Showing commercials on cinema screens is old stuff, but theaters may be planning a new and broader use of that medium. How about a company introducing a whole new ad campaign in a theater filled with prospective customers, employees, sales people, stockholders or community leaders?
That gives the organization what every marketing advertiser wants: a highly persuasive medium with great recall statistics and a tightly controlled, comfortable and measurable audience.
Of course, companies have been running commercials on the big theater screens for years. The film industry itself uses countless movie trailers to promote its upcoming films. According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) movie theaters attract close to 1.5 billion customers per year. About 54% of that audience is under 40 years old. Another 20% are in their 40s.
Audience Ethnic Makeup
More than half of the movie goers have incomes exceeding $50,000 per year. And the ethnic makeup of the movie-going audience is relatively close to that of the American population:
- Caucasian – 65%
- Hispanic – 18%
- African American – 9%
- Other – 8%
Perhaps the most important statistics come from studies come from a Lieberman Research study in 2001 and the Zenith Media Study conducted in 2000. Lieberman showed movie recall at 85% and and Zenith reported television recall at 43%. That huge difference may be explained by:
- The environment in which the two media are viewed, usually a darkened theater versus a home living room
- The likelihood that going to a movie is more of a special event than watching television.
- Movies are usually longer than TV shows
NCM Fathom's Next Big Idea
It is now possible to combine that tremendous movie recall with carefully targeted audiences in what NCM Fathom calls “the next big idea.” That “idea” is to produce movie-type events in movie theaters, most of which have considerable unused time.
And just as some agencies can place commercials in many theaters, NCM Fathom says advertising and other presentations can be arranged in numerous theaters around the country for simultaneous events. That can be a real positive for a large organization with distributors, salesmen and/or employees spread around the nation.
Measure Responses on Spot
The audiences can not only be identified carefully and their responses to the advertising can be surveyed on the spot.
Similar events can be staged in hotels, for instance, but theaters already offer the audio visual equipment, light controls, seating and even popcorn. All these items would require special setup, significant time and significant money in most hotels. Besides, watching a video or film in a hotel is not the same as watching it in a movie theater.
NCM Fathom offers these additional theater events:
- Trainings and seminars
- Client/employee appreciation
- Product launches
- Lead generation
- Live satellite broadcasts
Company commercials or documentaries would fit into almost all of those.
References:
- Velocity Cinema Advertising
- United States Census
Advertising as a PR Crisis Tool
Advertising Trends on the Industry Horizon
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