Exhibitors Herald (Oct-Dec 1920)

December 25, 1920 EXHIBITORS HERALD 157 EXHIBITORS ADVERTISING 2£ -MOTION PICTUP^ " "Good Will to M en GOOD will is a subject of more than seasonable interest to the motion picture exhibitor. It is the name of his year around stock in trade. Yet the general prevalence of the spirit of good will at this time renders especially fitting a careful consideration of its attributes and the theatre application. * * * INTELLIGENT exhibitors realized long ago that theatre advertising does not consist solely in buying and filling newspaper and billboard space, of staging elaborate presentation features and sensational exploitation stunts. The knowledge that these are simply important means to a more important end is now general. * * * IT IS a demonstrated fact that the greatest advertising in the world will not sell the wares of a merchant who has not the good will of the buying public. Advertising that does not work toward the gaining of that good will is not successful advertising. The proof of any advertising is the advertiser's standing in the community. THERE is profound significance in the fact that despite the inestimable value of good will no price can be placed upon it. It is not a commodity that can be purchased for a given sum or obtained by any prescribed procedure save one. That one is all-important. It is commonly designated "fair dealing." MAN controls certain of his emotions, directing them to serve his purposes, but respect is not one of these. Respect goes where it is due, with or without the consent of the individual. It follows that the only way to gain the good will of the community is to deserve it. That is never difficult. * j* * WHEN surface appearances of existing conditions are cleared away it is found, invariably, that the genuinely deserving person or institution receives just reward. Guile, double dealing, misrepresentation may deceive for a time, working temporary hardship, but for a time only. There is no exception to this rule. * * * THE theatre that is so managed as to merit the respect of patrons operates profitably. The exhibitor who so conducts his house that the public has implicit faith in the quality of any and all programs offered enjoys a just reward for his integrity — consistent prosperity. * * * TO BRING about this condition the exhibitor need concern himself with but one consideration — fair dealing. His show must be good. His advertising must be honest. When patrons come to the theatre repeatedly with definite expectations based upon advertising and repeatedly find expectations fulfilled they develop a wholesome faith in the management. * * * A BLIZZARD, a financial panic, hard times, special opposition, all the forces that normally affect box office fio-ures, are felt less keenly by such an institution than by the theatre that has no fixed patronage. Even the occasionally unavoidable screen disappointment is of less serious consequence. * # # SATISFACTION is the buver's primary demand. It is singularly true that man is more exacting in his amusement demands than in any other phase of life. The theatre that sells satisfaction is not limited to an arbitrary admission charge or other ill-fitting restriction, and the sale yields 100% profit. * *. * THE good will of his patrons is the exhibitor's most valuable possession. It is acquired more cheaply and lost&at greater expense than any other thing he may own. Fair dealing produces it. And a policy of fair dealing implies that the exhibitor himself must bear a reciprocal "good will to men."