Pre-show advertising
Written by Dan
Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, pre-show ads are here to stay. Now, before I begin today's post, I need to clarify myself - whenever I mention "pre-show ads", what I'm referring to are the slides that play prior to the projector being turned on, NOT those enjoyable commercials that play before the previews. So as not to confuse terms, I'll refer to the commercials as "pre-show filth" or something equally derogatory.
As I've said time and time again, theaters cannot rely on box office revenue to pay the bills. Concession sales are the main profit center, which is why you're likely to pay more for a medium popcorn and large pop than you did to buy the tickets for your family of eight. Still, even if your theater has a fairly healthy concession profit, you're still going to need to find additional revenue to cover the gaps caused by seasonal attendance fluctuations, which is why a lot of theaters turn to advertising.
Why do multiplexes show so many ads? Two words: operational expenses. Most multiplex theaters incur more operational expenses in a month (payroll, utilities, deceivingly-packaged Twizzlers) than our little theater is likely to make in a year. They have huge budgets that require buckets and buckets full of cash to keep the wheels turning... but does that warrant making an audience sit through 30 minutes of grainy Mountain Dew ads? No.
Now, let me switch the subject for a quick moment. Art-house theaters are in an industry all their own. They do not show the same mainstream, blockbuster fare that their bigger multiplex cousins do, nor do they enjoy the same amount of proft, but most importantly, people who frequent art-house theaters do not like to buy concessions. Why? Who knows. Maybe a lot of the people who go to art-house theaters have already eaten dinner and don't plan on stuffing themselves with popcorn and moonpies. Maybe they're too involved in the plot of the film to think about anything else. Suffice it to say, it's a mystery... or is it?
Perhaps Eddie Izzard said it best when he described the difference between British films, which tend to be more intellectual and plot-driven, and American films that tend to be more action-oriented. "You just can't eat popcorn to [intellectual films]." Of course, Eddie said a lot more than that, but it's hard to put into words his frantic popcorn-eating-pop-slurping-purse-grabbing mimicry without bursting into laughter right here in my cubicle. If you'd like to see it for yourself, I highly, HIGHLY recommend renting or buying Eddie Izzard's "Dress to Kill" comedy special. You won't regret it.
Nicole and I are hoping that we can reverse the inexplicable loss of concession appetite at our theater by offering more unique items at our Cinebar, but just in case, we're still planning on having some kind of pre-show advertising. If we can't get by on our concession sales, we'll have to have something to tide us over... enter advertisement revenue and a contradiction of values. You see, to make things even more complex, a lot of art-house theaters refuse to show advertising before, during, or after their films. They're so adamant about distancing themselves as far as possible from the corporate identity of their multiplex brethren that they're willing to sacrifice everything, including their first born child, to achieve this persona.
I do not believe that advertising, if done correctly, takes anything away from the independent spirit of our theater. As long as we steer clear of national campaigns and cheesy movie trivia, I think we can put a positive spin on our pre-show advertisements. A fellow art-house theater owner up in the Pacific Northwest chose to have his theater's pre-show advertising performed by a troupe of improv actors. Now that's creative, and that's exactly what we're striving for. We have several ideas, but nothing set in stone as of yet.
For instance, how funny would it be if I rigged a camera above the screen in each auditorium, and then, in between showing slides for local businesses, I flashed the video from the camera up on the screen. Everyone would be sitting there looking at themselves! Woo hoo, what a hoot that would be! Then, I'd write a program that would randomly zoom in on someone in the audience and superimpose a funny saying like, "Why did I only get 7 Twizzler swizzles in this bag?" Well, maybe that's going too far.
Right now our only plans for pre-show advertisements are non-intrusive slides that play while the audience is coming in and finding their seats. We'd only sell ads to local businesses, especially those with a downtown presence, and try to make our ads a little more appealing than the cheesy ones you see at the multiplexes, which will probably mean that we'll have to retain creative control over the final slide. Nicole suggested that if we ever decide to run commercials before the film (for local businesses only), we could allow a film student from one of the local colleges to storyboard the idea, film it, edit it, and have their work shown at our theater. Again, these "commercials" would have to be extremely unique and creative, or else we'd be reverting to pre-show filth, which is something we do NOT want to do.
I have to stop myself now, or else I'll go on and on about possible ideas. Moderation is key when you're writing a blog that requires new topics on a daily basis... I have to save something for tomorrow.