Little Cinema: Star Trek Discovery Premiere
About
With 8th Nations pivoting from the IRL event world to immersive virtual events, Little Cinema had a unique opportunity that 8th Nation could not pass up. CBS enlisted the Little Cinema team to create a one-of-a-kind VIP virtual Red Carpet experience for the premiere of Star Trek Discovery Season three.
Little Cinema produces audience-facing immersive cinema experiences as well as collaborations with major studios to reimagine their press, red carpet, and marketing events. Major partnerships include Netflix, ABC, CBS, HBO Max, and Warner Media. Bringing new life to the iconic, the collective’s multidimensional creations have attracted acclaim from New York Magazine, Vogue, and Variety and from artists such as Darren Aronofsky and Patty Jenkins.
The Ask
With experience organizing teams across multiple timezones, paired with experience in both IRL, virtual and hybrid events, 8th Nation has an ideal set of skills to tackle the challenges of our newly virtual event world. With talent across various timezone during simultaneous virtual events, 8th Nation’s high attention to detail was a coveted asset to ensure the success of such a high-stakes event, with VIP guests such as Sir Patrick Stuart and Tig Nataro, a star of Star Trek Discovery.
Little Cinema has enthralled audiences inside Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal and MASS MoCA, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, and MUTEK. With this in mind, 8th Nation was up to the challenge of combing both IRL and virtual event skills to create an unforgettable experience.
What 8th Nation Did
Leading up to the event, a thousand tiny details had to be managed with dexterity and speed, but with the added challenge that this all had to be done virtually. Ensuring that makeup and costuming were done correctly, something that is typically done in person, had to be done all online. The talent scouting was in the final stages when 8th Nation was hired, so it was just a matter of securing the client’s approval of the talent before next steps.
After client approval, it was off to the races with a tight turnaround of less than a month to write all new songs, elicit fan-sourced cosplay media including photos and videos, writing unique songs, created bespoke cocktails, radically transform spaces and audio and video editing all to create the illusion that the talent and audience were part of the Star Trek Discovery Universe.
Initiatives
8th Nation is spearheading the following initiatives:
- Develop and execute an integrated and multi-channel marketing plan in conjunction with MOFAD to grow registrations and attendance this and future events
- Identifying and reaching out to sponsorship partners
- Finessing panels, speakers presentations, and topics.
- Identifying and booking panel speakers
- Collaborate with leadership and cross-functional team members to brainstorm, plan, and develop new ideas and strategies.
- Defined comprehensive marketing performance framework, including creative reviews, tracking, and optimization of results.
- Work with commercial, events, and editorial teams on marketing programs and tactics to increase the visibility
- Grow relationships with industry partners to increase audience through co-marketing and cross-promotion opportunities.
The Results
To date, even across timezones and with multiple producers, the event was the best executed and best attended to date. People were begging for more content like it in the future. The chat feature was non-stop in interaction and praise for the performance and mixology. Even with a timing Snafu, 8th Nation was easily able to guide the talent seamlessly into expanding their time unexpectedly. The client was very pleased and has continued their partnership with Little Cinema to date.
