments of a first trailer’s arrival, across websites, advertising, social media, all engaging moviegoers’ attention.

Powster crafts meaningful moments of connection for audiences before they set foot in the cinema. With an incredible range and reach of experiences—from generative AI-based interactive campaigns for Evil Dead Rise, to augmented reality collaborations with Doctor Strange, and their most recent Argylle collaboration that transformed moviegoers into secret agents—Powster's creations create incredibly unique and sharable interactions that engage moviegoers.

These unique experiences offer lasting, memorable experiences to connect moviegoers with movies before their release. Unique and memorable interactions like these spur a sense of connection and community between the cinema and the moviegoers engaging with them.

Building personalised journeys

Engaged moviegoers come from lasting, impactful moviegoing journeys. Those journeys begin long before the lights dim in the auditorium, and carry on after the credits roll. The key in crafting journeys that enrich the entire experience is personalisation.

A personalised approach, building communications tailored to individual moviegoers, can make a substantial impact on both moviegoer attendance and retention. Tailoring to individuals, of course, requires the right tools. With integrated Loyalty data, features such as Movio Cinema EQ’s dynamic content can determine the most appropriate movies to promote to each member and craft each email to appeal most to its moviegoer.

A recent study leveraging Movio’s Propensity Algorithm—which matches moviegoers to the movies they are most likely to be interested in seeing—revealed that targeted email marketing drove an average revenue uplift of more than 5%.

Seeing how a personalised approach can increase revenue, movie marketers should be capitalising on engaging experiences and interactions. By building on inspiring movie content for targeted communications, cinemas unlock the potential to increase their revenue and grow their audience.

Keeping the hype alive

Sound and screen are the core of the moviegoing experience, but today’s journeys encompass many more interactions, from those first targeted communications through to websites, social media, and more at every step.

But how do you maintain the hype for a moviegoer’s entire visit? Once a moviegoer purchases their ticket, what keeps them connected to the cinema until the moment the movie begins?

Cinemas are able to keep the journey alive with Vista’s Living Ticket, a digital ticket that acts as a moviegoer’s one-stop shop throughout their experience. The Living Ticket doesn’t just display session information, but provides a gateway for cinemas to engage with moviegoers during their journey, such as by prompting reminders to order food & beverages, and providing your moviegoers with self-service functionality to build on their order.

Transforming visits into repeat events

Delivering a great experience builds intent to return in the moviegoer, with the ultimate goal of turning the end of each visit to the cinema into the beginning of the next one. Targeted, propensity-driven marketing, combined with subscription programmes can not only fill more seats in the cinema, but empower cinemas to turn moviegoers into repeat customers—boosting revenue and spend-per-head.

Vista’s Subscriptions solution allows cinemas to craft their own unique subscription offers, suited to their branding and strengths to pursue their business objectives. With the flexibility it provides, cinemas can define their own structures, pricing, and rewards to shape how their subscriptions turn their moviegoers into a loyal audience.

Looking to the industry’s future, connected by inspiring and engaging experiences, these strategies empower cinemas to captivate and grow their audiences.