Sprint Delivers Mobile Coupons For Movie Theaters

by Laurie Sullivan for Mediapost.com

Sprint has broadened a mobile marketing coupon campaign that delivers subscribers discounts on drinks and snacks at more than 500 movie theaters nationwide. Supported by Screenvision and bCode, the plan to create the world’s largest coupon redemption network will extend the service to 900 theaters in 2010.

Through bCODE’s SMS-based mobile wallet platform, Sprint subscribers can text the keyword “Sprint” to “22633″ to receive on their phone a redeemable message for a concession stand discount coupon in participating movie theaters, such as Century, Carmike, and Galaxy, among others.

Cinema advertising company Screenvision partnered with bCODE to deliver the SMS-based mobile coupons. The text-message coupons are redeemable in the theater at a MediaPlane device, an interactive touchscreen kiosk in the theater that reads the bCODE’s technology and provides digital content, offers and entertainment.

The MediaPlane scans bCODEs from mobile phones, redeems the coupon and prints point-of-sale redemption tickets. Locations offering the discounts cut across New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Houston and Dallas.

Consumers select a specific offer, and the MediaPlane prints a barcode coupon they can take to the concession stand. bCODE also provides technology to support a loyalty-point program through digital content downloads, where consumers gain access to favorite music, trailers and games. The application also provides access to social networks to update status and leave comments in real-time.

Sprint’s strategy is based on retaining subscribers, according to Michael Mak, bCode CEO. “The network will allow us to keep track of what each person buys,” he says. “The mobile coupon information is tied to the person’s, but it’s an opt-in process, so privacy issues are not a concern. It also takes one link to opt out.”

The opt-in process will also allow Sprint to retarget consumers with other discounts even after they have left the theater. These offers could range from discounts on movie tickets and music to DVDs or items related to the movie titles.

A HipCricket study released Wednesday suggests that marketers miss opportunities to connect with consumers via mobile phones. The second annual HipCricket Mobile Marketing Survey reveals that of the consumers who receive mobile marketing offers and coupons, 47% recall the brand — and of those, 94% remember the specific action they are asked to take.

The September study, based on 511 email responses, also suggests that 41% of respondents have visited a retailer’s Web site from their mobile phone. Of those, 70% search for store locations, 51% search for store hours, 39% want directions, and 29% search for coupons and promotions.

Daffy’s Dancers First ‘Live’ in Cinema Ad

In New York, Retailer Puts on a Show Before the Movie

by Natalie Zmuda
Published: October 28, 2009

// <![CDATA[// [CDATA[
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yahooBuzzArticleSummary = "NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Moviegoers got more than they bargained for on Friday night, when dancers streamed onto the stage at New York City's Ziegfeld Theatre just prior to a showing of "Amelia." For three and a half minutes, ten dancers performed what Screenvision says is a first-of-its-kind live in-cinema ad. The "Fitting Dance" was accompanied by images on the movie screen behind the dancers. Only near the end was it revealed that patrons had been watching a lengthy ad for Daffy's.";
yahooBuzzArticleType = "text";

// ]]]]> // <![CDATA[//

Screenvision modified the pre-show program to fit in the ads, which ran Friday and Saturday night at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York and are slated to run again this coming Friday.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Moviegoers got more than they bargained for on Friday night, when dancers streamed onto the stage at New York City's Ziegfeld Theatre just prior to a showing of "Amelia." For three and a half minutes, 10 dancers performed what Screenvision says is a first-of-its-kind live in-cinema ad. The "Fitting Dance" was accompanied by images on the movie screen behind the dancers. Only near the end was it revealed that patrons had been watching a lengthy ad for Daffy's.

The dancers and images on screen show people piling on clothes, the idea being that you'll find such good deals at Daffy's that you'll have too many clothes to wear.

Screenvision modified the pre-show program to fit in the ads, which ran Friday and Saturday night at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York and are slated to run again this coming Friday. Patrons received 20% off coupons to Daffy's as part of the promotion. Of the choice not to reveal that the performance was, in fact, an ad for Daffy's until near the end of the time allotted, Mr. Bracker said the brand hoped to be "inventive and watchable."

Daffy's will use footage from the live ads, including the audience's reaction, to create a traditional 30-second spot that will run in select Screenvision theaters beginning around Thanksgiving.

"Marketing disruption has become incredibly popular," said Will Bracker, director-marketing at Daffy's. "We wanted to take that to a venue that hadn't been used before."

Mr. Bracker said the idea came from the retailer's agency of record, Johannes Leonardo, New York. "They came to us with a lot of unique opportunities to break through the clutter," Mr. Bracker said. "We need to do something different to make sure our message is heard loud and clear with the money we have."

Daffy's spent just over $1 million on measured media last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

Loren Venturi-Miller, senior VP-national and regional sales at Screenvision, said that live ads are more expensive than a generic out-of-home campaign, declining to specify the cost. The live ads, she said, were already a part of Screenvision's generic offering, though Daffy's is the first marketer to take advantage of the ads.

"It's not the easiest thing to execute," she said. "But with the positive feedback we've gotten, I definitely think it will build awareness that these types of things can take place in our space."

Mr. Bracker is hoping that in the coming weeks the ad will gain traction online, and perhaps even go viral. The retailer plans to post the footage to YouTube and its own web site this week. Though the live ad and the traditional ad that will be created are not specifically focused on the fast-approaching holiday season, Mr. Bracker said the timing is intentional.

"We're aligned to the holiday period," he said. "We're a small off-price retailer that needs to hit home runs."

