Raluca vs Hollywood Multiplex

On a Sunday morning, the Hollywood Multiplex (HM) cinema “woke up” in the midst of a crisis. This occurred because Raluca Zdrobiș, a single mother as well as a blogger, stated that an employee of the cinema refused to sell her the Family package of tickets and called her and her kids “not a real family”. In 24 hours, her article is the most popular in the blogosphere, with an estimated reach of 350,000 persons (including influencers), who blame the brand and demand explanations.

The cinema is the target of serious accusations, not only for its attitude but for conceiving the packages only for traditional families. The official HM page gets tons of negative reviews, and the number of dislikes during the crisis is 10 times higher than usual. In social media, the cinema is threatened to be sued and boycotted. The whole world condemns HM, and the entire press – from sites to TV channels – writes about this topic and conducts debates about it.       

The cinema reacted not only by taking responsibility for the incident but had a creative approach that instantly turned the public opinion to its favor. On Sunday, representatives of HM contacted Raluca and apologized. Shortly afterward, HM released a brief statement in which it publicly apologized and announced that it would immediately take action. On Monday, HM distributed a surprising press release in which it announced the launch of the new packages of tickets addressed to mono-parental families, „Family Packages inspired by Raluca”. The press release was accompanied by the marketing campaign poster, including packages and detailed prices.

The marketing campaign is implemented overnight, the packages are already available in the cinema on Tuesday. The press release is widely published via numerous channels, from Realitatea and Romania TV to Libertatea. The number of positive articles is double to that of negative ones and HM receives congratulations for its reaction in social media. Raluca posts on her page a message conveying her appreciation. With a budget of only 100 euro (in posters production), HM managed to turn the issue in only 24 hours in its favor.

The initial crisis was followed by approximately 800.000 persons. Its solution was watched by almost 2 million Romanians, being very much covered by TV channels. On the day of the announcements of the new Family packages inspired by Raluca, the number of the fans of the official page of Hollywood Multiplex grew 18 times more compared to the daily average. The Facebook post by means of which Raluca Zdrobiș announced her issue had an estimated reach of 150,000 users, 716 reactions, 92 comments, and 223 shares.The post that announced the new packages inspired by Raluca had a reach of 233,432, over 1000 reactions, 157 comments, and 404 shares. The story about the new ticket offer (the crisis solution) had a total estimated reach of over 380,000 people, as Hollywood Multiplex was applauded by hundreds of users. The congratulations went on for days, including those from KOLs reaching a total viewership of over 2,000,000 impressions on all channels.