Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

CONCESSIONS CONTEST SETS A NEW SALES RECORD Big Prizes Spark Enthusiasm Of Managers and Staff to Put Forth Extra Effort At the Roxy Theatre, Midland, Ontario, the whole bar was decorated in a western motif, with covered wagon, split-log fence rails, old wagon wheels, etc. Even the attendants wore cow girl costumes. The effect was terrific. As Wilf La Rose, manager, said, "We had everything but the horse." An early summer, circuitwide contest conducted by Odeon Theatres in Canada provided the opportunity for theatre managers and their staffs to win some extra vacation spending money and helped to establish a new confection sales record for the circuit. Set up by C. L. Sweeney, director of concessions sales for Odeon, and his assistants, including Bob Gardner, and Jack Walker, statistician, the contest was dubbed the “7-11 Confections Festival,” and covered a period of seven weeks in May and June. All concessions items except cigarets were included in the sales promotion drive, and winners among the 75 theatres competing across Canada were determined by the highest increase in cents-per-person over last year’s figures. Quotas were determined by taking the total cents per patron for the same period in 1962 and subtracting the cigaret cents-per-person. PRIZES IN MANY CATEGORIES Additional prizes were given for merchandising promotions, candy counter or lobby displays, highest popcorn cents-perperson increase, highest Coca-Cola centsper-person increase, highest Pepsi-Cola cents-per-person increase and highest Orange -Crush cents-per-person increase. A total of $2,148.63 was awarded at the close of the contest, with Odeon Theatres supplying the prize money for managers, and the prizes, in money or gifts, being promoted from suppliers for the candy girls. Indoor theatres were grouped in three classifications: The Runners, The Pacers and the Trotters. Drive-In theatres were included in a special group, even those which were in operation for only four or five weeks of the contest. Some of the successful merchandising maneuvers employed by managers and staffs which kept the concessions operations in the theatres constantly alive and attractive are related and illustrated on these pages. A CARNIVAL THEME At the Park Theatre in Vancouver, Jim Moore, manager, and staff, developed a carnival theme for the backbar and concessions stand. A different item each week was featured on the front counter as “Treat of the Week.” This helped patrons make decisions and worked extremely well in moving along slow lines. Koko Nut, a popular carnival item that does well in this theatre, was displayed in quantity, also front and center on the counter. A sales card behind a display of plastic orange cups at front right, urged: “Drink me here, then take me home.” Moore said this is one of the most popular items he has ever seen on a bar, and they increased the large drink sales 291 per cent! At the left of the stand a special popcorn corner featured a flashing popcorn sign, plush flashers in front of the machine and a small mobile of a boy diving into a large popcorn box. A huge, inverted, plastic As usual, in Odeon Theatre contests, managers were constantly stimulated with a regular flow of "exciter" promotional material from the home office. This one at left, packed a lot of punch. ODEON'S CONFECTION DEPT MANES SUPE THE "7-1 / FESTIVAL " PRIZE MONEY IS IN THE BANK.. . . AND IN THE BAG FOR THOSE A/HO EARN IT/ 6 The MODERN THEATRE SECTION