Watch a video of the ad here:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1543292789?bctid=46774756001

Nascar Takes Cinema Advertising for a Spin

Deal With Screenvision Will Bring Branded Content to 15,000 Screens

by Jeremy Mullman
Published: October 21, 2009

// <![CDATA[
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The deal with Nascar will give Screenvision original, exclusive long-form content to spruce up its 'pre-show' in order to improve engagement for the rest of its paying advertisers.

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -->

The auto-racing behemoth has cut a three-year deal with cinema-ad network Screenvision to bring original branded content to 15,000 movie screens, the league's first play in a fast-growing format that has spotlighted the sport in movies such as "Talladega Nights" and "Days of Thunder."

The deal calls for Nascar to create 90-second pieces that could consist of race highlights, behind-the-scenes pieces and driver profiles at the behest of its sponsors. It could build a segment, for instance, around drivers backed by Coca-Cola-owned brands.

That added value for sponsors could be a useful sweetener at a time when some high-profile Nascar backers such as Jim Beam and Jack Daniel's have been walking away from the sport amid declining TV revenue and track attendance.

Jim O'Connell, Nascar's VP-corporate marketing, said the league was interested in the deal for three reasons: It wanted to expose the sport to new fans, it wanted additional benefits for its corporate partners and it wanted a new platform to help those partners activate against the sport.

Screenvision's 45 million monthly theatergoers, of course, are an attractive way to check all three boxes. "This is a great fit," Mr. O'Connell said. "Few things are going to look better on a 40-foot screen than Nascar racing."

Not a bad deal, considering Nascar didn't pay for the privilege beyond creating content and providing use of their logos.

So what's in it for Screenvision?

The theater network gets original, exclusive long-form content, something it had been seeking to spruce up its "pre-show" in order to improve engagement for the rest of its paying advertisers. And its member theaters get the use of Nascar's logos, which Screenvision's network of exhibitors can utilize in lobby promotions such as banners and drinking cups and popcorn bags.

Cinema advertising has been growing in recent years, driven by strong box-office trends and the struggles of traditional media in a digital world, where a captive audience that can't time-shift or block its way around viewing ads is a valuable commodity. According to the Cinema Advertising Council, cinema ad revenue climbed 5.7% in 2008.

"The No. 1 goal for us is that this is entertaining to our audience," said Screenvision Exec VP Mike Chico. "And there is a lift associated with Nascar's brand and marks that our exhibitors can take advantage of."

Mr. Chico said this would be the largest content deal ever for Screenvision, which has done large-scale theater deals with the likes of Verizon and MTV. The company made news earlier this year when it unveiled the first 3-D theater campaign for Skittles.

by David Goetzl, Thursday, October 1, 2009, 6:06 PM

www.MediaPost.com

As movie releases in 3-D proliferate, opportunities for advertisers to run on-screen ads in the out-sized format would seem attractive. Still, the top executive at in-cinema sales group National CineMedia doubts whether marketers will pay a premium for the spots.

NCM has held talks with marketers about 3-D ads on the silver screen, but hasn’t run any.

“Whether we can charge more for it, I don’t know,” CEO Kurt Hall said Thursday at an investor event. “I’m a little skeptical because the offset is the production costs are going to be higher for the advertiser.”

NCM has held back even as competitor Screenvision ran the first on-screen 3-D spot in May for Skittles. NCM has had concerns that the “infrastructure (is) in place to really deliver a meaningful campaign to a client,” Hall said.

But Hall said a year from now, the pipes should be primed for wide use — particularly as Digital Cinema Implementation Partners ramps up its operations. DCIP was formed two years ago by three theater operators to finance the rollout of digital projection technology that can allow for 3-D.

“There will be a significant enough 3-D platform out there to make advertising something that makes sense [for marketers] … but I don’t see it as a huge panacea [as far as driving NCM revenues],” he said.

Through August, there were 2,744 screens that could offer 3-D films, 7% of all U.S. screens. Only a dozen 3-D films are slated for release this year, with the same amount expected in 2010.

Screenvision sold the breakthrough 3-D spot to Wrigley for the Skittles brand; it ran for five weeks starting May 1 on 762 screens in 461 theaters. The spot had been shot in the traditional format and was converted into 3-D.

Screenvision vice president, marketing Tim Contado said the rep firm is in negotiations with several advertisers to run 3-D spots attached to releases later this year. Advertisers are interested in producing spots using 3-D technology, he said.

For the Wrigley effort, pricing was based on a per-screen, per-week basis. Screenvision uses a CPM as currency normally.

Contado said as long as 3-D films are special events, “there would still be a premium for 3-D ads because of the enhanced impact.”

The Wrigley ad ran several months after DreamWorks Animation and PepsiCo partnered on a stunt to run 3-D ads in the Super Bowl with a trailer for film “Monsters vs. Aliens” and spot for SoBe drinks. NCM sells ads on nearly 17,000 screens, with Screenvision on over 15,000.

Even as NCM’s Hall has questions about 3-D ad sales, theater owners are counting on 3-D films to drive their business. (They they charge several dollars extra per showing.)

“It’s not a fad in our mind,” Carmike Cinemas COO Fred Van Noy said at the same event. “We think that this is a true business model.” Carmike operates 2,285 screens, with 499 capable of running 3-D films. The company said 3-D films helped boost attendance in the second quarter.

Carmike is the country’s fourth-largest theater owner behind Regal, AMC and Cinemark. Screenvision sells for Carmike, NCM for the other three.

