Great Bear Rainforest captures the beauty of Canada’s remote Pacific coast rainforest and brings attention to a place so wild, few ever have the chance to see it. Protected for the past thousand years by the region’s indigenous people, the Great Bear Rainforest is home to grizzlies, coastal wolves, sea otters, and the infamous all-white spirit bear. IMAX Victoria saw an opportunity to drum up excitement in their local community and beyond, to get audiences excited to come witness their backyard wonder from the comfort of a giant screen theater. 

America’s Musical Journey is an inspiring film with a focus on the beauty and importance of diversity in the US, and Challenger Learning Center wanted to do the same on a local level. Tallahassee, Florida, is home to a strong arts community, so the big idea behind CLC’s launch for America’s Musical Journey was to showcase the diverse culture and innovation that are alive in its very own city.

IMAX and Warner Bros. (WB) joined forces to develop a strategy including creative development, publicity, digital, exhibition, and more to reposition pandas as not just cute and cuddly animals, but as endangered animals who need our help. Infusing levity and a sense of wonder throughout the marketing campaign, IMAX and WB also reinforced the consumer value proposition: IMAX brings people together through extraordinary experiences. Narrator Kristen Bell was front and center for important appearances and interviews with numerous outlets, but as the GSCA Achievement Award judges noted, even with major stars, it’s not easy to get that kind of coverage without a lot of work.

When IMAX Melbourne General Manager Richard Morrison and PR & Brand Manager Kate Piasecka met with acclaimed director Drew Fellman to discuss his latest project, a film about pandas, at the September 2017 GSCA conference in Chicago, they knew the film would be a hit with their audiences. Melbourne’s GSCA award-winning Big Idea was to partner with a Chinese airline and negotiate a partnership package, which would enable Melbourne to reduce costs, provide one Melbourne family with the trip of a lifetime to Chengdu, China, and would also benefit the airline partner.

On May 22, 2018, IMAX Melbourne Museum turned 20. To celebrate, they launched a year-long integrated brand and publicity campaign that focused on a tip shared during the 2017 GSCA Marketing Symposium: the importance of engaging with and acknowledging your core audience, your “one percenters.” Plus, they threw a huge party. Winner of the GSCA 2018 Best Theater Marketing Campaign, Melbourne's  #20YearsOfIMAX suite of eye-catching assets is bold, creative and has cut through in all markets.

Winner of the 2018 GSCA Achievement Award for Best Film Launch by a Theater, IMAX Victoria in the Royal BC Museum launched America's Musical Journey with a flash—a flash mob, that is. With outreach to local dance groups, music schools, stores and venues, this theater created buzz by hosting four special opening screenings featuring an appearance by the film’s star, Aloe Blacc, and a special off-site concert featuring Blacc, where the only way to get tickets was by winning them in contests. Local dance groups delighted audiences with a flash mob during these special screenings.

In deciding how to re-launch their theatre after an IMAX with Laser conversion, the creative team at Montreal Science Centre IMAX Telus Theatre realized that a new film would be the perfect way to generate awareness. Promoting them together, especially given the limited marketing budget, would improve campaign efficiency and generate strong interest in both the theatre and the new film. After closing for six weeks to complete the upgrade, Montreal Science Centre reopened the IMAX Telus Theatre with the new IMAX with Laser in February of 2017, with the MacGillivray Freeman film America Wild: National Parks Adventure.

In 2017, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science Phipps IMAX Theater (DMNS) made the star of their Extreme Weather 3D marketing campaign an object instead of a person—move over, Sean Casey. The Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV) rolled up to the museum to much fanfare and was positioned in front of the Museum for three weeks.

In 2016, the IMAX Melbourne theater rolled out an integrated marketing campaign featuring former NASA Astronaut Marsha Ivins to promote their release of A Beautiful Planet 3D. The campaign, which won a the GSCA award for Best Film Launch by a Theater, resulted in their most successful three-month period for a documentary film in three and a half years.

Part of the promotional campaign that TELUS World of Science–Edmonton (TWOSE) developed for the launch of MacGillivray Freeman’s Humpback Whales was frequent posts in their social media channels.