What does cinema advertising add to a marketing campaign?

Tough economic times of late might be a major reason that New Zealander�s have been heading back to the movies in droves. The local cinema industry is enjoying record box-office in 2010, up 33 per cent year-on- year, with last year�s box-office total of $NZ170 million the highest on record.

And with Screentime Communications recently delivering a TV commercial for use in a cinema/television marketing campaign, we thought we�d have a closer look at the benefits of adding the medium to your organisations marketing mix.

An opportunity to reach consumers

Globally, the cinema represents a good opportunity to reach consumers. Movies are particularly important to teens and young adults, who go in larger numbers and more often than older demographics. Research conducted in Australia showed that more than half of movie-goers always arrived in time to see the pre-show program, and agreed that the pre-show program was a good or acceptable part of the movie experience. Additionally, 57 percent felt that they took more notice of the ads shown at the cinema than those seen on television or in a magazine, or heard on the radio, finding these ads captivating, engaging, unique and having an appealing �movie� quality about them. 80 percent felt that cinema ads were more entertaining.

In the box seat

Cinema advertising can deliver a heightened level of attention can deliver greater memorability. �Research has found that cinema enjoys eight times the recall of other broadcast media� Val Morgan chief executive Graeme Yarwood says. This finding is reinforced by work by research company, Millward Brown in South Africa. It compared in-market recall of ads flighted on television only (6,459 ads) with those that launched simultaneously on television and in the cinema (72 ads). The recall of ads that appeared in both media was significantly (23%) higher than ads that appeared on television only.

Order the combo

The benefits of combining cinema advertising with a television campaign include higher recall, positive brand empathy, positive brand perceptions and propensity to purchase the brand.
The �cinema experience�, with its shared nature, tends to lead to greater attention being paid to advertising, making it more memorable, so cinema ads can boost the impact of a TV campaign.

Qualitative research shows that people visit the cinema for escapism, entertainment and an evening out. Ads that focus on escapism or immersive fantasy are likely to be appreciated. The cinema is valued leisure time which has been paid for, so viewers expect the advertising to be entertaining.

One word of caution, though: Given that cinema-goers arrive at the cinema with the expectation of being entertained, advertising that falls below their expectations is unlikely to be well received. Unwelcome advertising may make the brand seem insensitive and out of touch. The best ads tend to reflect the cinema-goer�s desire for escapism, fantasy and entertainment.