Theaters have run stunts, such as a special 3-D simulcast of TNT’s coverage of the NBA slam dunk contest in February, in about 80 theaters. Ads in the broadcast, however, ran as they did on TV in 2-D.

“Live 3-D simulcast seems to me to be a logical place to experiment with advertising,” Ken Kerschbaumer, editorial director for New York-based Sports Video Group, told Media magazine. “The ads run in the program. The audience cannot TiVo or skip the spots. And, at least anecdotally, we have seen some good retention for commercials in the theaters during games.”

Studios have been increasingly releasing films in 3-D, with the high-profile “Avatar” from director James Cameron set for this holiday season and “A Christmas Carol” readied for November.

About Hollywood Branding:

Hollywood Branding, started in 2001, works with 30 marketing companies to provide a simple, stress-free avenue to research and run ad campaigns on movie theaters nationwide.

Our database includes every cinema in the U.S. that offers any kind of advertising opportunity on-screen or in the lobby.  We offer free planning, rates, research, and media buying expertise.

Some of our clients include Disney, US Army, the Food & Drug Administration, the state of VA, the city of Los Angeles, the FL Health Department, the state of OR, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, eBay, and the National Crime Commission.

Email Beverly Nation : hollywoodbranding@gmail.com

or call:      314-776-1018

www.HollywoodBranding.com

By LAUREN A. E. SCHUKER

This fall, Warner Bros. is trying to reinvent Sherlock Holmes, with Robert Downey Jr. starring as the fictional sleuth. Spike Jonze, who directed “Being John Malkovich,” will put a modern twist on the storybook classic “Where the Wild Things Are.” And some recent best sellers, including Walter Kirn’s “Up in the Air” and Alice Sebold’s “The Lovely Bones” (in an adaptation from “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson) will hit the big screen.

Hollywood is racing to adapt novels, comics, and children’s stories, as the ability of movie stars to draw audiences wanes. Popular books, with built-in fan bases, pose less risk for Hollywood studios trying to eke out a profit in a tough economic climate. One of the most-anticipated adaptations is the November sequel to “Twilight,” based on the best-selling book series by Stephenie Meyer.

A wave of animated films based on children’s stories are scheduled for release over the next several months, including Disney’s revision of the age-old fairy tale, “The Princess and the Frog”; Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” a mostly stop-motion animation version of the Roald Dahl novella; and “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” a 3-D take on the popular children’s book.

One giant exception: Oscar-winning director James Cameron returns to feature filmmaking for the first time since “Titanic” with his new movie “Avatar,” a sci-fi epic with an original story that’s not based on a book. The 3-D movie follows a war veteran (played by Sam Worthington) on his journey to an alien planet.

After a summer that saw box office revenues soar ahead of old records, there are far fewer films coming out in the U.S. this fall and winter season, with just 135 films currently planned for release through the end of the 2009. That’s down 32% from 2008, when 199 films were released during the same period, according to data compiled by Jeff Bock, an analyst at box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. That number could climb slightly higher after the studios acquire films at fall festivals, but it’s still a significant drop from previous years, when as many as 240 films were released during the period.

For years, Wall Street poured billions into the film industry, creating a glut of films as the Hollywood studios used the extra cash to ramp up production. As that money dried up last fall in the wake of the credit crunch, the studios are now producing less.

The cutback does have some positive consequences, say studio executives. “With fewer films, there won’t be as much cannibalization, and each film will have a better shot at finding its audiences,” notes Mike Vollman, who runs marketing for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, home of the James Bond franchise.

In “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” a crafty chicken thief—voiced by George Clooney—strives to outwit three farmers who wage war against him for stealing their prized goods. In an unusual move for an animated feature, Mr. Anderson, best known for offbeat comedies shot in subdued tones like “The Royal Tenenbaums,” made all the actors record the audio tracks together and act out some of the motions in the film, says Jason Schwartzman, who performs the voice of Ash, Mr. Fox’s runty son. “George and I are having an intense emotional scene,” he recalls, “and we weren’t in costume or makeup, but I was really on the ground digging for dirt.”

In “Avatar,” which opens in December, Mr. Cameron employs computer-generated imagery to animate some of the characters, who look like blue oversized humanoids. The director says that even though the film is in 3-D, intricate special effects are not at its emotional center. “This movie is about people running around in the rain forest, it’s not about technology,” he says.

Also coming back to the multiplex: Buzz Lightyear and teenage heartthrob Robert Pattinson. Disney will debut “Toy Story 3″ next year and in preparation, the studio will rekindle the franchise by releasing new 3-D versions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2.” Just a year after the teen vampire romance, “Twilight,” directed by Catherine Hardwicke, became a cultural sensation, Summit Entertainment has a sequel, “New Moon“—featuring werewolves and a bevy of new special effects—set to hit theaters the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Summit hired a new director to make “New Moon,” which has “a totally different look,” according to the studio’s chief executive and co-chairman Rob Friedman, and “offers a lot more for the guys than the first movie did.” Werewolves (including Jacob Black, played by Taylor Lautner) emerge in the sequel as protectors, shielding Bella (actress Kristen Stewart) from the menacing vampires that prey on her after Edward (Mr. Pattinson) departs. The film focuses in part on that breakup—and its resolution—but it also features more computer-generated effects to render the wolves. “New Moon” director Chris Weitz says the new werewolf element forced filmmakers to ramp up the special effects. “We weren’t going to just use a guy in a wolf suit,” he says.

