CASE STUDY: ASIAN CINEVISION (Work in progress)

I joined Asian CineVision, a New York-based nonprofit promoting APIA film, in August 2020 with a vision to streamline all of its content, strengthening its brand identity and positioning it as a thought leader in the APIA film space. Content channels included our:

• Website

• Social media

• Event materials

• Online magazine, CineVue

Here is how I’m going about planning toward and executing on this objective:

Conducting stakeholder RESEARCH

I started with stakeholder research, setting up one-on-one conversations with executive-level staff and all individuals across the organization involved in content and promotions.

Questions I’ve been asking:

• How do you define ACV’s main mission?

• What are your main objectives for what you do with ACV?

• What are the biggest challenges of your job?

• How can I make your job easier?

MAPPING THE USER JOURNEY

Keeping in mind the insights I gleaned from these conversations, I mapped out the user journey across all our content platforms with a UX point of view.

The biggest pain points I identified :

• Every content channel sounded like it was written by different individuals, instead of reflecting one brand voice.

• Writers were focusing less on answering user questions and more on “content for content’s sake.”

• The quality of our writing itself were inconsistent and tended to be not reader-friendly. For example, articles in CineVue were long and not made easier to navigate through strategic use of headlines.

• Existing information architecture and navigational tools (including menu items and buttons) did not make it easy for users to find their desired content.

In short: Our platforms required users to do too much thinking.

SOLIDYING ACV’s brand voice

I created ACV’s first-ever Brand Voice manifesto, to augment an existing (but not very comprehensive) in-house style guide. I shared these guidelines with all writers / editors with the goal of presenting a more unified voice across all properties.

Basing my work to follow on this manifesto, I began devising content strategy plans for each of ACV’s content channels.

My Solutions

ASIAN CINEVISION WEBSITE

I created a comprehensive, page-by-page content strategy plan for the website, complete with recommendations re: information architecture (IA), inbound marketing, and layout. Then I mobilized a website content team of writer / editors. 

In the past, website design had begun with the creative and development teams, with content added largely to fill space. 

My goal going forward was to establish a content first culture instead, where content planning happened concurrently with design and development. 

ACV SOCIAL MEDIA

Finally, I created a comprehensive social media calendar for our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. This plan included:

• Platform-specific lead-generation research and recommendations

• AAIFF44-specific branded hashtags

• Joint contest campaigns with festival partners

I led a social media team, working toward achieving ACV’s main marketing goals for the film festival. Our promotional campaigns included:

• Opening Night film screening and reception for Evan Jackson Leong’s Snakehead

• Centerpiece showcase: Filipinos in Focus, featuring cult classic Lumpia with a Vengeance and Dante Basco’s The Fabulous Filipino Brothers

• Closing Night film screening and reception for Justin Chon’s Blue Bayou

• AAIFF44 x MOSHI Present: The Movie & Drink Giveaway social media campaign

• AAIFF44 x YELP: Movie Giveaway social media campaign 

USER SURVEYS

I plan to continue building out these content strategies and evaluating their efficacy through UX research and surveys, not just for AAIFF audiences and partners / sponsors, but also for ACV staff.