Making the Movie

It’s dark. It’s quiet. Juggling buttered popcorn containers and sodas, moviegoers sink into plush seats. They are relaxed and ready to be entertained.

But the show has already started for marketers who are realizing that the time is ripe to catch captive consumers’ attention. They’re not only using screen slides to promote the sweepstakes box at the exit — they’re targeting ticket buyers in the lobby, at the concession stand, and at the box office. The average moviegoer arrives 20 to 30 minutes before the show’s start. Brands and theater chains are capitalizing on this by increasing in-theater marketing efforts — from sampling to product demonstrations.

“There is only one place where you have a captive audience of a desirable demographic out of their homes and predisposed to spending money,” says Todd Siegel, senior vp-sales and marketing at cinema advertising company Screenvision. “There’s no remote control, no ringing phone, no barking dogs, but there’s surround sound and 200 million productions every weekend.”

Loews Cineplex Entertainment treats its promotions like sponsorships. The 167-theater chain recruits annual partners such as MasterCard, Coca-Cola, General Mills, and Cingular to market in Loews on year or multi-year bases and participate in at least two of its four seasonal promotion blitzes. “We are not just selling our partners a space in our theaters, but helping them own a moment to reach the consumer,” says John McCauley, vp-marketing at New York City-based Loews.

And that means more strategic — and sometimes non-traditional — marketing. “You might get a free pack of Advil, whereas it used to be much more Mom & Pop-like with local retailers,” says Suzanne Hansen, director of business development at The Regan Group, Los Angeles.

That local connection used to make sense. “It’s a very fragmented industry in terms of market share, and geographically theaters tend to be regionally located; not many chains have national footprints,” says David Driscoll, vp-marketing for Incline Village, NV-based Quantum Loyalty Services, makers of rewards program Hollywood Movie Magic.

Fragmented theater chains meet fragmented media. “Marketers are looking for new ways to reach consumers,” says Erin Garay, promotions director at Sun Valley, CA-based Norm Marshall & Associates. “Before they were confident in the 30-second spot, but now consumers are online more than they are watching TV and the movies is a newly tapped resource.”

The Big Show

The National Football League went the whole nine yards this year and treated kick-off like a movie premiere. The New York City-based league teamed with Loews for Lights, Camera, Kickoff — the NFL’s first comprehensive effort in theaters. Teams in 15 markets hosted an NFL Day at the Movies, during which players showed a premiere to children from area charities, and sold concession items while cheerleaders and mascots performed.

Throughout the promotion, theaters circuit-wide distributed playbooks that contained an NFL TV schedule, information on fantasy football leagues, and a sweepstakes offering the chance to win a screening with an NFL player and 50 friends. In exchange, NFL produced a courtesy trailer starring Wayne Cherbet (New York Jets), Tim Couch (Cleveland Browns), and other players. The league also touted the program via movie reviews at nfl.com and on the Under the Helmet TV show.

“With the big blockbuster summer, we thought the timing was right to get people excited about the new season,” says Ty Stewart, NFL’s senior marketing manager. “We want kick-off to be as big as the Super Bowl and to make football a 365-day sport, so we are going where the entertainment is.”

Motorola, Inc. got suited up this summer for some in-theater promotions, too — Austin Powers style. Schaumburg, IL-based Motorola sent a crew of brand ambassadors dressed in 1970s fashion to 1,000 AMC theaters for New Line Cinema’s Austin Powers in Goldmember. The crew demonstrated Motorola’s T193 mobile phone and handed out entries for a sweepstakes giving away a Mini Cooper. National TV and print ads supported as well as P-O-P displays in T-Mobile, Best Buy, and Sam’s Club stores nationwide. “Consumers have at least a few minutes where they are waiting around in theaters, which lent itself for them to try out the phones,” says Angela McCune, marketing director for Motorola. Zipatoni, Chicago, handled.

Behind the Curtain

The demographics of ticket buyers is stimulating brand interest. Sixty-four percent of moviegoers are 18 to 49, according to Mediamark Research, Inc., New York City. Sixty-seven percent make more than $40,000 a year. Plus, 82 percent of adult ticket-buyers consider themselves frequent (once a month) or occasional (at least once in six months) moviegoers, according to a study from Motion Picture Association of America, Encino, CA.

