re-imagining the future of movie theaters

The Challenge

Like most movie theaters in the US, Harper Theater, the oldest movie theater in Illinois, experienced a significant decline in ticket sales after the pandemic. Puzzled by ways to get more people in the theater, the owners of the Harper reached out to TUC Consulting.

It was evident that a larger trend was shifting consumers' willingness to visit the movie theater. Rather than focusing exclusively on improving marketing, TUC sought to better understand "how might we re-imagine the movie-going experience post-pandemic?".

the process

Understanding the root of the declining sales and implementing solutions of change, required us to utilize a thorough yet nimble research approach. Our primary goal was to understand attitudes and behaviors around movie-going post-pandemic from a macro perspective but also analyze the unique context of the Harper from a hyper-local, neighborhood-first lens.

For a macro view, we conducted a survey and secondary research analysis:

Survey (n=200): TUC established a partnership with TrueStar, a Chicago-based youth organization, they distributed surveys to Chicago youth (13-19 years old) through "High School takeovers" where they visited local high schools to collect survey responses. Collected data helped us gather attitudes about going to the movies amongst this critical demographic as well as their aspirations for "having fun" as the world began to return to a semblance of normalcy.

Secondary Research Analysis: Scouring annual reports, thought pieces, and other sources of information from the movie sector's leaders, we gathered a better understanding of the impact of the pandemic on movies and how the industry was adjusting.

For a micro view, we conducted participant observation and semi-structured interviews:

Participant Observation: To gather a perspective of how people are navigating movie theaters and entertainment spaces more generally, a team of ethnographers visited various entertainment locations over several weeks. Observing how customers' navigated the spaces, what they did and did not do, who they came with and spoke to, etc. This helped us understand what types and aspects of the expereince consumers prioritized post-pandemic.

Semi-structured interviews: More deeply unpacking data collected from the surveys and participant observation, we held ten 1.5-hour one-on-one conversations. Interviewees ranged from frequent customers of the Harper to those that had never been. These conversations helped us further understand existing attitudes and associations to the Harper Theater, Hyde Park community, and theater-going more generally.

Focus Groups: Dually serving as an opportunity to engage the community as well as better understand the event/cultural architecture of the city, we facilitated a workshop with high-achieving creatives in Chicago. This workshop shed light on innovative hubs in Chicago, the opportunities that this community found to be most prominent, and brainstormed alternative activations of the historical space.

the intervention

Strategy Shift Workshop

We held a workshop with Harper's leadership to discuss our findings and the shifts, we believed to be necessary, for Harper to be successful. Within this presentation, we discussed strong and weak signals that have suggested a shift in behaviors, how this shift might be rippling across other industries, and suggested actions for how Harper might implement these shifts. In the end, we prioritized the actions that were most impactful and that were most resource-appropriate.

From this workshop, we broke down our next steps into three workstreams: marketing, experience, and capacity building.

Marketing

Instagram Takeover: We produced content for and managed the theater's Instagram profile. As part of this, we developed captivating ads that focused on target demographic groups to raise visibility for the theater.

Experience

Partnering with Afrotrak, an event curation company, we held Black x Art, an immersive art experience in the theater. With over 200 attendees, this event was a proof-of-concept demonstrating ways to build meaningful engagement with target communities, increase revenue through one-off events, increase customer conversion, and heighten brand awareness.

Capacity Building

Working with management in one-on-one workshops, we focused on developing solutions to core operational issues. Succinctly, we worked to create a system to manage partnerships, communicate but also ensure a safe movie-going experience, and to enhance the design and layout of the foyer.

the impact

Within 2 weeks, we drove Instagram engagement by 8,688%.

We gained 370 new followers on Instagram (within two weeks).

We re-branded key assets including the logo, typography, and brand guidelines.

Adjusted internal strategy for partnerships and community engagement, focusing limited bandwidth on core objectives.

We developed an alternative revenue stream supported by an artist-in-residence program and launched a successful event, Black x Art, with Afrotrak as a proof-of-concept for the theater.