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AFI FEST
Client
RETURN ON AD SPEND
TICKET PURCHASES
IMPRESSIONS
The American Film Institute (AFI) is one of the most respected organizations in film, dedicated to preserving film heritage and advancing the art of storytelling. Each year it hosts AFI FEST, a premier festival featuring world premieres, award-season contenders, filmmaker conversations, and special events that draw film enthusiasts, industry professionals, and entertainment audiences from around the world.
AFI partnered with DASH TWO to increase awareness and drive ticket sales for its annual film festival. The campaign had two jobs: generate broad awareness among entertainment audiences while efficiently converting interested consumers into ticket buyers. With dozens of screenings, premieres, and special events competing for attention during a crowded entertainment season, AFI FEST needed a strategy that balanced brand awareness with direct-response advertising — introducing the festival to new audiences while capturing demand at the moment people were ready to buy.
The biggest challenge was maximizing impact with a limited budget while supporting both awareness and conversion goals. Film festivals rely on awareness to build excitement and attract new attendees, but ticket sales ultimately determine success. We had to decide how to accomplish both at once.
Adding to that, AFI FEST featured a wide variety of films, talent, and festival experiences — so we needed platforms and ad formats that could showcase visually compelling creative while still driving action.
The strategy built directly off the brand and the audience. We used historical ticket-sales data and previous campaign performance to identify the channels most likely to drive purchases, then allocated budget accordingly. We leveraged AFI’s existing creative across Meta, TikTok, Google Search, and Google Performance Max — choosing formats that showed trailers, film imagery, and festival content in the most engaging way possible.
Audience targeting focused on several high-value groups: previous ticket purchasers, website visitors, lookalike audiences modeled after past buyers, AFI members, and entertainment enthusiasts with a demonstrated interest in film and culture. AFI members were a priority — as serious film fans, they’re among the most likely to attend. By pairing awareness-focused channels with high-intent search, AFI FEST stayed visible across the whole customer journey while we captured demand when audiences were ready to buy.
Paid social carried the awareness load. Creative ran across Facebook and Instagram (feed and Stories) and TikTok under the @americanfilminstitute handle, using festival trailers and talent-forward video to reach film and entertainment audiences. Across all channels the campaign generated more than 2.1 million impressions, keeping AFI FEST top-of-mind throughout the promotion window.
DASH TWO managed the campaign end to end — from planning and audience development through optimization and reporting. Creative was adapted across Meta, TikTok, Google Search, Google Display, and Performance Max to maximize visibility throughout the festival promotion period.
Search campaigns captured high-intent users actively researching AFI FEST and specific screenings, while Meta and TikTok generated awareness and engagement among entertainment audiences. Throughout the run, performance was monitored closely — letting us continuously optimize budgets, creative, and targeting against live ticket sales and audience engagement.
The campaign delivered strong awareness and ticket-sales performance across every channel. Google Search emerged as the strongest conversion channel, generating the highest click-through rate, purchase volume, and overall return on ad spend. Meta — Facebook and Instagram — delivered strong supporting performance, driving both awareness and ticket sales among film and entertainment audiences. TikTok and Google Display expanded reach, introduced AFI FEST to new audiences, and kept the festival top-of-mind throughout the run.
— Gino Sesto, Founder & CEO, DASH TWO
The most valuable insight was the distinct role each platform played in the customer journey. Search marketing drove the highest performance in both ROAS and click-through, with Meta the runner-up, followed by TikTok and Google Performance Max. Our read: social and display build awareness at a low CPM to create demand, while search is the main converting platform that captures it. Meta proved especially effective at bridging both — serving as an awareness and a conversion channel at once.
The campaign reinforced that successful event marketing takes more than capturing existing demand. The strongest results come from generating demand through awareness channels and then converting it through high-intent search — the full-funnel approach that drove thousands of ticket purchases, 2.1M+ impressions, and a 14.8X return for AFI FEST.
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