Marketing Class Goes Hollywood as Film Director Adopts Students’ Social Strategy Pitch
At Metropolitan College, there’s no learning like doing. All MET programs place a premium on practical, applied lessons that can be put to work on the job as soon as class lets out—and sometimes even sooner.
Aronson is the writer and director of the upcoming independent feature film Any Day Now, a fictional telling of the story of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. Set for a limited theatrical release on March 17, and available on streaming services beginning March 21, the picture has already won acclaim as the Audience Favorite Feature at the 2024 Boston Film Festival.
Still, finding wide audiences is an uphill challenge for independent releases. And that’s where the students of Social Networks and Strategic Communication Planning came in.
For their final project, the class first screened Any Day Now and then concocted a comprehensive, four-part campaign strategy to maximize impact and visibility for the film’s release. With each class member contributing ideas, they laid out a vision for promoting the film that prized awareness, interactivity, activation, and distribution.
Aronson, a Boston native, was impressed, even deciding to implement some of the class’s ideas.
“There’s considerable overlap between their ideas and what the film’s team of professional marketers have devised,” Aronson told MET. “They came up with strategies to attack the market with creative methods.”
Suggesting they leverage cutting-edge tools like AR filters and social media puzzles, some students suggested the movie play up its “whodunnit?” qualities by making the search for the missing artwork an immersive interactive experience. Other ideas included true crime podcast advertising, wanted posters, pop-ups and live stunts around the city, merch, influencer collaborations, and even a unique theme song by a local indie band.
“The two main elements of the film that we attempted to capture in our social media strategy were the art and the heist angle,” said Kenneth Rudolph (MET’25), who recently completed his MS in Advertising at MET. “We developed our strategy around the idea of solving the mystery of the crime through an interactive clue hunt, which would ultimately lead viewers into seeing the movie to unveil the true perpetrators of the crime.”
The plans demonstrated what command the class had of the real-world, professional landscape, according to the director.
“They shared a deep understanding of how people use media, and the plan has a flexibility within it designed to pivot based on immediate feedback. Your virtual museum isn’t catching on? Then move your funds into the music competition or one, particular influencer who is catching on,” he said.
The range of their ideas reflected the range of experiences the MET students brought to the classroom, which made for a greater variety. “Because it’s such a diverse group, they had a terrific grasp of the rapidly changing, multi-faceted digital landscape from multiple angles, cultures, and countries,” Aronson added. “The cultures of the world are so intertwined now, and information passes so quickly between them, that all the ideas had relevance.”
“The opportunity to work with a real client on an official project was an incredibly educational and rewarding experience,” Rudolph said. “The project allowed me to apply the knowledge and skills I learned throughout my master’s program in a unique hybrid academic/professional setting.”The project was also reflective of what might be the defining quality of a MET education.
“The most rewarding aspect of studying at Boston University’s Metropolitan College has been the ability to learn from industry professionals who dedicate time outside of their professional careers to offer a unique learning opportunity through BU,” Rudolph said, adding that Sender’s class “epitomized” the experience.
The project will hold a special place in Rudolph’s MET memories.
“This experience was especially poignant for me, as I took Professor Sender’s class in my final semester of my program,” he said. “The project served as a fitting culmination of my time at BU.”
And as the Any Day Now director sees it, while students like them might be finishing their coursework, their career opportunities are just getting started.
“This class should open up a marketing agency,” Aronson suggested. “Seriously.”