Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1919)

EXHIBITORS HERALD Lewis J. Selznick Opens National Advertising Drive in Magazines Two-Page Spread in Saturday Evening Post November 29 is First Gun Fired in Campaign Throughout 1920 When the Saturday Evening Post dated November 29 made its appearance, pages 100 and 101 contained an advertisement that raised the curtain on one of the biggest campaigns in the history of intensive national advertising. The advertisement — a "double truck" spread in colors on Selznick Pictures, with photos of the five Seltznlck stars and a statement signed by Lewis J. Seltznick — was the forerunner to a gigantic campaign in leading publications which include the Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, The Country Gentleman, McClure's, Home Sector, American Legion Weekly, Pictorial Review, Green Book, Blue Book, Red Book, Picture-Play Magazine, Photoplay and Motion Picture Magazine. These publications are estimated to reach 50,000,000 people. Make Appeal in Colors Coincident with the opening broadside in the Saturday Evening Post, Selznick Pictures advertisements appeared in the December number of the Ladies Home Journal and in the November twenty-ninth issue of The Country Gentleman, Page sixtyeight of the Ladies Home Journal _ contained the Selznick ad, while the inside front cover of The Country Gentleman bore a colored layout, with the copy appeal directed to the patrons most likely to be vitally interested in the message of the silent drama. When the New Year ushers in on January 1, 1920, Selznick's national campaign will be a matter of record, with the tremendous circulations of the aforementioned publications — and the "reasons why" copy of Selznick advertisements — aimed directly at the exhibitors' box-office via the short route of popular public opinion. Details of the Campaign An indication of the size of the Selznick advertising drive may be gained from the offical schedule in the Selznick offices, which show that one page in four colors will be inserted in the Ladies Home Journal twelve consecutive times, commencing January 1, 1920, one page in two colors inserted thirteen times (every fourth week) in The Saturday Evening Post, beginning January 1. The same schedule has been arranged for The Country Gentleman. The Red Book, Green Book, Blue Book, Motion Picture Magazine, Photoplay, and Picture-Play will receive one page each, twelve times, commencing January 1. The first advertisement in The Pictorial Review will appear in the February issue in circulation in January. The Pictorial Review advertisement will appear in four colors in a preferred position. Four pages will also appear in the January McClure's, on the news-stands in December. Careful Analysis Is Made The inauguration of Selznick's national advertising drive is the result of an analysis by advertising and merchandising experts thoroughly familiar with territorial requirements— and the requirements of motion picture exhibitors. Officials of the Selznick Pictures Corporation point out that a consistent series of advertisements in such publications as the Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, The Country Gentleman, Pictorial Review, McClure's, etc., minimize the "waste" circulation. The campaign as conducted is aimed to give the exhibitors the utmost in co-operation and promotion. The merchandising department of Select Pictures Corporation is now completing a comprehensive campaign which will show theatre owners the facts and figures concerning circulations and new ways and means to link up with the campaign, which, in cost and execution, is among the most far-reaching of any drive on advertising records. Proposing Producing Plant at Augusta, Ga. AUGUSTA, GA.— -Plans for a motion picture corporation which will employ 10,000 persons among whom will be some of the best actors in the United States has been received by the Augusta Board of Commerce. William J. Jossey, 852 First street, Macon, is backing the company which will make Augusta its headquarters and will take scenes in Richmond county. Secretary H. A. Wheeling, of the Board of Commerce, has received several letters from Jossey including a prospectus which is more than ten pages in length, giving in detail plans for organizing the company which will be known as the Super Art-Film Corporation. The company plans to make two and three reel Biblical pictures. Jossey explains that the company will secure one of the best directors in the business and there is a chance that some Augusta young man or woman many break into the business. Third House at Woodbury WOODBURY, N. J.— Sale of the property of the late F. L. Wilkins to W. B. Snelbaker means another motion picture theatre for this city. The new owner proposes to move away the double dwelling and erect a handsome playhouse, which will make the third for Woodbury, the work to begin in the early spring. Start "The Last Straw" Work on "The Last Straw," a story by Harold Titus starring Buck Jones, has been begun at the Fox studios in Hollywood under the direction of Charles Swickard. puiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiininiiiuiuiiiiiiiu^ inriMUi | WATCH IT SINK \ T? ROM time to time a New York trade paper makes the amusing declaration that it alone is an all-sufficient medium of expression and communication for this industry. \ This declaration is amusing rather than convincing because in effect it is merely a solicitation that some benign influence come to its rescue and save it from the crucial test the competition creates. EXHIBITORS HERALD welcomes competition because it is only through comparison that the reader is enabled to detect real merit. (Which accounts for the tremendous circulation gains of this publication.) | The futile hope of monopoly, especially in the absent $T even the essentials of leadership, is a recognizable part of the desirtl* DOMINEER — not to serve. A publication which has lost the ideal of service has been hit below the water-line. Watch it sink. i 49