Hollywood’s fall line-up features two movie musicals: “Fame,” a loose remake of the 1980 hit film of the same name set at a New York high school for performing arts, and “Nine,” director Rob Marshall’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning film “Chicago.” “Nine” was inspired in part by Federico Fellini’s film “8½” and features a star-studded cast including Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day-Lewis and Penélope Cruz.

A grittier take on the high school musical genre, “Fame” follows a group of students—dancers, singers, actors—as they try to achieve fame for their artistic pursuits. The original music for “Fame,” which won Academy Awards for original core and riginal song, has been supplemented and updated to sound more contemporary.

Emmy-winner Megan Mullally, who plays one of the “Fame” teachers, says that the new movie is more like a regular film than a musical. “The musical numbers are integrated in a seamless and organic way,” she says.

The fall’s comedic fare includes a new Coen brothers movie “A Serious Man,” about a physics professor (played by Michael Stuhlbarg) who struggles to raise his family in a middle-class Jewish neighborhood in the Midwest when his wife threatens to leave him. “It’s Complicated,” a Nancy Meyers film, follows a woman (played by Meryl Streep) who is pursued by two men (Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin).

Jason Reitman’s comedy “Up in the Air,” featuring actor George Clooney, tells the story of a corporate-downsizing consultant whose nomadic existence—and impressive frequent flier mileage—is placed in peril, making him question his lifestyle.

“The movie is about the examination of a philosophy—what if you decided to live hub to hub, with nothing, with nobody?” says Mr. Reitman, who spent six years writing the film and, in that time, got married, had a baby and directed the hit movie “Juno.”

Mr. Reitman says this film, which was only loosely based on Mr. Kirn’s novel, was a more deeply personal effort than his first two feature films, “Thank You for Smoking” and “Juno.” “The main character was written very much from my own heart,” he says.

—Jamin Brophy-Warren contributed to this article

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204731804574390600167135462.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

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Cinema advertising advantage: Council reports growth and continued innovation

Sept 22, 2009

-By Andreas Fuchs

“One of the most exciting things [about] the cinema is that the growth curve continues, despite the fact that the media economy has really hit the skids,” attests Dave Kupiec on behalf of the Cinema Advertising Council (CAC). “We’ve been very pleased.”

When we conduct our annual state-of-the-industry conversation with the reigning chairman and president of that trade association, better business is something that we have come to expect. And indeed, since the CAC first began tracking ad revenue in and from movie theatres back in 2002, the average annual growth rate has been a remarkable 21.5% (for details, please refer to our table). Coming in at 208% higher than six years ago, 2008 is no exception to that rule of success.

Even better, the economically challenged immediate 2009 past and present have not been hurting as they have other media. “There are more deals being written than there were a year ago, but for smaller amounts of money.” In other words, “it takes a few more deals for the same level of revenue,” Kupiec assures. “I see that as a very positive sign because that means more and more advertisers are interested in our medium as their overall budgets have been slashed. They don’t have as much money to put in.”

According to the independently collected 2008 report, total cinema-advertising industry revenues of CAC members, who account for more than 82% of U.S. movie screens, grew by 5.8% over 2007. Kupiec further notes that “was higher than for any other medium, even higher growth than the Internet experienced… When times are tough and dollars are tough, advertisers are spending less and thinking even more carefully about where they are spending their budgets. They have clearly turned to the cinema medium and said, ‘OK, this is a place to get big impact and to have people really remember and pay attention to my message.’”

Among the top cinema-advertising categories looking for that big bang were Associations & Causes, Automotive, Broadcast & Cable Television, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Packaged Goods/Health & Beauty, Credit Cards, Fashion, Military, Movie Studios, Retail, Telecommunications and Wireless. Activity increased across a wider range of new groups as well, including Retail, Electronics, Leisure/Tourism and Financial Institutions. “Reinforcement means a lot more when the economy is down,” Kupiec feels. “It’s always easier to be up when everybody is up.”

Another strong sign is the latest quarter’s 11.6% increase from $74.8 to $83.5 million in revenue at National Cinema Media (NCM), where Kupiec is the executive VP of sales and marketing. “We were up double-digit numbers for the second quarter 2009 over 2008,” he reports, changing his hat for a moment and citing independent press reports. “There are only two other media companies among those that are tracked that showed growth… One was Google and the other was Discovery, both of which were single-digit. Again, there you have cinema bucking the trend in a very, very down time. That’s good.”

The reasons are partly that the industry still has inventory that is not fully sold out, while key flights during major moviegoing months are booked well in advance. “Secondly, the awareness level of advertisers has grown tremendously over the past three, four years,” Kupiec reviews. “While television is still the Big Kahuna and gets the lion’s share of the budget by far,” he has noticed, “there is a replacement strategy going on with some of our clients looking for other sight, sound and motion vehicles to either make up some of the audience they have lost with television or they feel that they are not reaching as effectively as they used to.” Examples, he says, include digital out-of-home networks at fitness centers, convenience stores and gas stations, though none show quite the same power as at the cinema.

In fact, a recent study conducted by Integrated Media Measurement on behalf of the CAC demonstrated that “combining television and cinema in an ad campaign more than doubled the consumer conversion rate as compared to television alone.” While that also doubles “the lift and extending incremental reach,” advertisers are “targeting key demographics including ad-avoiders” at the same time. “These are the results media agencies and their clients crave,” Kupiec asserts. “We just didn’t want to talk about recall and awareness alone—we know [cinema] has all the properties of the 40-foot screen and great sound along with an engaged audience to do so—but were specifically looking to prove ROI movement.”

