As a marketing executive, I have marveled at the brand and its seeming integration with every facet of my life. The brand is EVERYWHERE. Lighted signs in every neighborhood bar. Billboards. TV spots. Empty cans blowing down the alley.

I live in Benton Park, which is across the highway from the brewing facility in downtown St. Louis.  Oftentimes I walk out of my house to smell the beer brewing. It smells like potato soup in the early stages, which gives the neighborhood a homey feeling.

Not being content with domination of traditional and out-of-home media, the marketing brain trust at A-B is ahead of the curve in immortalizing the Budweiser breand in customized entertainment content. A reality show no less!

Enjoy the following article while you grab a Bud.

-Beverly Nation, President of Hollywood Branding

Budweiser invests in branded entertainment to rebuild brand awareness

Published on December 14, 2011 by David Castillo

Budweiser is venturing into reality television to try to revive its brand image. The Anheuser-Busch-owned product will be backing a game show, “Bud United present: The Big Time.”

The reality show will feature amateurs competing in different events, including sports, music, and cooking. The winner of each segment will get a chance to meet a celebrity in their field. For instance, music winners can get to perform with Lady Gaga and Sting.

While there will be no beer drinking in the show, there will be product placements all over its episodes. The branded entertainment project aims to build brand awareness.

“Bud United present: The Big Time” will air Saturdays in ABC beginning January next year.

Original link: http://productplacement.biz/201112143820/branded-entertainment/budweiser-invests-in-branded-entertainment-to-rebuild-brand-awareness.html

While it’s a first for Twitter to host a movie, it also signals a change of heart for movie studio execs. Media mavens call it “The Twitter Effect” — the ability for Twitter to make or break a movie. That’s because users can get the word out about the movie in real-time. If they don’t like it, friends, family and followers know.

Paramount has also sponsored a Promoted Trend, allowing Twitter’s global user base a direct link to buy tickets to the advance previews. At select, participating U.S. theaters, Super 8 Sneak Preview moviegoers will eat free popcorn with a purchase at the concession stand. A Twitter page also supports the promotion.

This promotion continues a key partnership between Paramount and Twitter on “Super 8.” In March, the two companies released an exclusive trailer premiere on Twitter, another first for the site. IMAX theaters and multiplexes in about 325 locations will run the movie.

eMarketer Analyst Debra Aho Williamson points to the ecommerce portion of the deal as the most interesting, sending Twitter users to a site that allows them to purchase tickets. “We haven’t seen a whole lot of that,” she said. “We’ve seen companies like Dell sell products through their own Twitter handle, but this is one of the first times we’ve seen a company with an ad directing someone to buy something.”

Most Twitter ads direct users to a Web site to get more information about products and services. This partnership clearly takes Twitter one step further as an advertising medium, according to Williamson. “Advertisers are moving past experimentation and integrating the medium into their strategy,” she said.

See Super 8 Movie Trailer here -

 http://youtu.be/tCRQQCKS7go

Story source:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=152036

Related articles

• Paramount Offers Twitter Users Advanced Tickets to Super 8 (mashable.com)
• Paramount And Twitter Team Up To Offer Sneak Previews And Free Popcorn To Moviegoers (techcrunch.com)
• ‘Super 8′ To Sneak Preview Thursday June 9; Brand New Illustrated Poster (slashfilm.com)
• Paramount Announces Twitter Team Up for Early SUPER 8 Screenings (geektyrant.com)
• Scramble on ‘Super 8′ (online.wsj.com)
• ‘Super 8′: Paramount using Twitter to build buzz for opening (latimesblogs.latimes.com)

www.DigitalSignageToday.com

Remember how cool we thought the future looked in “Minority Report”? We watched in awe as Tom Cruise, decked out in all-black, controlled rapidly moving 3-D images simply by waving his hands in the air. Unbelievable – at least it used to be.

Ford of Britain launched kiosks with similar technology this week in shopping malls to help introduce consumers to its seven-seat Grand C-Max car.

The campaign allows people to handle miniaturized 3-D virtual models of the cars in the palms of their hands via giant interactive screens.

“Using live interactive campaigns is a great way to really engage with the audience in a way that is not possible with static posters,” said Mark Simpson of Ford. “This has enabled us to create a targeted and tactical campaign that is relevant and fun to use.”

London-based Ogilvy & Mather partnered with Grand Visual, a digital-production company, to launch the campaign, allowing users to interact with the cars by simply holding their hands up to the screen. Virtual buttons allow the user to choose car colors, open doors, fold seats flat, rotate the car and watch demos of key features.

www.digitalsignagetoday.com

Rather than using a printed marker or symbol as a point of reference for interaction, the user interface is based on natural movement and hand gestures, allowing any passerby to immediately start interacting with the screen content.

“It’s eye catching, intrusive, groundbreaking and brings to life the idea of ‘Innovation in your hands,’” said Andy Dibb, associate creative partner with Ogilvy.

A Panasonic D-Imager camera accurately measures the users’ real-time spatial depth output and augmented reality software merges this real-life footage with the 3-D photo-real Grand C-MAX on screen.

“Digital (out-of-home) enables advertisers to get closer to consumers,” said Dan

Dawson, digital director at Grand Visual. “Ford’s clever use of the latest technology is a great fit for the next-generation C-MAX cars. Customers can get a real feel for the cars before stepping foot in a showroom.”

As of now, this technology is only available in the UK. Emma Bergg, news manager of Ford, said she isn’t aware of any plans to bring it to the United States, which is too bad if you ask me. We Americans want to play, too. Come on, Ford USA. Bring it on.

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[
yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = "Daffy's Dancers First 'Live' in Cinema Ad";
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

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

by Jeremy Mullman
Published: October 21, 2009

// <![CDATA[
// // <![CDATA[
//

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

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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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

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