To celebrate Stella Artois' sponsorship of the Cannes Film Festival, Film4, Stella Artois, Vizeum and Mother teamed up to launch an innovative Cannes Casting Call to find someone to play the mysterious Jacques D'Azur in a movie biopic of his life and to win a VIP trip to the film's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

Entrants were asked to go online to upload an audition video of them on the website and get fans to vote for them. The top 100 entries made a shortlist which was then voted on by an expert panel.

Branded Film4 and E4 competition spots ran throughout March to encourage entrants. These led to a Film4 URL that directed through to the Stella Artois site where people could enter. There were also numerous Film4 branded traffic drivers running around film4.com and targeted 4OD programming. 

The competition culminated in a UK Media First where Film4 agreed to remove all the ads from one of it's peak films and replace them with a 12min short film about Jacques D'Azur, starring the winner. This represents the longest ever ad break in C4's history. This short film will be featured in a specially scheduled weekend of films including The Italian Job (original and new) and Alfie (original and new). Film4 will be running trailer spots to promote the special 'World Film Premiere'.

Capitalising on the already strong association between Film4 and Stella Artois, this competition and the resulting film premiere achieved a deeper and more creative brand partnership and invites viewers to participate in a unique and exciting way, rewarding their love of film.  

Viewers were alerted to the fact that Stella Artois have paid to remove the advertising from The Italian Job with a special 30" creative piece before the film started. Viewers could then watch a stunning mini biopic of the fictitious 'King of Cannes' which played at 20:48 on 22nd May at the end of the Italian Job before the Jude Law version of Alfie.

Finally, the break saw a staggering 30% increase in retention compared to the same break in the same film at the same time on Film 4 previously.

For any questions, please contact David Amodio.