Current Trends in the Use of PR Tools in the Promotion of Film Festivals in Russia

Relevance of the topic: Film festivals are an important component of the cultural life of many countries, including Russia. At the same time, some modern authors note that the culture of film festivals in Russia is not as developed as in the United States and Western Europe, which is a factor hindering the overall development of the domestic film industry. For this reason, the popularization of film festivals and the expansion of their audience can be considered an urgent task, which many stakeholders are interested in solving. The problem of the study lies in the fact that generalization of the results of previous research on the topic is difficult and does not allow to determine the features and priority directions of promotion of domestic film festivals. The problem is caused by the fact that in both domestic and foreign scientific literature, film festivals are considered primarily as a promotion tool, whereas little attention is paid to the use of PR tools to promote the film festival itself. The purpose of the study is to identify current trends in the use of PR tools to promote cinematographic festivals in Russia. The study uses a mixed design, which is due to the comparative lack of knowledge of the practices of promoting Russian film festivals. At the first empirical stage of the research, in-depth semi-structured interviews with industry representatives are conducted. The purpose of these interviews is to study the current practices of promoting domestic film festivals, as well as to identify the PR tools most in demand by festival organizers. At the second stage of the empirical study, a quantitative online survey will be conducted, which will be attended by visitors to major domestic film festivals held in Russia in 2022-2024. The survey results allow us to segment the audience of Russian film festivals and identify the PR tools that have the greatest impact on the preferences and consumer experience of visitors to the target audience. As part of the study, 7 expert interviews were conducted, as well as a quantitative survey of a wide audience, which was attended by 428 people. During the analysis of the data provided by the experts, current trends in the promotion of modern Russian festivals were studied. The experts revealed the typological diversity of modern film festivals, due to the different goals of their holding, as well as differences in format and target audience. The results of the interview gave grounds for a preliminary division of the audience into three segments – the mass audience, connoisseurs of cinema, as well as people with disabilities. In addition, the experts identified the main PR tools used to promote film festivals. Experts attached particular importance to the formation of an environment in the space of the film festival that would maximize the positive experience of visiting and adapt the tactics of communicative interaction to the behavior of visitors. A special role in this aspect is played by the visual code of the film festival and the presence of a parallel program, the proper use of which can significantly change the perception process. Experts also noted the transformation of the Russian film festival market under sanctions pressure, which complicated the prospects for film festivals to interact with a number of key market agents, but at the same time destabilized it and created opportunities for new formats. Based on the results of the interview, three hypotheses were formulated: Hypothesis 1: Using social media to communicate with the audience increases audience loyalty to the film festival brand. Hypothesis 2: Using social media to communicate with the audience improves the quality of the experience of attending a film festival. Hypothesis 3: Visitors to Russian film festivals who are interested in cinema as an aesthetic phenomenon are, on average, less satisfied with the experience of attending film festivals compared to the mass audience. These hypotheses were to be tested in a quantitative online survey. All hypotheses have been confirmed. In the process of analyzing quantitative data, a cluster analysis of the sample was carried out based on the motivations of visiting festivals. Based on the results of the cluster analysis, three clusters of visitors to Russian film festivals were identified, who were identified as seeking exceptional acquaintance; a mass audience of socialized hedonists; as well as aesthetes, fans of cinema as such.