Business screen magazine (1938)

• The title of this article, like the familiar song lyric, must be written in the affirmative. The universal desire to get the business story told "in pictures'" has sent its roots deep and what may have seemed to be a fad when reflected in the popularity of the picture magazines and amateur photography last year may now be accepted as a fundamental trend to realism which has its counterpart in the selling field. Heyond a doubt this era, in which general acci|)tance of the film medium by business will ( arry with it a sharp increase in sales-making efficiency, will also show a corresponding decline in wasteful spending for the familiar "pressuring up" of sales volumes. The film is no "cure-all". But motion pictures and slide films have achieved such definite and widespread success in almost every field of industry that their effectiveness deserves careful study by the alert sales and advertising executive who is looking for a sure straight road to better business in these days of see-saw prosperity. "Okay," you say, "that kind of talk listens well enough, but I gotta have results. What can motion pictures and slide films do for mef" The A-B-C's of industrial films (which too many present users, both successful and unsuccessful, have forgotten) are simply a matter of knowing uhat results you want to get and what the film offers in getting them. If that sounds vague, take the example of a big corporation which recently spent a hundred thousand dollars (and then some) for a film about its product. The thrilling pictorial qualities of this picture are about the only measure of value which the client received, for salesmanship was not the objective here and if improvement of public relations was desired little or nothing was apparent in that direction. Good planning is a first essential in the use of films. Today's best bet in the use of films (or of anyother medium for putting ideas in the other fellow"s head) is to get dorm to facts. Forget about Goldwyn and Gable — industrial films may be printed on the same kind of stuff as Mae \Vest"s curves but beyond the irresistible urge which both possess on the screen, there are worlds of difference! Xot the dream-worlds of Hollywood but that universe of interest with which films present ideas to prospects and salesmen in a clearer and better way than any other now knownl Let's get down to facts and see what films are doing: 1. They are working for all grades and classes of business from the small local merchant to the largest national advertiser. Reason: the economical, efficient slide film puts a powerful .vgh t and sound message on the .■<creen and fits many a little fellow's purse. Mo tion pictures jor business purposes don't use replicas of ancient Rome and don't require hundred-thousand dollar star salaries but get the points that make the sale across just the same — a7id sometimes better. 2. They are making consistent business-getters out of "dubs" in thousands of sales organizations and doing the same thing for the .salesmanagers. Reason: You can print a salesman's manual — 6;/^ you can't make him read it! i'ou can shout like der Fuehrer hut you can't keep him awake.' But put the vieir and the voice together on a screeti and the re.ndts are amazing.' The film has a wonderful way of unraveling the complex mazes into which merchandising programs have a habit of getting. The tire people found this out long ago and so use the medium extensively to keep the dealer field from short-circuiting on their many annual improvements, price changes and selling techniques. Again, case-history number one for the commrecial film business lies in the automobile industry's continued success with sales-training slide-films and movies and with film features of all types for consumer audiences. Therein lies the un paralleled , two-fold advantage which the film medium alone possesses: its primary success in man-for-man sales training and its equally successful consumer appeal.' A good merchandising film can sweep the cobwebs from the dealer's mind and then turn right around and do the same thing with each and every one of his customers! How do you get to those customers? If they are, in the largest sense, retail buyers — the task is comparatively simple. On a national scale you have your choice of theatre audiences, of thousands of clubs and organizations who are consistent users of film programs for the information and entertainment of their members, of schools and colleges and of dealer-promoted groups arranged for and invited under his auspices. Restricted distribution is sometimes all that is wanted and here the Him can be personalized and directed in controlled circulation with the added advantage of unfailing success in delivering its message to each important prospect . Can you do all this yourself? Can you make the pictures — record the sound and then ship the films around to audiences? Perhaps you can; a few concerns with big dealer organizations have found film production departments useful — within limits. Equipment and experiments are expensive. The skilled technicians required to produce pictures with punch and appeal are hard to get and then hard to keep busy unless frenquent additions are made to the film program or a comparatively restricted setup maintained. (Such as the useful direct Idmm. units.) There is another advantage of importance to consider: A good film has a long life. It can be repeated for the etlucation of new dealer salesmen from time to time; its audience-distribution may go on for years and thus pile up tremendous totals. The films used by one national automobile manufacturer have been seen by l.'3'2,000,000 persons and many are stiU in circulation. Thus, while most concerns have found it worthwhile to limit their mechanical participation to the showing of pictures, a good many of these supplement commercially-produced films with useful and effective localized subjects. A summary should conclude with the frank statement that successful business films are seldom accidentally born of genius. The user has at his command a weapon which is infinitely more powerful than the printed message or spoken word but one which, by the same token, requires greater skill. Carefully aimed (by thorough planning and preparation) your film will shoot straight to the mark for that all-important bulls-eye of better sales results. First by improving your salesmen and finally by telling your customers the complete story which is the prerequisite of good selling everywhere. MOTION PICTURES & SHOE FILMS— WHAT CAN THEY DO FOR ME? 15