But are these people loyal to any one theater? Not really, says McCauley. “You walk out your door and go to the theater nearest you.”

Some extra seat cushioning can help, says Carlo Petrick, communications director for Milwaukee-based Marcus Theares, which has 490 screens in the Mid-West. “I think there is a great deal of loyalty,” he says. “It might not be to a company, but to a location they feel comfortable in and offers the amenities they enjoy. We emphasize promotions to differentiate ourselves and like to have things going on in our lobbies at all times.”

Throughout the month of August, Marcus teamed with ConAgra’s Orville Redenbacher’s to hand out bags of microwave popcorn for every large popcorn purchased at the concession stand. (Orville Redenbacher’s is the exclusive popcorn sold in Marcus’ theaters.) Omaha, NE-based ConAgra Foods’ bulk popcorn division Vogel Popcorn was introducing its new sweet and buttery brand and ran the promotion in 10-plus movie circuits.

Vogel began selling Redenbacher’s and Act II brands about three years ago in theaters. “It’s the last venue in concession to be branded and it was just a matter of time,” says Brian Biehn, vp-sales and marketing for Vogel. “It’s a natural fit.”

Meanwhile, movie studios are hoping to breed loyalty through DVD sales. “They are trying to keep the franchise with the consumer, whether it’s pushing the soundtrack or putting sequel tickets inside DVD packages,” says Neil Solomon, managing director of The Properties Group in New York City, which operates MovieCash ticket vouchers. Universal Studios did just that with American Pie. Each two-disc DVD of the original film included sneak peeks of the sequel and a MovieCash ticket redeemable for the theatrical release.

Some movie studios are also active in lobbies. For Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, DreamWorks sent coloring-contest kits to 500 theaters. An on-screen slide promoted the effort and kids could drop off their entries in a box at the theaters. Prizes (from film partners) included a Nintendo GameBoy Advance game, the film soundtrack, and plush toys.

But for studios, the true promotional campaign starts with the trailer. “At the end of the day, trailers are still our No. 1 priority, but the grassroots level marketing is huge for our company, too,” says Patricia Gonzalez, head of in-theater marketing at DreamWorks, Glendale, CA.

Brands are working on their own kind of loyalty. This summer, Wm. Wrigley Jr. leveraged free movie passes for its Get Your Code and Go effort built around Plen TPaks of Winterfresh gum. Consumers went to winterfresh.com to set up personal accounts and enter a code found on the inside of packages to earn one point. Five points triggered the automatic mailing of a ticket voucher. Tracy Locke Partnership’s Dallas office handled and Quantum took care of online fulfillment.

Quantum is also working with headset-maker Plantronics for the latest James Bond installment. Through Dec. 31, consumers can mail a proof-of-purchase of an M130-series mobile headset for one free adult admission to MGM’s Die Another Day. The global promotion ties in with Plantronics’ product placement in the film, a common tactic for in-theater marketing. “We were in over 161 movies last year, but this is the first time we stepped up and put a major consumer overlay behind a Hollywood product placement,” says Stephen Denny, Santa Cruz, CA-based Plantronics’ vp-channel marketing. “It’s a cool product; people who use headsets get more done, so a super-power Bond relationship made sense.”

Swatch Watches’ Omega line is celebrating its fourth Bond film appearance. Consumers who purchase a ticket to Die Another Day receive a playbill detailing the history between Swatch’s Omega watches and the Bond franchise. The playbill also contains a trivia quiz that rates consumers on their knowledge of the international spy and directs consumers to omega.ch/trivia.html to enter a sweepstakes giving away the limited-edition Seamaster watch that Pierce Brosnan wore in the film.

“We wanted it to be like going to Broadway theaters, where people breeze through the playbill before the show,” says Venanzio Ciampa, director of marketing and communications for Swatch Group US, Washington, DC. “There are a lot of things going on around theaters, but not a whole lot inside them. You may get a bag of popcorn with a brand on it, but what’s the relationship to the film? We have a direct relationship.”

Previously, Omega had heralded the relationship via traditional advertising. New York City-based Screenvision is helping Swatch distribute the three million playbills.

