ArcLight Cinemas

ArcLight Cinemas is a premium experience driven movie theater brand found most of its locations in Los Angeles; Hollywood, Santa Monica, Culver City, Pasadena, Beach Cites and more. Their quality theaters feature extra-wide seats, reserved seating, high-tech sound systems, full-service cafes and bars. We Design LA was engaged to update the Gift Card Program from strategy to design to launch. The new program was executed across all theater locations as well as digital platforms.

Services

branding and creative strategy, positioning & messaging, identity, standards and consistency control, graphics, print, web design, promotional, web development, digital advertising, data tracking, reporting, detailed analytics

Background

ArcLight Cinemas is more than a place to see a movie; it is an experience. Since 2002, ArcLight’s mission has been to create the best movie going environment possible, through careful thought, design, and attention to detail. With over 500,000 members and growing, ArcLight has always prided itself on being THE movie theater for true movie lovers. Starting with their flagship location, ArcLight Hollywood, ArcLight Cinemas are quickly from Los Angeles to as far as Chicago and with two new locations in Santa Monica alone.

These premium theater feature the best experience from service, dining, seating, and of course video / audio. They take pride in protecting the quality of the movie experience, with no commercials pre-movie, strict talking and cellphone rules, and multiple quality checks throughout the movie.

Opportunity

Looking to boost and re-imagine their Gift Cards program, Arclight engaged We Design LA for guidance and execution on refreshing the Gift Card Program for both in theater and online servicing.

Our Custom Solution

With any project of this importance and impact, We Design LA executed an internal research and discovery process, to reviewing everything from what was previously created by ArcLight Cinemas, what their direct competitors were currently doing, and as well what the overall trends were for any industry with similar consumer demographics.

Our conclusion and chosen direction was to elevate the brand and packaging even further by going for a minimal, luxe and high-end look and feel.

Our first creative step was to take the gift cards themselves, cut down on the number of variations and create two versions, an elegant but trendy white on white and edgy and refined black and black. By utilizing key colors and use of matte and gloss art layers, we created a stunning look that presents the Gift Cards and brand in a updated and exciting way.

Coupled with the cards, we created six seasonal gift card holders, each with their own unique color and short quote, highlighting an emotional feeling from movies and/or that current season. Because ArcLight is a company that is all about the customer’s experience, we wanted to create an interactive and custom process. We came up with the idea to have fun holiday quotes and quotes from various movie genres to reflect each customer’s personality. The cards either had a front facing color OR a side painted color with a white front. We chose this feature so when stacked on the display in-theater, the items would stand out to the theater goers walking buy.

And finally with a minimum purchase, the customer also got a limited gift box, also in a black and black treatment. We even created a custom box, just so way it opens mimics the theater curtains rising, revealing the movie screen, or in this case the card and quote.

Customers were able to choose a gift card based on color, a card based on the quote, and also received a beautiful gift box.

Overall, we created a fresh and new look to boost not only the holiday gift card rush, but also the overall brand and experience. The result was a highly engaging, extremely shareable experience.

Results

Endorsement

Jeanne Zacarias

Programming & Communications

This year, ArcLight commissioned WDLA to help us rebrand our gift card program. The We Design LA team was integral in helping us achieve a new look and feel to our gift cards and website page. They came in prepared and with a keen understanding of our brand, giving us plenty of ideas and directions to choose from. With their experience in design and marketing, they generated healthy conversations and challenged our thinking. The result was a more sophisticated, polished and cutting edge look – elevating our gift card program.

Jordan was diligent about keeping the project moving forward, making sure everyone involved stayed connected and on track. He was patient with us while we debated internally and was flexible with our many requests and last minute changes. Jordan, Leslie and their team were our partners from start to finish. I always felt like they had our best interest in mind.