Cinema Advertising

The lure of the big screen is unmistakable. There is something about the ambiance of a theater, perhaps the wafting smell of buttery popcorn, or the larger than life 40 foot screens that draws in an audience. Marketing executives are taking notice of cinema advertising and the benefits it can provide to a company's overall marketing strategy. The advantages to cinema advertising are worth a second look. You have a captive, voluntary audience who will not be switching from channel to channel. The recall for a cinema advertisement can be up to four times that of a television commercial. The demographics are also something to be desired. An average movie-goer earns over $77,000 annually, is educated, and will spend money on recreational items and activities. Some of the advertising venues available to companies are branding through sponsorship, fliers and coupons, pre-feature shows and lobby advertising.

Advertising Through Cinema Sponsorship

Through cinema sponsorship, a company can advertise their brand through buying ads on concession items such as popcorn bags, drinking cups and kid-meal packaging. Many theaters will also have stands available for you to distribute fliers and coupons. Advertisers may also provide free product samples to be distributed in theaters. Many companies use cinema sponsorship in combination with lobby advertising and pre-feature shows to help the audience remember the product after leaving the cinema.

Pre-feature Shows

Pre-feature shows allow your company's ad to be displayed 6-10 times in a normal half-hour, pre-feature show before the film starts. At some cinemas, you can also add trivia questions that will help the audience's recall of your product. Sometimes, your company's advertisement is intertwined with entertainment shorts by such content partners as NBC, ABC, Walt Disney and Warner Brothers. The entertainment aspect of these pre-feature shows also helps with audience recall of the product.

Lobby Advertising

A new technology in cinema advertising is media screens in lobbies which play entertaining short segments from content partners along with paid advertising spots. Most patrons will spend a minimum of ten minutes in a cinema lobby. Why waste that time? While waiting for concessions, customers are watching your commercial. One company, NCM Media Networks says that 78% of the customers recalled at least one ad from lobby advertising screens and 38% of those showed an interest in at least one of the products advertised. (NCM Media Networks 2010).

People are going to the cinema looking for an entertainment experience. These people are normally in a good mood and receptive to product advertising. With all of the pluses of cinema advertising, it doesn't make sense for a company to ignore this avenue in their marketing strategy.

Sources:

Hollywood Branding International: Movie Advertisements: Cinema Marketing

Cinema Marketing Group

NCM Media Networks: Why Use Cinema Advertising

National CineMedia, Inc. - National CineMedia (NCM) to Upgrade Its National Advertising and Fathom Events Networks with New Digital Cinema Equipment