A24 × AYMI

A24 has the rarest problem in entertainment marketing: a brand strong enough to refuse the playbook. Algorithmic optimization tends to flatten distinctness, and A24's distinctness is the product. The team needed digital scale that did not erode the cult brand its audience came for.

We were brought in to build a release engine that could be measured against ROI and engagement targets without compromising the editorial voice — to make the math work without making the work look like everyone else's.

Five movements: Discovery, Strategy, Creative, Launch, Optimize. Each one feeds the next; the loop closes on Optimize and starts again on Discovery.

1. Step 01Discovery

   Audience taxonomy mapped to mood, not demo. Five core “signal communities” identified — repertory cinephiles, Letterboxd power users, lit-fiction readers, art-house regulars, indie-music crossover.

2. Step 02Strategy

   Multi-window release plan: tease, reveal, theatrical, streaming, long tail. Each window with its own KPI tree.

3. Step 03Creative

   Modular asset systems — title-card kits, micro-trailers, motion typography — designed to be cut by the in-house team in A24 voice and deployed without losing register.

4. Step 04Launch

   Paid social, programmatic, and creator partnerships sequenced to the window plan. Letterboxd partnerships activated as a measurable channel for the first time.

5. Step 05Optimize

   Engagement-weighted optimization (not just CTR) to protect signal quality. Underperforming cuts pulled fast; resonant ones scaled by community.

Social engagement lifted 320% across the cycle, with 87% audience retention through paid view-throughs — a number that vindicated the engagement-weighted approach. Digital ROI hit 4.2×, with measurable lift attributable to specific window plays. Owned-channel growth ran 210% above baseline and pre-release intent scoring climbed 58%.

What the numbers don't show: the brand voice held. The work won the math fight without losing the culture fight.