CONTACT:
Mary Carbine, (608) 262-6578, mary@wifilmfest.org or Lori Wilson
at Funnel Inc., (608) 251-5481, lori@funnelinc.com
MADISON, Wis. (September 2, 2004) – Wisconsin Film Festival organizers today
announced that the Madison-based firm 40weight will serve as the 2005
Festival Marketing Partner, working in collaboration with Madison’s Clotho
Advanced Media as the Festival Website Development Partner. The
40weight/Clotho team will take over the reins from Planet Propaganda, which
served as the Festival Marketing Partner from 2001-2004 and recently
launched a new filmmaking division (see below).
40weight will be responsible for the Festival’s integrated marketing
campaign, including Festival identity, creative concepting, marketing
strategy, graphic and website design, and TV/in-theater trailers. Working
closely with 40weight, Clotho Advanced Media will handle the programming for
the extensive database-driven Festival website (www.wifilmfest.org),
including code development, code maintenance and design implementation.
Madison’s Funnel, Inc., will continue to handle Festival public relations,
and IMS will continue as the Festival’s website hosting partner.
Founded in 2002, 40weight (www.40weight.com) provides intelligent design and
strategic marketing across multiple media. The team of Joel Goldfoot and
Tony Cooke has created award-winning work for regional and national clients
such as Trek Bicycle, Lands’ End and White Clover Dairy. Over the span of
their careers, the three are proud to have won over one hundred design
awards, including regional and national ADDY awards, major publication
competitions including Print, How, Graphis and Step-By-Step magazines, best
of show for national United Way competition, and best of show Comdex “pushie
award.”
Their work has been featured in publications such as Wired Magazine,
Advertising Age, Ad Week, Time Magazine and Rolling Stone. 40weight was
recently featured on the cover of HOW magazine as one of six design firms in
the country “beating the odds,” and 40weight’s Goldfoot served as President
of Design Madison from 2002-2004 and has served on the curriculum advisory
committee at Madison Area Technical College.
“40weight’s energy, imagination and creative approach to design and
marketing are a terrific fit for the Festival-to say nothing of their
commercial-grade coffeemaker, which should come in handy for those
late-night schedule proofing sessions,” said Festival Director Mary Carbine.
“We’re more than excited to work on the 2005 Wisconsin Film Festival
campaign,” said Goldfoot, “and given the complexity of the web site this
year, we can’t wait to work with Clotho. We’re confident that due to the
close relationship that our companies have developed, we will be able to
deliver great design with a solid, reliable technical foundation.”
Founded in 1996, Clotho Advanced Media (www.clotho.com) is expert in
interactive development and creates custom multimedia applications using
cutting-edge tools and technologies like Flash MX, Shockwave and Java. Their
projects include multimedia marketing features and dynamic websites,
web-based operational tools, content management engines, interactive games,
and educational activities. Current clients include American Girl
(established as Pleasant Company in 1986 by founder Pleasant T. Rowland),
TeachingBooks.net and Academic Technology Solutions at UW-Madison. Clotho
will build the 2005 Festival website and handle administration and expansion
of its complex back-end database, originally created by Planet Propaganda’s
active media team. In the two months before the 2004 Festival, the website
drew 57,551 visits and 33,731 unique visitors, with an average 1.7 visits
per unique user, an average site visit time of 10 minutes, and almost 2,000
film “wish lists” created.
“Clearly, the Festival website is a central component of the marketing
campaign and ticket sales,” said Carbine. “Clotho’s technical expertise and
passion for innovative interactive applications will not only insure the
continued functionality of the site but also help take it to the next
level.”
Madison’s IMS (www.ims.net) will continue to provide website hosting
services and, in partnership with Clotho, enhance the online ticket ordering
system. Developed by IMS and Planet Propaganda, online ticketing debuted
in 2004 and exceeded all expectations, with nearly 8,000 tickets-one third
of total sales-ordered online. The 2004 website launch of the full Festival
schedule and program drew a 27 percent increase in visitor volume over the
2003 launch date, and in less than two full days the amount of wish lists
exceeded the total wish list registrants for all of 2003.
From 2001 through 2004, the Festival Marketing Partner was Madison’s Planet
Propaganda, a communication company that provides graphic design,
advertising, active media and motion graphics. Planet built a successful
brand and identity for the Festival, implemented marketing campaigns that
helped increase ticket sales from 12,000 to 24,000 and put the event on the
regional and national maps with audiences, the film industry, media and
sponsors. Planet’s Wisconsin Film Festival campaigns won a prestigious
national Gold ADDY(r) Award for Advertising in the Arts and numerous local
ADDY awards, and were featured in I.D. magazine, Communication Arts’ web
site, Creativity, PrintCritic and Graphic Design: USA.
Inspired in part by its Festival involvement, Planet Propaganda has launched
a new independent film division, P Star Pictures. “The Wisconsin Film
Festival has been a great experience for Planet,” says John Besmer, Planet
Propaganda Principal. “It really drew us into the world of independent film
and we’ve obviously found it to our liking. Hopefully, before too long,
we’ll be part of the festival circuit as filmmakers.”
“I am very excited about Planet’s new venture into filmmaking,” says
Festival Director Mary Carbine. “The Festival looks forward to having
Planet as a new member of Wisconsin’s filmmaking community. Our marketing
partnership with Planet created a strong Festival brand and identity and a
passionate audience base, which is a wonderful springboard for a new
Marketing and Creative Partner.”
The 7th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, will take place in Madison Thursday,
March 31 through Sunday, April 3, 2005. In 2004, the Festival screened
more than 140 films from 26 countries, including 45 films by filmmakers with
Wisconsin ties, with record-breaking ticket sales of 24,000.
The Wisconsin Film Festival is a public program of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute,
2004 Festival community sponsors, funders and contributors include Planet
Propaganda, Funnel Inc., The Evjue Foundation, 105.5 Triple M, Charter
Communications, Isthmus, Shepherd Express [Milwaukee], Dane County Cultural
Affairs Commission, Downtown Madison, Eastman Kodak Company, Greater Madison
Convention and Visitors Bureau, IMS (Interactive Media Solutions LLC),
Independent Film Channel, Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club,
Midwest Airlines, Steep & Brew, University Book Store, Wisconsin Film Office
(Wisconsin Department of Tourism), Burne Photo Imaging, CineFilm Laboratory,
Great Big Pictures. i^3 (i-cubed), DataVision, Eiki, IATSE Local 251
(Projectionists Union), Lonya Nenashev, Roscor, Bongo Video, Danish Film
Institute, IFP/Chicago, Milwaukee Independent Film Society, Ronee Bergman,
and the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum.
Major Venues and Partners include the Bartell Theatre, Club Majestic,
Orpheum Theatre, Hillel at University of Wisconsin, University Square
Theatres, UW Cinematheque, and the Wisconsin Union Directorate Film
Committee (Memorial Union Play Circle).
University of Wisconsin-Madison sponsors include the Anonymous Fund, Asian
American Studies Program, Center for Interdisciplinary French Studies,
Department of Communication Arts, European Studies Alliance, a program of
the International Institute, Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies,
University Lectures Committee, University Research Park, WAA-GLBT Alumni
Council, and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. World
Cinema Day funders include the UW Brittingham Trust, the UW College of
Letters & Science, The Evjue Foundation and the WEAC Human Relations
Committee.