What about the cravings of those attentive moviegoers? Are they finally accepting advertising in a pre-show? “We still conduct an annual study,” he confirms. “However, it is no longer about resistance because it has been all but eliminated. It’s more to gauge how we have gone from a neutral reaction to our various pre-shows to a decidedly positive one. Consumers have gone from not liking advertising on a very small level, to a passive and neutral response, to what is now very positive. While the much older moviegoers are generally the last holdout, who prefer not to have any advertising in movie theatres…the vast majority of people across all age groups say they’d much prefer to have an entertaining pre-show with content and ads while they’re waiting for the movie to start. Now, our research is all about how to make the entertainment better and better.”

In addition to establishing the high-quality digital network, which he calls “the major innovation,” Kupiec says the industry is “working closely with advertisers and content partners to make sure that we are really telling an engaging story at the cinema in a way it is meant to be used.”
With that kept top-of-mind by the creatives in this industry, in addition to continued innovation in theatre lobbies—Kupiec mentions holograms, interactive kiosks and 3D displays in addition to “the old standbys” of posters, standees and popcorn bags—Film Journal International has no doubt that we will again be talking about growth with the CAC in next year’s edition.

Editor’s note: Dave Kupiec will be participating in a panel discussion at “Advertising Week 2009,” hosted by USA Today and taking place Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. the Nokia Theatre in New York City. The session is titled “Hollywood: The Crossroads of Advertising and Movie Marketing.” For more information, visit www.advertisingweek.com.

U.S. Cinema Advertising Revenue

Year            CAC Member Revenue        % Growth
2002             $185,800,000
2003             $273,000,000                        47%
2004             $367,456,000                        35%
2005             $394,830,000                         7%
2006             $455,661,000                        15%
2007             $539,946,000                      18.5%
2008             $571,421,000                       5.8%
Source: CAC

On-screen revenues accounted for over 90% of total cinema-advertising revenues, with the balance going to off-screen sources such as audio programming, sampling, special events, concession- and lobby-based promotions. Additionally, approximately 76.53% is from national or regional advertisers (versus 23.47% from local sales).

In 2008, CAC members accounted for more than 82% of 38,794 U.S. movie screens. In an effort to provide data that is as accurate as possible, the CAC no longer estimates revenue for non-members or for beverage-category advertising (www.cinemadcouncil.org).

http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/news-and-features/features/cinemas/e3i7c69fb437bbee15ea73076966075a440

About Hollywood Branding:

Hollywood Branding, started in 2001, works with 30 marketing companies to provide a simple, stress-free avenue to research and run ad campaigns on movie theaters nationwide.

Our database includes every cinema in the U.S. that offers any kind of advertising opportunity on-screen or in the lobby.  We offer free planning, rates, research, and media buying expertise.

Some of our clients include Disney, US Army, the Food & Drug Administration, the state of VA, the city of Los Angeles, the FL Health Department, the state of OR, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, eBay, and the National Crime Commission.

Email Beverly Nation : hollywoodbranding@gmail.com

or call:      314-776-1018

www.HollywoodBranding.com

What’s new at the pre-show?

Sept 22, 2009

Leading cinema-advertising companies share their latest efforts to make the show before the main feature engaging and entertaining.

Cliff Marks
President of Sales and Marketing
National CineMedia

Tell us about your typical pre-show and what the content usually consists of.
NCM’s FirstLook is a digital entertainment and advertising pre-feature program showcasing content from some of Hollywood’s most popular entertainment companies, such as A&E Television Networks, NBC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting System, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Warner Bros. along with national, regional and local advertising seen on approximately 15,500 digital screens nationwide.

FirstLook provides both a high-quality entertainment experience for patrons and an effective marketing platform for advertisers. Designed with the audience in mind, FirstLook ends approximately at the advertised movie showtime (when the film trailers begin) and its entertainment content segments are rotated between theatres about every two weeks to help ensure that frequent moviegoers are entertained by fresh content. Multiple versions of FirstLook are presented every month throughout NCM’s media network, and each FirstLook presentation is tailored to a specific film rating category to provide age-appropriate content and advertising for the movie audience.

Who are your pre-show content providers?
A&E Television Networks, NBC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting System, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Warner Bros.

Which pre-show content has been especially successful?
Our entertainment content has been very successful, especially content which is uniquely created for FirstLook and highly relevant for the moviegoing experience. We have just renewed multi-year deals through 2011 with NCM FirstLook content partners A&E Television Networks, NBC Universal and Warner Bros.

What new forms of content have you introduced this year?
Several new clients are buying NCM’s cinema-advertising network for the first time in 2009, including clients in the packaged goods, sports apparel, import auto and telecommunications categories. We are also starting to see interest in the technology area, a whole new category for us. Earlier this year, E*Trade gave movie goers a “FirstLook” at a “Director’s Cut” featuring the outtakes from its popular “Talking Baby” Super Bowl campaign. The humorous campaign really resonated with movie audiences and elicited terrific response. Another great example was when Ford Motor Co. launched a nationwide campaign using NCM’s FirstLook pre-show to highlighting its charitable giving with a two-minute content piece shown before “G” and “PG”-rated films. The content focused on the philanthropic work of the Ford Motor Co. Fund—both its financial contributions and the thousands of hours of volunteer work performed by Ford employees. Ford, like a lot of advertisers these days, followed the people who are flocking to the movies during the downturn.

