Business screen magazine (1938)

JOHNS-MANVILLE FILM PROGRAM ( Continued from Page 23 I THE BERnOT-mnURER CORP HEAT AND ITS CONTROL, A KEY FILM Of all its many films, the Manville organization is most proud of the recent. Heat and lis Control, a production which required over a year to film. Tracing historical, scientific, and even religious significances of heat, it spans the era from the time man worshipped the sun as his only source of heat and light, down through the age of the steam engine . . . the discovery of heat's true nature . . . down to present-day methods of developing and manufacturing materials to conserve a precious and essential force. Minute attention to detail, unending research . . . the painstaking care taken during the preparation and production of Heat and Its Control were responsible for a motion picture which elicited praise of authorities. Best of all, it has been in constant demand. Schools, engineering societies, trade organizations, and other industrials use the prints constantly. Here is a film designed not for direct sales or promotion purposes, but definitely for institutional publicity, goodwill. Its indirect influences — say Mansville authorities — have been splendid. Animation, shadowgraph sequences, actual recordings of important factual experiments have contributed to its success. Naturally, it has been in steady demand in classrooms and laboratories. too, as the film offers perhaps the only completely authentic record of its kind on the science of heat. Its usefulness as an institutional medium has not been impaired by company "plugging", as only three brief, indirect, and entirely natural mentions of company affiliation are brought into the picture. Trade names of the companv's products are not brought in at all. DEFINITE PLANS FOR ADVANCE PROMOTION The success of Johns-Manville film campaigns, in the opinion of Business Screen editors, has been due not only to the quality of their productions, but also to consistent, carefully-planned promotional exploitation. It is not enough that a good film has been made. That film must be used. must be capably promoted. With the J. M. organization, distribution is not a haphazard venture, but a carefully laid-out series of campaigns, coordinating the various significant units of the sales structure. Capitalizing upon the enthusiasm and interest instilled by Heal and Its Control, prospects are handed a reference book, called '"Heat." The treatise is further publicized in promotional literature as "... a handbook which provides in concise, usable form, a wealth of information on this important subject — a book that every engineer. student, and layman interested in the subject of heat conservation will find most interesting". Salesmen form an important unit in the presentation of J. M. shows. They work hand-in-hand with local dealers. Thev arrange consumer shows. take care of such details as renting a commercial theatre for a morning, extending invitations to women's clubs and social organizations to attend the presentation. With smaller groups, local halls and other meeting-places are rented. District offices, too. are tied-in with promotional plans. Distribution of Industrial-Product pictures, and Building-Material pictures is handled usually through the district offices — each of which is equipped with from one to four 16mm. sound projectors, and trained operators. A new advertising, publicitv program has been begun which will even further entrench the effectiveness of the Heat and Its Control film. The story is to be presented. Life fashion, with large, attractive scene-reproductions, and forceful accompanying text — another keynote in an intelligently planned promotional campaign. FILMS FOR SALES-TRAINING Vk'hile the JohnsManville Company feels that its feature-length productions should be created by an organization specializing in motion-pictures, it nevertheless encourages the taking of silent 16mm. amateur pictures. Many of the various sales departments have been furnished with 16mm. equipment, which is used for filming installations, servicing, and so on. The films, cut down to five or six minutes' running time, suitably titled, make excellent salestraining material, and have also been adapted to convention and exhibition showings, at which continuous projectors are used. Sunmiarizing its man) years of experience with films — from the elaborate Institutional type, down to the homelv amateur production. Johns-Man\ ille has found in movies "unquestionablv one of our most effective sales weapons". And it has found too that such films as the Transite Pipe picture "accomplish a job that no other agency could approach — the job of painlesslv educating both salesmen and potential customers to the merits of our products."" DISCUSS FILMS AT AD FEDERATION Experts on advertising and merchandising will speak at the Advertisers' Conference in conjunction with the 34th annual convention and exposition of the Advertising Federation of America at Hotel Statler in Detroit, here June 12-16. Practical demonstrations of sound motion picture advertising and packaging developments will be a feature of the Visual Advertising Conference. Among the speakers will be William T. White, sales promotion manager, Wieboldts. Chicago, who will talk on "'What's Wrong \^'ith Dealer Helps — Why Most of Them Never Get to First Base," and J. S. Sayre. sales manager. Bendix Home Appliances. Inc., South Bend. Ind.. will speak on "How National Advertisers and Retailers Get Together to Sell a Product." Ralph L. Yonker. advertising manager. J. L. Hudson Co., Detroit department store, will preside at this conference. I 1 7 EAST 24th STREET .NEW YORK CITY a a IV BERnDT-mnURER 16mm. Soundon-Film Recording Equipment (sold direct to producers of Business and Educational Films). I Iplusi I PRECISIOn FILM LABORATORIES specializing in processing and duplicating 16 mm. Sound on Film, and producing 16 mm. optical reduction prints from 35 mm. negatives. ■1 EQUALS I I Superior picture and sound quality for the Producer of 16 mm. Talking Pictures. PRECISIOn FILM LABORATORIES A DIVISION or BERNDT.MAURER CORP. 21 WEST46tliST. • NEW YORK CITY 55