The Sarasota Film Festival had established itself as popular festival on the national circuit, but it was only skimming the surface of its potential. With its strong leadership, the festival had all the makings of a Sundance or Cannes. But it needed to create a relationship with its patrons and, at the same time, become more accessible to industry insiders. Ticket sales were haphazard. Demographics were untracked from year to year. Its sluggish web presence was keeping it from becoming elite. As more people were turning to the Web to find information about this budding festival, they were finding that the site was anything but impressive - not the first impression you want to make in the image-is-everything film community.
We worked closely with the festival's leadership and most fervent patrons to get an idea of what was needed to make a truly great film festival Web site. We found that each patron had different expectations and reasons for attending the festival - some loved the movies, some were more interested in the events surrounding the festival, others wanted to know how and when they could volunteer. We developed a revolutionary concept for a completely user-customized portal that would allow patrons to coordinate which movies they wanted to see, which events they wanted to attend and where they could offer their resources as a volunteer. In-depth information about every aspect of the festival was just a click away. The result was My SFF: My Festival. My Way. Patrons could log in to the site to create their own highly personalized festival experience and purchase tickets online. The site integrated various festival entities by providing a single resource for patrons, staff and film industry insiders.
The development of this new site exponentially increased the Sarasota Film Festival's revenue and industry clout. Initial ticket sales surpassed that of any previous years' total ticket sales in just a matter of days. Online revenues increased by more than 250 percent from the previous year's campaign. More than 5,000 visitors created My SFF accounts so they could receive e-blasts about the latest festival news and create their own festival experience. The festival now has a fully manageable, evolving Web site, launching them into elite status in the film festival circuit. Every aspect of the festival was enhanced from patron experience to increased volunteer registrations to demographic tracking. The Sarasota Film Festival now uses the site to boost relationships with sponsors while attracting some of the top talent in the entertainment industry to Sarasota.