Does audience feedback or interactivity play a role in your pre-show?
Yes. NCM is taking cinema advertising beyond the big screen with a new 360° mobile, online and onscreen campaign called “r8 it” (pronounced “rate it”). It is an interactive mobile text/WAP polling program that gives moviegoers a unique way to share their thoughts immediately after enjoying a film in their local theatre. Through messaging in onscreen spots in NCM’s FirstLook pre-feature program, Lobby Entertainment Network (LEN) and box-office handouts, audiences are asked to text in the name of the movie they just saw, and will then receive a message back featuring a fun question that asks them to rate a particular element of the film. As an incentive to play, “r8 it” participants become eligible to win movie tickets for a year.

Results of the polls are showcased online at www.NCM.com/r8it and through the new “r8 it” app that is distributed over the NCM Media Network of more than 20 entertainment-related websites.

As an extension of FirstLook online, NCM.com’s “r8 it” provides a unique integrated marketing platform with multiple touch points for clients. Maintaining that connection with people when they are looking for showtimes or after they left the movie theatre was always the missing piece of the puzzle, and now we have a way for advertisers to complete the picture. Perhaps even more importantly, “r8 it” also creates fun, user-generated original content that encourages interaction with the brand and will keep audiences coming back for more.

What makes a good and effective pre-show? What kind of content works best?
A good pre-show is entertaining and relevant to the moviegoing experience, while at the same time being an effective marketing platform for brands. The entertainment content from our world-class partners works especially well, but any advertising that is high-quality, innovative and interesting can resonate on the big screen and generate high rates of recall.

What does your research show about the audience’s feelings about your pre-show?
Cinema is an engagement medium—it provides one of the most engaging ad environments of all major media, with consumers paying attention to ads at a rate of two to five times greater than television.

Research shows that consumers have become accepting of cinema advertising as part of the moviegoing experience—according to E-poll, 90 percent of audiences prefer pre-show entertainment content and advertising over a blank screen. One reason that audiences are so responsive to NCM’s cinema advertising is that our FirstLook pre-feature program is respectful of the movie theatre experience, ending at about the advertised movie showtime when the film trailers begin. As discussed previously, we also rotate entertainment segments approximately every two weeks to help ensure that frequent moviegoers are entertained by fresh pre-show content.

What new content will you be introducing?
We are working with more and more brands to create long-form content so that in the future, audiences might enjoy an entertaining content segment from a consumer brand, as well as from our current group of movie studio or television network content partners.

Screenvision

Screenvision’s digital pre-show aims to revive the great tradition of pre-feature entertainment programming. Their host-format magazine-style show—the only hosted show in the industry—is designed to entertain moviegoers while sparking interest in advertiser messaging. Host Bradford How guides moviegoers through the pre-show experience, introducing advertiser and entertainment content segments that run alongside exhibitor messaging and entertaining trivia, all supported by a contemporary music soundtrack.
Content segments consist of a variety of behind-the-scenes looks at film and TV programming, world-premiere music-videos and branded entertainment pieces. Advertisers and content partners provide this entertainment-driven material, which is seamlessly blended with Screenvision-produced content to create an attractive 20-minute show that’s become part of the moviegoing experience.

Advertisers have included HBO, the E! cable network, Verizon, Daimler Chrysler and the National Guard.

Screenvision’s digital pre-show offers a variety of brand-building opportunities for advertisers: Long-form content segments give more time to reach and engage consumers with messaging. Product integration through content or hosted segments enables advertisers to creatively highlight key product/brand attributes.

Sponsorship of show segments, music, trivia or the entire pre-show provides valuable brand presence in front of an attentive audience. And traditional slide and spot advertising allows advertisers to run existing creative on the big screen.

Screenvision’s high-definition digital pre-show plays on 7,000 screens nationwide, with the majority deployed in the top 50 DMAs across 25 key exhibitor partners, including some of the nation’s most luxurious theatres. Participating circuits include Carmike, Clearview, Coming Attractions, Consolidated, Dickinson, Great Escape, Harkins, Loeks, Malco, Mann, Marcus, Muvico, National Amusements, Pacific, Premiere, Rave, UltraStar and Wehrenberg Theatres.
Consumers give Screenvision’s digital pre-show high marks, achieving 94% receptivity levels, with even higher praise from young adults and teens.
(adapted from pre-show information at www.screenvision.com)

Bill McGlamery, President
UniqueScreen Media
A Cinedigm company

Tell us about your typical pre-show and what the content usually consists of.
The preshow program is a hosted voice-over package made up of local advertisers utilizing both motion graphic ads and video spots along with PSAs for our exhibitor partners and Preflix-branded entertainment content. The entertainment content includes music-videos, behind-the-scenes interviews and commentary and movie trivia.

Who are your pre-show content providers?
The entertainment content is all developed in house utilizing materials provided by the studios and Cinedigm’s Entertainment Group.

Who are your leading theatre customers?
We represent over 50 exhibitor partners and all are an important part of our footprint. Some of our largest exhibitor partners include Marquee, MJR, Jack Loeks, Santikos and Carmike, Alliance, Allen, B&B, Cinema West and Neighborhood.

Which pre-show content has been especially successful?
The music-videos and interviews have been particularly successful, as they offer more audience interaction and are often content that isn’t readily available to the public.

What new forms of content have you introduced this year?
We have added text-messaging features and song download options to some of the content.

Does audience feedback or interactivity play a role in your pre-show?
Yes, on a small scale today. We are currently working toward more audience interaction with the program.

