Business screen magazine (1938)

• The Fkikndly inter-relationship of motion pietnres and slide films with magazines, newspapers and radio stations is now being generally realized in the widening use of these media for promotion, public relations and advertising sales. No competitor of magazines or newspapers for the advertiser's dollar since the bulk of its revenues are drawn from sales promotional and public relations budgets, the business film's growing popularity as an unfailing salesman and educator is especially noteworthy at the Xcw York World's Fair and the San Francisco Exposition. The field of screen advertising, where some newspaper groups have expressed a feeling of potential competition, apparently offers little challenge due to the limited screen time actually available and. again, the limitations of types of selling which can be done in this manner. A vastly larger field of subjects intended for non-theatrical showings to business and the public via organization meetings, exhibits, luncheon and dinner groups, etc. is being explored by the media. Two of the latest productions. Yankee Doodle does to Toun. now being shown by Collier's and /'// Tell The World to be screened by Macfadden Pulilieations in their New York World's Fair theatre illustrate the type of film being used. Literally hundreds of showings before almost every type of business group have been attained by Collier's. A large number of prints are kept constantly in circulation as requests continue to mount. ♦ Not only club groups but promoted audiences in department stores have applauded the color feature circulated b.v House Beautiful Mayaziiie on the subject of the "bride's house" and its modern furnishings. ilcCall's has also been active in the consumer field and has used films as a part of its ingenious promotional programs. Curtis representatives calling on Ladies Home Journal advertising prospects may find full-color slidefilms useful in depicting the lavish color spreads which feature outstanding departments in the magazine. In this field, incidentally, fullcolor Kodachrome and Technicolor slidefilms are being more widely used than ever before to bring home to dealers the full power of the advertiser's own campaign. Swift & Compan.v. Owens Illinois and others are recent users of this medium. A film to increase dealer interest in national advertising copy was employed by Commonwealth Shoe iS; Leather Company, maker of Bostonian and Mansfield shoes for men. Sequences illustrated the jireparation of the national campaign for li),'i9 including the development of copy and illu.strations through various stages at the company's agency. Fuller. Smith & Ross, New York. In the field of trade magazines, some interesting pioneering effort has been undertaken by the Breskin & Charlton publications. Modern Packaging and Modern Plastics, two outstanding leaders. Both educational and prestige "angles" were employed in two sound motion pictures issued and short color sequences successfully employed to "sell" the publisher's awards in the respective fields. Other publishers in the industrial and marketing brackets have produced slidefilms. both silent and sound, and these appear to be destined for increasing use because of their flexibility and economy. Newspapers and radio stations have not been nationally active in the adoption and use of the film medium but wherever anything has been done, the results have apparently been most gratifying. Such productions as the Chicago Tribune film. Trees to Tribunes and the educational films produced for the Xew York Su?t and the Baltimore Sun/mpers are typical examples. Film authorities who have reviewed these pictures believe that the metropolitan newspapers are missing a good bet by -aVS'V^i not amplifying their own marketing stories, using motion pictures and slide films to depict reader families, neighborhoods and dealers served by the paper and thus add the product ional story of the "making" of the paper as a secondary sequence. Incidentally, the use of local motion picture newsreel tieups for the promotion of metropolitan papers is an interesting sidelight wherein the best kind of local screen advertising of an indirect nature is used much as in the case of radio news. ♦ The production of Yankee Doodle Goes to Toun for Collier's Magazine brings to the business screen a first-rate public relations Excerpts from an Introduction to "Yankee Doodle Goes to Town" "That's the story oj this motion picture. How tee got that way — and hoiv one medium oj public expression— the national magazine — did more to unify and diversify the thinking, living and buying of the people of the United States than any other. Since its very beginning, this country has believed i?! and acted upon the material found in the national magazines. Today, these magazines occupy one of the most important parts i/i our every day life. "Forget for a minute the local picture of your problems — because no matter where you live and where you sell, the national magazine is your local selling aid. In fact, the people in your community can be judged as prospects by their readership of magazines; the richer the household, the more magazines in it. You knoic that yourself "So, enjoy thi,i film tvhich was made for Collier's, The National Weekly. And as you view its episodes remember that the potent force which has unified this country into one compact empire, which has given us more of the good things in life, is noiv — right now — working for you in your neighborhood, selling and telling your prospects your .ftory . . . paving the way and making not only immediate sales but loyal cu.ftomers for us all." educational feature employing the best in theatrical technique. Picturizing the value of advertising in relation to our national life, Ya7ikee Doodle gains strength from the "universality" of its usefulness. Primarily intended to tell the story of national magazines and advertising, it has found enthusiastic reception among all kinds of business executives who are using it for dealer and sales groups within their own organizations for its very general inspirational and merchandising appeal. Produced in one of the leading major studios of Hollywood in collaboration with the editors of Collier's, the picture's theme is narrated by John Nesbitt, featured MGM commentator and directed by Jacques Tourneur. In ^3 trading areas. Collier's merchandising representatives arrange group meetings for distributors, dealers and salesmen of organizations wishing to sponsor showings. Both 16mm. and the standard ,'55mm. are used. Excellent "general interest'' promotional material accompanies the film for distribution to the audience. I