Surround Sound

Perhaps Bond’s adventures will inspire young people to enlist in the armed forces. The Department of Defense has 20 eight-foot-tall kiosks equipped with 42-inch screens set up in National Cinema Network lobbies. The kiosks feature a rolling DVD tape about the military and consumers press a button to watch a specific program on one of the 10 different branches. Phones are available for those interested to speak one-on-one with a recruiter from a specific division. The kiosks are part of a program the Navy is working on with Campbell-Ewald, Detroit. Eighty kiosks have been dispatched to shopping malls, concerts, and colleges.

“It’s similar to a billboard on a highway,” says Gary Sikorski, vp-senior account supervisor at Campbell-Ewald. “There are a lot of people walking past it who can be prompted to consider a military career.”

The theater lobby is one of six areas where marketers can interact with consumers during a two-and-a-half hour window, Screenvision’s Siegel says. The other interaction points are the box office, the concession stand, on-screen slides, commercials, and at the exit.

“Lobbies have always been promotional vehicles for films, so this is a science that is tried and tested,” Siegel says. Handout programs in theaters are especially popular because they can target consumers on a variety of criteria, Siegel says. “You can target a young male who chooses to see White Oleander on a Friday night.”

Procter & Gamble’s Stamford, CT-based Clairol went after women in theaters when introducing Herbal Essences Hair Color — and pocketed a Reggie Award while at it. The overall product launch was themed The Coming Attraction and included product placement in the film Legally Blonde and a sweeps giving away a trip to its premiere. To complement on-screen advertising via Screenvision, giant package replicas were placed in 218 movie theaters. The standees distributed 430,000 brochures giving product info and a coupon. Source Marketing, Westport, CT, handled.

“We were looking at a highly competitive category for the launch and theaters were a way to reach consumers in a less cluttered environment,” says Jeff Larson, a Clairol brand manager. “Plus, the film was a great fit for our brand — not just because of the name — but because it had a strong link to our younger, female market.”

Theater Tailgating

And then there’s the parking lot. From June to October, Monster.com sent out field marketing teams in the dot-com’s signature slime-green Land Rovers. The vehicles visited eight AMC Entertainment theaters in Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, and Chicago and would set up from 2 to 9 p.m. Visitors could create My Monster accounts, search for jobs, or take a chance at a spin-and-win wheel for prizes.

“It worked out better for us than some sporting events and concerts,” says Peter Blacklow, senior vp-marketing at Maynard, MA-based Monster. Boston-based Arnold Brand Promotions handled.

“It created great excitement when people pulled up to the theaters and were surprised by these huge vehicles,” says Laura Adler, vp-of marketing for Kansas City, MO-based National Cinema Network, a division of AMC and seller of cinema advertising.

One-off programs like these let advertisers sample cinema marketing. “If you don’t have the money for rolling stock or you’re not sure you want to do a slide, you have the whole lobby and concession area for an in-and-out program on a barter basis,” McCauley says. “This way, you can trade up to a bigger program, or you could test something in one specific market.

“Ultimately, we would like to line up an official hotel and airline — that’s the direction we are moving toward,” McCauley says.

Nearly all of Loews’ annual partners took part in its current marketing platform, Holiday Escape: It’s the Most Magical Time of the Year. Through Dec. 31, consumers can enter a sweeps dangling an SUV by plugging in their ticket stub number at enjoytheshow.com. Moviegoers who purchase a ticket with a MasterCard will be entered into a sweeps for a Get Together Trip that lets the consumer chose nine friends and family members for a private movie screening anywhere in the country. Through a partnership with Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, Culver City, CA, Loews shows outtakes from Men in Black II and directs consumers to enjoytheshow.com where they can answer questions to enter a sweeps for a merchandise from film partners Hamilton Watches and Ray-Ban. Among other offers, concession-stand patrons will receive Harry Potter trading cards when purchasing a large Coca-Cola fountain drink. Lastly, Loews is selling value packs which include a sweeps offering the chance to win movie passes for two for a year. The Ad Store and Marinelli Communications, both New York City, handle design and production of in-theatre P-O-P materials, respectively. DL Blackman, also New York City, takes care of p.r. Norm Marshall negotiated the Men in Black program with Sony.

So, while moviegoers can escape real-life stress, they can kick back and be wooed by marketers.

Enjoy the show.