What makes a good and effective pre-show? What kind of content works best?
We believe an effective pre-show maintains a balance of unique, entertaining content and well-crafted, targeted advertising which captures audience members’ attention and slowly draws them into the overall moviegoing experience.

What new content will you be introducing?
We are working on several things, from increased audience interaction with both the entertainment and advertising content to a new content provider that would bring current Hollywood news and movie entertainment to our program.

http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/news-and-features/features/cinemas/e3i2abb9d0f8f4b8fdcbedead32044fde4d?pn=1

About Hollywood Branding:

Hollywood Branding, started in 2001, works with 30 marketing companies to provide a simple, stress-free avenue to research and run ad campaigns on movie theaters nationwide.

Our database includes every cinema in the U.S. that offers any kind of advertising opportunity on-screen or in the lobby.  We offer free planning, rates, research, and media buying expertise.

Some of our clients include Disney, US Army, the Food & Drug Administration, the state of VA, the city of Los Angeles, the FL Health Department, the state of OR, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, eBay, and the National Crime Commission.

Email Beverly Nation : hollywoodbranding@gmail.com

or call:      314-776-1018

www.HollywoodBranding.com

Monday, it was announced that the Sept. 19 bout between Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquezwill be shown in more than 170 theaters nationwide (suggested price: $12.50 to $15) in addition to HBO-Pay Per-View ($49.95).

“The young audience, they don’t want to stay at home. They don’t want to go to a bar,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, who struck the arrangement with National CineMedia’s Fathom and insists this move will not hurt pay-per-view sales. “This is going to open up the sport of boxing to a new and young audience.”

Trailers will begin running for four weeks leading up to the bout. The entire card, which is shaping up to be one of the year’s best, will be shown from MGM Grand in Las Vegas. That includes a rematch between featherweight titlist Chris John and Rocky Juarez; former lineal welterweight champion Zab Judah vs. Antonio Diaz; former lightweight world title challenger Michael Katsidis vs. Vicente Escobedo.

Although Schaefer said the last fight shown via broad closed circuit in the U.S. was Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran II in 1980, Oscar De La Hoya’s first bout vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, promoted by Top Rank Inc. in 1996, was exclusively shown in theaters — not pay-per-view. Leonard’s superfight with Marvelous Marvin Hagler in 1987 was on closed circuit as well, but in the ’80s those fights occurred on Monday nights. Putting Mayweather-Marquez on closed circuit on a Saturday night, however, is unique.

“We’re clearly expecting this to be trememdously successful,” said Dan Diamond, vice present of Fathom, who anticipates. “I’m already gearing up conversations for the next one.”

Theater tickets can be purchased at fathomevents.com.

About Hollywood Branding:

Hollywood Branding, started in 2001, works with 30 marketing companies to provide a simple, stress-free avenue to research and run ad campaigns on movie theaters nationwide.

Our database includes every cinema in the U.S. that offers any kind of advertising opportunity on-screen or in the lobby.  We offer free planning, rates, research, and media buying expertise.

Some of our clients include Disney, US Army, the Food & Drug Administration, the state of VA, the city of Los Angeles, the FL Health Department, the state of OR, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, eBay, and the National Crime Commission.

Email Beverly Nation : hollywoodbranding@gmail.com

or call:      314-776-1018

www.HollywoodBranding.com

Lights, Camera, Action for Concession Coupons

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/business/media/07adco.html?_r=1

FILM producers spend millions every year to draw audiences to their movies. Now, advertisers are beginning to benefit from that, using not only movie screens for their commercials, but the lobbies of cinemas as well.

This month through December, Sprint Nextel is sponsoring a cinema-centric marketing effort, placing kiosks in about 500 movie theaters nationwide. Sprint customers can scan in a code from their phones, and the kiosks will print coupons, like a free upgrade to a bigger popcorn or larger soda.

“We see a very natural affinity between cinemagoers and our target audience,” said Simon McPhillips, director of media for Sprint. With more people going to see films, it’s a good time for Sprint to go to the movies, he added.

Companies have been expanding their cinema advertising recently, realizing that theaters are good places to reach audiences that don’t have too many distractions.

For years, companies like Screenvision and National CineMedia have been running on-screen commercials before trailers started, and lately they have been offering new products for advertisers. National CineMedia operates TV screens at concession stands that feature ads.

•

Screenvision has a few new projects in the works: with Cinema Scene, it will expand the number of theaters featuring stand-alone digital panels that replace movie posters. They show trailers or images that can be changed every day, or even every hour. And it will also introduce a backlit ministage that displays a hologram later this year. These stages, about 8 feet by 8 feet, will be placed in theater lobbies, and marketers can use them to display any image they want, like a candy bar or a cellphone.

Those are scheduled for limited introduction this year and are more for the “wow” factor than anything else, said Michael Chico, executive vice president for sales and marketing at Screenvision.

Sprint, too, is becoming more creative with its cinema spots, Mr. McPhillips said.

“People with high mobile phone usage do tend to go to cinemas more than people with lower mobile phone usage,” he said. “Years back, when cinema advertising was just launching, people were a little skeptical on how it would be received. It’s only been around for a relatively short amount of time, but all the research that came back said, despite initial skepticism, people feel that the advertisements are not intruding — in fact, in many ways are complementing — the overall event.”

Sprint uses National CineMedia’s network to run what are known as courtesy spots — reminders to silence cellphones — just before the movie (this spring, it added a warning not to text during a movie).

