Campaign Booster: Swiss Films' new initiative to strengthen the visibility of Swiss cinema

How can Swiss film productions reach a wider audience in Switzerland? SWISS FILMS is launching a new marketing initiative called Campaign Booster as part of a pilot project. SWISS FILMS is looking for rights holders and distribution partners who are open to working closely together on a small number of Swiss releases that have broad appeal and audience potential in order to reach new target groups in all regions of Switzerland.

This marketing tool is part of the pilot project Domestic Promotion, which SWISS FILMS has initiated on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (FOC). The aim of the project is to increase the visibility of Swiss filmmaking within Switzerland, reach a wider audience and, in the future, be able to reach these audiences more directly for new Swiss film productions. In close collaboration with the industry, we want to carry out national B2C marketing cooperations for selected Swiss films, series or talent and subsequently share the findings with the entire industry.

OPEN CALL

With an open call as part of the Campaign Booster, SWISS FILMS is looking for four films or series with the broadest possible audience appeal. For the first collaborations, we have defined project criteria as guidelines, which we will continue to adapt and develop further, based on insights gained from the initial campaigns.

PROJECT CRITERIA (GUIDELINES)

• Broad-appeal projects, films or series of Swiss origin
• Releases within approximately 3 to 18 months of the submission date with cross-platform distribution (festival, cinema, streaming and TV or alternative forms of distribution)
• Wide-ranging and professional distribution partners in Switzerland (Swiss distributors, international distributors, cinemas, TV, streamers, multipliers)
• For domestic releases: consistent marketing concept with a designated campaign budget of over CHF 120,000
• For domestic releases in Swiss cinemas: benchmark: 40 screens or more / first release on TV and streaming channels (benchmark: at least 40,000 cinema admissions / at least 100,000 TV and streaming viewers)
• Regional release in only one language region: lower benchmarks tbd
   

EXAMPLES OF POSSIBLE COLLABORATION 

• Market analysis to increase the campaign’s impact
• Targeted use of PR experts and agencies
• Specific audience campaign with additional partners on social media
• Involvement of a network of partners from media, business and culture
• Mobilisation of audience by means of influencers or talent campaigns as part of the distribution strategy
• Development and implementation of a media strategy spanning multiple releases
• Targeted campaign monitoring and distribution based on KPIs

SWISS FILMS is open to further collaboration proposals for which we could provide support.

The booster campaigns will be carried out in close partnership built on strong collaboration. A sum of CHF 300,000 is available for third-party services, which will be invested according to the impact potential of the various projects. There are no direct payments to rights holders. A team led by Nadja Scherrer at SWISS FILMS is responsible for implementing and developing the pilot activities and partnerships. A sounding board of experts accompanies and advises the pilot project.

When selecting projects, emphasis is placed on diversity in terms of genres (documentary, fictional), distribution formats, people involved, languages and regions. In addition, at least one project from French-speaking Switzerland, one from German-speaking Switzerland, and possibly, one from Italian-speaking Switzerland will be selected.
 

TIMELINE

• Deadline for project submissions: June 22, 2025 
• Project selection by SWISS FILMS and an external expert (Sanne Juncker Pedersen, Danish Film Institute). The final selection will be made based on evaluation interviews
• The rights holders of selected projects will be informed by July 11, 2025.
• Implementation phase: launching in mid-August 2025, the campaign will be driven by intensive, partnership-based collaboration and guided by clearly defined and measurable KPIs, with a strong focus on learning outcomes for both the project team and the wider industry.
• Next call: January 2026
  
   

APPLICATION FOR COLLABORATION – CAMPAIGN BOOSTER

The rights holders of the projects can apply via email: marketing@swissfilms.ch

Required information (max. 1 page per section, attached as a single PDF):

• Project description
• Distribution strategy
• Budget 
• Participating distribution partners
   

CONTACT

Nadja Scherrer, Head of Marketing & Partnerships, is available to answer any questions the project team may have: nscherrer@swissfilms.ch.