Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Mar 27, 1948)

March 27th, 1948 CANADIAN MOVING PICTURE DIGEST Think Qut Publicity Campaigns Which Will Sell Your Picture By LARRY STEPHENS Publicity and Advertising Director, United Artists Corporation Today many theatres in Canada and the United States have turned to the “giveaway gimmick” in an endeavour to offset dwindling box office receipts, and we hear from every other radio comedian, that “Such and. such a theatre, speaker and “humorous writer” after-dinnerstarting Wed master of ceremonies, nesday, will give away, absolutely free, a moom-pitcher with every box of crunchy-crisp popcorn” We all know that the dispensing of soft drinks and confections in theatres has reached the point of “big business”’ and in many, many, cases these sales spell the difference, especially for the small town exhibitor, between “being in the red” or ending up his play-date on the black side of the ledger. Too often, however, the exhibitor, be he an independent, a small-towner or even a big chain operator, discovers that this “frankenstein” he has created has become so big, so important, that he must devote a great deal of his time to it, to the exclusion of what, primarily he is in business for: the exhibiting AND SELLING of motion picture entertainment! The saying, “there is nothing wrong with the movie industry that a good motion picture won't cure” is absolutely true; likewise there is many a good motion picture that could and would gross a lot more money, even in the subsequent runs, if the theatre manager, publicity .director or exploiteer would give some intelligent. thought to the “type” of entertainment he is selling, the “right” type of person that particular picture will appeal to, and then, by various means see that one is completely. cognizant of the other. Outstanding Example A case in point was the recent showing of “Carnegie Hall” at the Esquire Theatre; “Toronto. Jack Goltidehat, manager and showman, knew ‘Carnegie” could not be sold as cut-anddried “movie” entertainment, and therefore aimed his entire campaign at the more discriminating music-lovers who:seldom attend motion picture theatres. Highlights of his nine point campaign on this picture were: Tieing in with RCA Victor who supplied, without cost, a number of large pictorial counter cards featuring Victor artists appearing in the picture. ‘These were spotted in record bars throughout West Toronto and suburbs. Music directors and principals of all three secondary schools in his district were contacted, personally, and students were advised to attend. Church choirmasters were contacted concerning the galaxy of stars of playdates. Both West ‘Toronto Public Libraries were persuaded to post the musical program from “Car negie Hall” on their bulletin boards. special adairplane loud Other stunts included vance lobby displays, in the film and advised . speaker ballyhoo and daily teaser newspaper ad campaign, a week 1n advance of opening. ‘Total cost of this excellent campaign was only $35, but by intelligent thought and real showmanship Jack Cottingham reached that elusive group known as “potential customers” and the box office took care of itself. _ Think Out Your Campaign The travelling tent-show, circus, -chautauqua, musical comedy and legit imate stage attractions operate without the aid of pressbooks and_ the countrys’ best publicitv-men have graduated from one or the other of these showmanship-schools; Pressbooks are invaluable aids to the selling of pictures and are quite crammed with ticket-buying ideas, but too often the present day theatre-manager depends almost wholly on pressbook ideas and ceases to think out a campaign that will be more suitable for his particular location, or individual problem, whether it be a first-run “key” situation, a subsequent-run, or an independent. situation. This can be illustrated again with “Carnegie Hall” during the advance publicity work at Loew’s Theatre, Montreal. All the regular exploitation, publicity and advertising angles on this picture had been followed through to their logical conclusions, including stories on “The Carnegie Hall Musical Scholarship Contest’, when the writer noticed a very small “stick” in a morning ees which mentioned that the Montreal Womens Symphony Orchestra had been invited to appear “in concert” at Carnegie Hall, New York, later im therseason: “This «was the first time, in the history of Carnegie Hall, that a ‘‘foreign” orchestra had been invited to appear at the Hall and was “a signal honor”. ‘The writer immediately contacted Miss Ethel Stark, director of the Montreal Womens Symphony Orchestra, and asked her if she would serve as a judge on a panel composed of Rise Stevens, Ezio Pinza and Borros Morros, to adjudicate the national finals. Upon her acceptance of this “job”, Borros Morros wired her congratulations from Hollywood and the “panic was on”. All Montreal newspapers carried special stories and art on Stark ; radio stations gave her interviews; a broadcast was arranged for the opening night of “Carnegie Hall” from the lobby of Loew’s Theatre, with the Mayor of Montreal, civic dignitar Page 7 ies and Montreal’s leading musical personalities paying homage to Miss stark. S. Morgan-Powell, Canada’s ‘“dean-of-critics”, wrote a special editorial on Stark’s appearance with her orchestra at Carnegie Hall, tied this in with the local showing of “Carnegie Hall” at Loew’s Theatre, with the result that the picture received thousands of lines of free “story and art” which we otherwise would not have re ceived. And that did not come out of a pressbook ! Another successful example. of thinking-out a campaign is. that devised by Paul N. Lazarus, Jr., Advertising and Publicity chief of United Artists: SSS ee SSS and Captain Harold Auten, in the suc-_ cessful merchandising of ‘the roadshow attraction, “Henry V”.~ In September 1946 (before price ceilings were lifted) this attraction opened in Toronto and Montreal at $1.50 top — plus taxes — and throughout its many road show engagements, in the United States and Canada in the past eighteen months, it has been sold with dignity befitting its importance: both as a “‘fine piece of theatre’ and as living proof -— to damn all critics — that it is possible to produce “‘motion pictures that will educate as well-as entertain”. It would not require a ‘genius’ to ascertain the disastrous results of presenting such an attraction as “Henry V” to the “movie” public, had not these astute showmen the ability to think out the manner and mode of presenting such an attraction to reach the “highest potential possible’. The publicity-man’s problem — and the theatre manager’s — is to create a desire in the mind of “the non-or-only-once-in-a-while-if-Ihaven't-anything-better-to-do” type of patron to see a picture like “Arch Of Triumph” or other such magnificent production. Utilize Pressbook Ideas Work out every feasible idea in your pressbook. Increase your newspaper ad budget when you have something worth while; use teaser ads, well in advance ; follow up your radio spot announcement campaigns (transcribed spot discs supplied by this exchange gratis) with promotional stunts, at range screenings for influential (and if your attraction warrants) educational and service club heads; contact your book-publishing and record-distributing agencies for window tie-ups; endeavor to plant worthwhile style stills with your newspaper fashion editors a good musical picture will warrant flashing up your lobby with record blow“ups and if your attraction has some “hot numbers”, get on the jukebox circuit, and don’t forget the sheetmusic publishers and their dealer windows. After you have mulled over every pressbook and exploitation-idea contained therein sit back and think, think, THINK!