Screenvision and Sprint have conducted promotions that ask cinemagoers to choose the best-dressed celebrity from a red-carpet event via text message, or allow consumers to text a certain number and receive a trailer download in return.

The idea is not to get moviegoers to switch phone companies then and there, but to show off what Sprint can do, Mr. McPhillips said.

“We’ve got a term called brand utility, and what we’re looking to do with brand utility is use the phone as a marketing device, leveraging the benefits of a mobile phone,” he said. “Any marketing is obviously looking to improve people’s perceptions of the brand and bring them closer to the Sprint experience: the ‘Now network,’ living in the now — what that means is being in touch, wanting to get the most out of ‘now,’ whether it’s getting data on your phone or sharing an experience.”

Sometimes, as in the red-carpet texting campaign, Sprint allows any cellphone customer to participate. But with the kiosk, Sprint has a different goal.

“The first was a reward for their own customers, building that loyalty, and the other was the envy factor,” said Christine Martino, national account director for Screenvision, which brought the idea to Sprint.

The kiosk works by instructing Sprint customers to text a certain word (like “Sprint”) to a certain phone number. The customers then receive a text message that includes a string of letters and numbers. The kiosk includes a computer screen next to a scanning device, and people hold up their cellphones, scan that code and can browse through a few offers on the screen. The customers select their offer, and the kiosk prints a receipt that people can take to the concession stand for free upgrades, like a larger popcorn.

About Hollywood Branding:

Hollywood Branding, started in 2001, works with 30 marketing companies to provide a simple, stress-free avenue to research and run ad campaigns on movie theaters nationwide.

Our database includes every cinema in the U.S. that offers any kind of advertising opportunity on-screen or in the lobby.  We offer free planning, rates, research, and media buying expertise.

Some of our clients include Disney, US Army, the Food & Drug Administration, the state of VA, the city of Los Angeles, the FL Health Department, the state of OR, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, eBay, and the National Crime Commission.

Email Beverly Nation : hollywoodbranding@gmail.com

or call:      314-776-1018

www.HollywoodBranding.com

Ad spending kept growing in 2008 as so much else slowed.

By Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life

Jun 16, 2009

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Media_economy_57/One_of_the_few_bright_spots_Cinema_ads.asp

It was a down year for nearly every form of advertising, with everything from magazines to outdoor taking a hit in 2008.

A notable exception was cinema advertising, which recorded its sixth straight year of growth, up 5.8 percent over 2007, from $539.9 million to $571.4 million, according to the Cinema Advertising Council.

Spending on the medium has increased by 208 percent since 2002, the first year it was measured.

In 2008 the bulk of the money, just over 90 percent, was spent on on-screen advertising versus advertising elsewhere in the theater. That’s down slightly from 92 percent the previous year.

National or regional advertisers accounted for 77 percent of sales.

Driving that growth is improved technology, which now enables advertisers to swap out and update creative digitally at the flip of a switch across hundreds of theaters.

That’s made cinema advertising that much more attractive to marketers, especially national brands.

While the media economy overall fell 2.8 to 4 percent during 2008, depending on whose figures you believe, cinema advertising still pulled in new advertisers.

“We started digitizing seven years ago, and that made it easier for advertisers who had never explored cinema before to start using it,” says Dave Kupiec, president and chairman of the CAC.

Under the old technology, creative had to be distributed to individual theaters in the form of film. On-screen advertising was sold in four-week chunks, which essentially precluded marketers who wanted to advertise a limited-time promotion, like a weekend sale.

It was also cost-prohibitive, with a short spot running up to $300,000 to produce.

“Digital changed that. They can swap an ad out any time in the flight,” Kupiec says. “And there are no film costs. Say someone sends in a two-minute videotape. We can put it up via satellite and send it to 18,000 movie screens.”

Kupiec says cinema advertising saw some of its biggest growth in the retail area this year because of that technology, with advertisers such as Kohl’s and Sears coming in for the first time in recent years.

Off-screen advertising, of the sort you see in movie theater lobbies, also saw some growth due to new interactive technologies, such as posters that send messages to passersby’s cell phones.

“The thing that’s getting attention is mobile applications, what to do with cell phones with touch screens, and 3D screens,” Kupiec says. “It’s technology that becomes new and exciting, captivating media. We find we’re getting a lot of requests for that sort of thing.”

Automotive remained one of the top ad categories in 2008, with Asian automakers spending especially heavily. Other top categories included television, consumer packaged goods, credit cards, fashion and movie studios.

Still, whether the ad spending growth will continue into what’s been a dismal start to the year for all media remains to be seen.

“The reality of this economy is that no matter how good cinema is, the number of contracts we’re writing is still increasing, but the amount we’re writing per contract is down versus prior years,” Kupiec says. “We know the economy is in the dumper for a year or so. That doesn’t mean we’ve lost momentum, it just means we’ve lost some money.”

CAC members account for 82 percent of the nearly 39,000 U.S. movie screens.

About Hollywood Branding:

Hollywood Branding, started in 2001, works with 30 marketing companies to provide a simple, stress-free avenue to research and run ad campaigns on movie theaters nationwide.

Our database includes every cinema in the U.S. that offers any kind of advertising opportunity on-screen or in the lobby.  We offer free planning, rates, research, and media buying expertise.

Some of our clients include Disney, US Army, the Food & Drug Administration, the state of VA, the city of Los Angeles, the FL Health Department, the state of OR, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, eBay, and the National Crime Commission.

Email Beverly Nation : hollywoodbranding@gmail.com

or call:      314-776-1018

www.HollywoodBranding.com