Marcin Adamczak and Adrianna Woroch detailed some of their unconventional, risk-taking strategies that yield success in a changing national landscape

l-r: Moderator Ramona Sehr, and Velvet Spoon's Adrianna Woloch and Marcin Adamczak

Known for transcending genre boundaries and its unique custom film posters, Polish distribution company Velvet Spoon kicked off the International Film Distribution Summit in Hamburg by presenting the very first official keynote of the industry event, titled “Marketing Strategies Outside the Box”. Marcin Adamczak, the co-founder of Velvet Spoon – which was established in 2018 by former film critics and current academics – and collaborator Adrianna Woroch gave the presentation to a packed theatre at CinemaxX Dammtor in the Hanseatic city. The keynote's Q&A was moderated by Ramona Sehr, of Germany’s The Playmaker.

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Adamczak began by describing the company’s niche as “genre cinema with a social or artistic angle”, but not necessarily arthouse films. Velvet Spoon has made a name for itself on a suite of creative marketing tactics, including collectibles and gadgets, artistic posters, a strong fan community and capitalising on the growing trend of classic films. He noted that the company emerged during a difficult period for film, when much of its lifespan had been influenced by the shadow of COVID-era cinema attendance; despite a significant comeback, theatrical admissions in Poland are still 18% less than they were before COVID.

Woroch then explained the approach to their company’s strategies, which involves cooperation with over 100 cinemas in Poland and three large cinema chains. Velvet Spoon’s approach was inspired by Alamo Drafthouse, a US-based cinema chain with several key points: community branding, the use of the theatre as a cultural hub, cinema as experience and the employment of site-specific screenings.

She explained that they commission many of their custom posters from their close collaborator Patryk Hardziej, a Polish artist who reimagines the film in a detailed, eye-catching way. Woroch also presented several examples of the company’s often non-traditional giveaways for different films, including handcuffs for Stéphan Castang’s Vincent Must Die [+see also:
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“It’s about not just reaching the audience and achieving the numbers, but also about building a community,” said Woroch. A large part of this effort comes in the form of their organisation of the Octopus Film Festival in Gdańsk every August, a genre event that Velvet Spoon uses to build a strong fan community, with the festival proving itself as one of the fastest-growing events in the country. One of the flagship events held there is the “hidden screening”, where audiences are taken by public transit to a surprise film set in a location connected to the movie, such as a Fast & Furious flick screened on a speedway track, Casino Royale [+see also:
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“The audience for most of our films is a bit different, so that’s why we can take a risk with our campaigns,” said Woroch. Adamczak expressed surprise around the fact that many of their more controversial or unusual campaigns did not result in protests or pushback from conservative entities in the country. In a subversive way, he wished there might be, as often the hype and buzz created by such protests inspire even more moviegoers to flock to the cinema.

“I believe in the strong ties between festivals and distributors – we can create a trend for a certain kind of cinema,” Adamczak concluded. Championing genre movies for a new generation amidst change in the Polish filmmaking and film-viewer landscape, Velvet Spoon wants to “convince young artists that genre cinema is not something bad – you can use it to express yourself. The climate is changing, and it's good.”