Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1941)

. . . OF MEN AND THINGS By JACK NARROWER DECREE TO CHANGE ADVERTISING Merchzindising of pictures under the terms of the Consent Decree will call for new and more far-reaching types of showmanship. So says S. Charles Einfeld, director of advertising and publicity for Warner Brothers, who recently spent several weeks in the east conferring with Grad Sears, Carl Leserman, Mort Blumenstock and other home office executives regarding plans for the new selling season. Intensified "point-of-sale" selling, followed in turn by more specific territorial merchandising, will be one requirement of the decree's operations. With regional release dates replacing the jiational, and the possibility that many pictures will be sold singly, Einfeld pointed to the opportunity for test campaigns in individual spots. The results of these campaigns can be studied, analyzed, corrected and amplified for use in other spots. Of course, national campaigns of advertising, publicity and exploitation will continue to be employed on individual films, but the local or regional campaigns will be coordinated with the national effort. Obviously, the task of carrying out this new regime in movie merchandising will call for additional expenditures. As far as Warners is concerned, Einfeld estimates that his company will increase its advertising budgets on pictures as much as 35 percent. A lot of "missionary work" also is entailed under the Consent Decree, Einfeld pointed out. At the same time the industry will be required to do a great deal of research, which is expected to uncover the answers to a lot of complex industry questions about attendance, audience tastes, and other vital information on which the Great Minds at present seem to have little positive information. In addition to the amplification that must take place in the exploitation department, the Consent Decree setup will require many additions to the sales staff. Einfeld estimates that his company will expand as much as 30 f>ercent in this direction. For years the exhibitors of the country — and a lot of other persons as well — have been harping on the advisability of "fewer and better pictures." It looks as if that era is now about to descend upon us, for better or worse. Of course, there are two schools of thought on this subject. A certain faction of exhibitors have always wanted, and always will want, enough product to make double bills possible. These exhibitors figure they can draw more business with two pictures of modest quality than with one picture of considerable merit. "A lot for your money" is the foundation of their showman credo. It is the only showmanship they know. It must be working out satisfactorily for them, because they manage to remain in business year after year. And that little trick can't be accomplished playing to empty seats. The very fact that they stay in business proves conclusively that a lot of the cash customers are attracted more by Quantity than Quality. On the other hand, let us consider the exhibitor who sees his salvation in the single feature of unusual merit. The new deal brought about by the Consent Decree will put his argument to the acid test. There is one important factor that it is well to emphasize. Few of the exceptionally meritorious films ever have realized anywhere near their maximum potential box-office possibilities. The best proof of this is the enormous business done by many of these pictures when they are brought back for return runs, or revived after long periods. Here we face an incontestable fact. i. e., that the first-run exhibitors have missed a lot of revenue when they originally played the picture. Had they utilized all possible angles and reached the masses instead of just skimming off the cream, the first-runs could have drawn a lot of additional trade at first-run prices. Of course, it must be admitted that the first-rims could not exhaust all the possibilities. A great many films, even the best of them, must prove themselves in their first-runs before the rank and file of movie fans will flock to them. Others develop a following only through the narrow channel of word-of-niouth. Here the element of time enters in, and licks the first-run to a certain degree from cashing in. Allowing for these natural business-retarders, it must be conceded that a lot of potential business is missed by the first-runs, that makes it a little bit like apple-pie for the subsequents who really go after what they missed. All that is necessary is that the boys who playdate after the first-stringers roll up their sleeves and go to work. The harvest is waiting on any kind of a meritorious picture. * * * Under the new setup, it is of vital interest to the producers and distributors to glean the greatest possible revenue from their product. The companies are well aware of this, and will_ spare no effort to gear their advertising, publicity and exploitation toward maximum income. They are going to give the subsequent runs, as well as the first-runs, every help within their power. They must perforce depend upon the subsequent run exhibitors to extend the fullest cooperation. For the final impetus that counts must come at the point-of-sale. Let the subsequent run operator plant that thought firmly in his mind. It is the fundamental truth upon which all selling is based. * * * One angle of a general nature, aside from the merit of individual films, that can be emphasized continuously by exhibitors, is the tremendous value that the moviegoer gets for his money. The unfortunate fact is that the public has been given excess value by the movies for so long a time that they now take it as a matter of course. So the problem for the exhibitor is to find ways of turning this unfortunate fact into a positive asset by bringing the point to the appreciative perception of the cash customer. The Government has passed laws guaranteeing "parity" to the farmers as compared with the 1914 period. If such a parity were voted to the movies, the current type of film entertainment would be selling at three times its present price. That's just a thought. There are plenty of other "values" for the exhibitor to work on with his patrons. * * * So what does it all add up to? Going back to Charlie Einfeld's statement, the studios are going to make the greatest effort they ever made to turn out pictures that will please the public. The distributors are going to amplify their advertising and exploitation, and develop every possibility for aiding the exhibitor in the merchandising of pictures. But the effort will not be a complete success unless the exhibitors do their share. Now as never before, teamwork between producer, distributor and exhibitor is necessary if the greatest good for the greatest number is to be gained from the new merchandising of pictures that confronts the industry. 8 FILM BULLETIN