INQUIRE: Industry Experts Talk Digital Marketing Innovations
We asked three industry experts what digital marketing innovations they’re implementing.
MPMG ASKED:
Over the past two years, we’ve seen the digital landscape undergo rapid transformation through new technologies, shifting societal changes, and growing uncertainties. Against this backdrop of opportunity and challenge, what digital marketing changes are you bringing to your organization?
Lainé Slater (Director of Marketing, Vancouver International Film Festival)
Over the past two years, VIFF has embraced digital innovation to support one of Canada’s largest film festivals and a growing year-round program at the VIFF Centre. In 2024, we presented 583 films across 1,939 screenings; 13 VIFF Live events, 60 Artist & Industry development programs, 30+ VIFF Ignite High School screenings, and hosted nearly 200 Q&As. Phew!
To support our fantastic programming with limited budgets (sound familiar?), our small marketing team needs to work smarter, become more data-driven, and agile. Our digital strategy prioritizes ROI by reallocating budgets to high-performing platforms and forging partnership-driven campaigns. We’ve invested in agency support (MPMG ❤️) to optimize our Google Ad, YouTube, and Google Grant campaigns, freeing up internal capacity to focus on creative strategy, engagement, and partnership development. To stay nimble, we’ve built dashboards in Google Looker Studio, enabling real-time campaign performance monitoring.
Recognizing the evolution of audience behavior, in 2025 we’re expanding beyond Google and Meta into TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, Spotify, LinkedIn, and even BlueSky, reaching film fans, niche groups like young professionals, and emerging filmmakers. At the same time, we’re leaning into community. Local partnerships and co-branded campaigns—especially those that amplify local cultural and community groups, sponsors, and donors—are core to our approach.
Community is at the heart of what we do. With programming in multiple languages from more than 70 countries, and diverse interests, our partnerships with cultural organizations and community groups are as vital as those with sponsors and donors. Co-branded campaigns and storytelling initiatives amplify these relationships and extend our digital reach in meaningful ways.
Data collection and quality remain challenging (sigh), but our commitment to smarter, more responsive marketing drives us forward in a rapidly changing landscape. Ultimately, every innovation we adopt serves a greater goal: to connect audiences through the power of cinema and celebrate storytelling that sparks empathy, dialogue, and discovery.
We hope to see you at the movies soon!
Sierra MacTavish (Community Engagement & Festival Coordinator, Eastside Arts Society)
We’ve embraced digital innovation as a form of creative stewardship, increasing visibility, accessibility, and advocacy for arts and culture through the development of an Eastside Arts District website. Currently in the first phase of development, the platform celebrates the cultural fabric of Vancouver’s Eastside, home to the highest concentration of artists in Canada.
Key website features include the Cultural Asset Map, an interactive tool highlighting where artists, cultural spaces, and organizations are located across the district, and Arts & Culture Guides, which share local creative and cultural histories.
These tools allow us to use our digital marketing not just for promotion, but to tell stories, share knowledge, and protect spaces. By embedding advocacy, public education, and spatial equity into our digital presence, we intend to help sustain a thriving, inclusive cultural ecology for years to come.
Angela Vannatter (Communications Specialist, Freelancer)
Online I’m feeling a general sense of anxiety in various communities I serve and participate in on social media. With this in mind, now more than ever, I think people need to see transparency and authenticity from the brands they follow. For years, I feel like many brands prioritized a formal voice. A tone that is highly developed and established throughout their campaigns. As a Social Media Manager for several brands, I’m realizing now more than ever that a flexibility, impulsivity, and casual approach to social almost always does best. Humour is something I use often in my approach to digital marketing when it comes to copy, content, and campaign curation. People want to know that there’s a real person behind their screens hoping to reach them. It humanizes your brand, represents it in a relatable way, and elicits a feeling. As we know, getting someone to feel marks a successful marketing initiative. Feeling leads to action. Why not make that feeling laughter?