My Sister Wants to Kill Herself — Short Film Marketing & Rollout Strategy

Role: Head of Marketing
Project Dates: 2025 – Pre-Release Campaign Development
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Description:

My Sister Wants to Kill Herself is an emotionally charged, surrealist TV-style film examining family, identity, dissociation, and mental health through an intimate yet absurd lens. The narrative blends raw vulnerability with stylized discomfort, making the world feel both familiar and uncanny.

As Head of Marketing, Mars developed the full creative rollout and brand identity for the film — designing a strategy that merges early-2010s nostalgia aesthetics (Tumblr-core, MySpace melancholy, analog imperfection) with the modern virality of storytime culture, cinematic BTS, and internet-driven emotional storytelling.

Her overarching goal is to position the film not as a typical release, but as a cultural artifact: something that feels like a memory rediscovered, or a long-lost diary entry resurfacing into today’s digital landscape. The marketing intentionally blurs past and present, crafting a movement that feels personal, lived-in, and eerily timeless.

Marketing Plan

1. Brand Identity & Positioning

Mars established a unified creative identity for the film built around:

early-2010s nostalgia (Tumblr-core, grainy photo-booth visuals, distressed serif fonts)
lo-fi analog texture paired with surrealist, cinematic BTS
diary-coded emotional storytelling, emphasizing vulnerability
“found memory” atmosphere, positioning the project as an artifact rather than a modern drop

This identity anchors every piece of marketing — from color palettes to typography to tone of voice.

2. Social Distribution Strategy

A platform-native content plan was structured across TikTok, Instagram, and Reels to maximize reach, virality, and emotional connection:

storytime-style videos explaining the real-world emotional themes
micro-narratives centered on sibling dynamics, intrusive thoughts, and absurd family moments
behind-the-scenes sequences blending humor, discomfort, tender family beats, and surreal chaos
nostalgic edits using 2010s audio, text overlays, and lo-fi filters to build emotional resonance
character POV content to deepen audience curiosity and attachment

Each content format mirrors the film’s core themes — identity, mental health, absurdity — making the rollout an extension of the storytelling itself.

3. Viral Hook Development

Mars identified and crafted the campaign’s primary viral entry points, including:

“This feels like a memory from 2013 but I just filmed it yesterday.”
“A surrealist film about a sister who wants to die but can’t stop laughing through it.”
“If Tumblr made a TV show in 2025.”
“A story about mental health that feels like a fever dream you can’t shake.”

These hooks are designed to stop the scroll, provoke emotion, and create community conversation around both the aesthetic and the narrative.

4. Content Pillars

To ensure consistency and volume across the rollout, Mars built a five-pillar content system:

Nostalgic Aesthetic Posts
Grainy edits, diary entries, film stills, moodboards.
Storytime Explainers
Emotional themes broken down in human terms, designed for virality.
Cinematic BTS
On-set moments, chaotic siblings, costume and makeup close-ups.
Character-Driven Content
POV moments, monologues, comedic discomfort edits.
Theme-Based Micro Clips
Dissociation, identity confusion, intrusive thoughts, sibling tension.

These pillars allow for hundreds of modular assets without losing brand cohesion.

5. Teaser Campaigns & Release Cadence

Mars designed a tiered rollout plan:

Soft Tease (Weeks 1–2)

Ambiguous nostalgia edits
“Found footage” feeling posts
Moodboards seeded into social platforms

Narrative Tease (Weeks 3–4)

Storytime intros
Character POV posts
First BTS glimpses

Main Campaign (Weeks 5–8)

Trailer cutdowns
Full BTS sequences
TikTok micro-plots tied to scenes
Quote cards and emotional beats

Final Push (Release Week)

Cast emotional stories
Behind-the-scenes chaos
Mental health–themed conversations
“If you ever felt like this…” edits

This cadence builds curiosity → emotional investment → cultural relevance.

6. Community Engagement & Conversation Strategy

Mars developed a social conversation plan aligned with the film’s themes:

responding to comments with humor, vulnerability, or surreal callbacks
encouraging fan interpretations and nostalgia comparisons
amplifying viewer stories to create emotional community
using duets/stitches to shape discourse around mental health with empathy

The goal is to create not just viewers, but participants in the film’s emotional world.

7. Conversion & Distribution Goals

The marketing plan directs audience traffic to:

the film’s official landing page
festival submission announcements
behind-the-scenes galleries
cast and crew spotlights
long-form director diaries

Mars frames the project as both a cinematic work and a cultural object, allowing multiple entry points for audience connection.