WEBSITE DESIGN, MOBILE PROGRAM GUIDE, SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY, EMAIL MARKETING, & PRODUCTION

Reena came to Frameline at a pivotal point in its history. The world’s largest and longest-running LGBTQ+ film festival needed a brand refresh to commemorate its 40th year and usher the organization into the digital age. 

As Communications Manager, Reena was in charge of social media, community outreach, marketing, strategy, and design. Her first major task was finding a world class design partner to help reshape the brand. After an RFP process, Frameline selected Rob Duncan, partner at global boutique design firm Mucho. Reena acted as the liaison between the two organizations, communicating the language of design to Frameline and the intricacies and nuances of the queer community to Mucho. After a brand workshop with the Frameline board and staff, the Mucho team created an elegant, timeless, and flexible brand that worked across print and screen applications. Reena not only managed the rebrand, she also supervised a team of five responsible for producing the festival program, video interstitials, social media campaigns, community outreach efforts, and public relations. Reena also coordinated and produced the Mucho photo shoot for the festival’s identity. She called up infamous drag queens to borrow wigs and crowns and emailed queer history giants like Cleve Jones to locate iconic props, like Harvey Milk’s bullhorn, for the festival’s branding. 

She also coordinated the printing and posting of all Muni and BART signage, the production of t-shirts, and the production and design of a 120+ page program, party tickets, and VIP passes. Along with Frameline Executive Director Frances Wallace and Director of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships David Warczak, she helped produce and shape the concept of the Frameline40 trailer directed by Aron Kantor.

The operational changes, programs, and digital interfaces Reena created in her time at Frameline remain in place. Read more about the social media and digital makeover below. Check it all out at frameline.org.

Credits:

• Frameline Logo & Branding: Mucho

• FL40 & FL41 Festival Branding, Taglines, & Photography: Mucho

• FL40 Trailer: Aaron Kantor

• FL40 Festival Art & Trailer Production:Frances Wallace, David Warczack, Reena Karia

• Website UX/UI: Reena Karia

• Website Development: Ingeniux

• Mobile Program Guide UX: Reena Karia

• Mobile Program Guide Development: David Averbach

• Social Media Strategy: VaynerMedia, Reena Karia

• Social Media Design & Execution: Reena Karia

• FL40 & FL41 Communications Manger: Reena Karia

As part of the exclusive Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts Innovation and Management grant, Reena worked closely with VaynerMedia mentors to hone Frameline’s voice and social media strategy, resulting in a 1000% increase in platform visibility and a 30% increase in year-round screening attendance. By the time Frameline’s 40th anniversary came around, Reena was equipped with the social media strategy and Facebook ad placement know-how to manage the 11-day, three-city festival with 60,000 attendees.

The brand refresh and festival branding launched in May 2016. Then came the immense task of applying the new brand assets across all platforms and audience touch points. In addition to all internal print materials, Reena redesigned Frameline’s email marketing to be more visual and punchy. In place of a time-intensive responsive site redesign, Reena worked with long time Frameline database wizard David Averbach, Creative Director at The Film Collaborative, to create a mobile film guide for the 2016 festival in just four weeks.

After the festival in June, email readership was up 20%, Instagram followers 100%, Facebook 50%, and Twitter 25%. The heightened visibility and elevated look of the brand directly correlated with an increase in sponsorships the following year, the largest being a partnership with Hilton Hotels.

In the run up to the 2017 festival season, Frameline desperately needed new digital infrastructure. Reena worked with the head of IT, the new ticketing vendor, BoxCubed, the Frameline Director of Distribution, the Director of Exhibition, and the development team at Ingeniux to create a website that met all the organization’s needs. She designed the site map, content plan, and UX / UX-based on Mucho’s brand assets and the limitations of the Ingeniux contract / CMS, and worked for months to debug and tweak a responsive site that removed the need for a separate mobile film guide.

The operational changes, programs, and digital interfaces Reena created in her time at Frameline remain in place. Check it all out at frameline.org.