The Exhibitor (1956)

MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 15 movies. The theatre also benefits from the continued mention of its name during all of the radio, television, and newspaper promotion done by the dairy. RUNNER-UP NUMBER 2 mm JEEP GIVEAWAY Submitted by Melvin Katz Embassy, Johnstown, Pa. 1400 seats • 75 cents top admission General patronage. This was one of the most successful promotions I’ve had in recent years. The entire campaign and promotion cost the theatre $26 and we netted over $700 on the one night promotion. The promotion ran for seven weeks with each merchant giving out a lucky auto coupon with every dollar purchase made at their store. The theatre gave out coupons with every adult admission to the theatre. Each merchant took additional radio advertising to plug the giveaway, with the theatre mentioned as the place to go to win the jeep on the night of the draw¬ ing on a Friday, the 13th. — “Lucky, lucky day!” Although it was not necessary for the ticket holder to be present to win the jeep, the merchants donated over $600 in addition prizes to be awarded to patrons who did attend the theatre the night of the drawing. One cooperating merchant mailed out 6,000 letters to customers and others on his mailing list, telling them about the stunt and the theatre. This was done on his own at no cost to the theatre. The cost of the prizes and the jeep was shared equally by the merchants taking part in the promotion, as well as the advertising and the tickets given away. In return the theatre ran a trailer for seven weeks prior to the giveaway, credit¬ ing each of the participating merchants. In addition, we displayed a special out¬ side lobby board and an inside display. The 1956 convertible jeep was ban¬ nered with copy telling the where and when of its giveaway and each merchant carried store signs. Their newspaper ads also told of the details. A five-column co-op. newspaper ad kicked off the promotion, and all adver¬ tising carried by the theatre and the mer¬ chants between the inception of the give¬ away and its termination carried mention of the stunt. This included radio, TV, mailing lists and newspaper. Two days before the date of the give¬ away, I keyed the advertising to “Friday, the 13th — This can be your lucky day!” MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR — AWARDS — $100°° Per Week TO THE WINNER OF SHOWMANSHIP SWEEPSTAKES YOU, TOO, CAN COLLECT! SEND YOUR ENTRY IN NOW! One of the most unusual tieups of its kind was recently consummated by MGM with 15,000 travel agents in connection with "The Little Hut." Stunt revolves around giving away an island in the Pacific to a winner of a limerick contest starting Feb. 15. Seen, left to right, are Emery Austin, MGM exploitation head, with Robert Favora, MGM, Chicago, at a Chicago convention of the National Association of Travel Agents. and carried this through to the day of the giveaway. In addition to the jeep, the other prize awards had a value of over $700. The promotion was so successful that the merchants have suggested that another one along similar lines be undertaken. RUNNER-UP NUMBER 3 CASHING IN WITH ELVIS Submitted by H. A. Gifford Kee, Kiester, Minn. 369 seats • 50 cents top adimssion Farming community patronage. We were reminded every day by the teen-agers, and from viewing certain tele¬ vision programs that Elvis Presley is THE hottest piece of entertainment now around. However, we realized that being a small town exhibitor we would be lucky if we had a print of 20th-Fox’s “Love Me Tender” before late next spring, so we decided to capitalize on his popularity without benefit of showing the picture. We ordered 400 eight by 10 pictures of Elvis at the small cost of $4.00. When they arrived we took them to our printer and had him print our five-week calendar on the reverse side of “nothin’ like a hound dog.” Then, we advertised in our local paper, “Take Elvis home with you. Free pictures being given away while they last.” It’s funny how shy girls and grown women are about showing their admira¬ tion for Elvis; but after purchasing their ticket to our show, they then meekly asked for their photograph. Even the very small girls wanted a picture of “Hounddog Elvis.” Selling tickets to a rootin’, shootin’ cow¬ poke picture was easy, when givin’ out pictures of popular Elvis— and we filled the house, and dusted off seats that haven’t been dusted off in months. Besides making money, we were sure our five week calendar would be in every¬ one’s home. It kept the name of our local theatre alive — and gave us extra money in our pockets to jingle. The cost of having our calendar printed on the reverse side of Elvis was $3.50. U-l, Garment Firm Set "Girls' Promotion New York — Universal and the Standard Garment Company, a franchised division of Fruit of the Loom, have developed a nationwide promotional contest in con¬ nection with the release of U-I’s “Four Girls In Town,” with the top prizes in¬ cluding four trips to Paris and almost 100 other prizes. Featured in the promotion will be U-I stars Cynthia Patrick, Ingrid Goude, and Helene Stanton, with the contest to be run in leading department stores throughout the country. Newspapers in 65 cities will be used to highlight the contest with full page color and black and white ads already set in the Sunday supplements of the Cleve¬ land Plain Dealer, the Pittsburgh Press, the Akron Beacon-Journal, the Chicago Sun Times, the St. Louis Globe Democrat, the Indianapolis Star, the Cincinnati En¬ quirer, the Atlanta Constitution, the Co¬ lumbus Dispatch, the Houston Chronicle, the Des Moines Register, the Los Angeles Examiner, the New Orleans Times Pica¬ yune, the Buffalo Courier Express, the Milwaukee Journal, the Newark News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Baltimore Sun, the Birmingham News, the New York Mirror, and other papers. In addition, 8,000 25 by 514 window streamers, 5,000 11 by 14 counter cards, 5,000 one sheets, and 500,000 entry blanks are being prepared. RUNNER-UP NUMBER 4 f ' J "MISS TEEN-AGER OF 1956" Submitted by Robert Solomon Loew's Victoria, New York City, N. Y. 2400 seats • 90 cents top admission General patronage. With the cooperation of our local news¬ paper, New York Age Defender, I was able to set up a contest for “Miss Teen¬ ager Of 1956,” the Queen to be crowned at our theatre. Fabulous prizes were presented such as a $500 scholarship and an all expense paid trip to Bermuda via Pan American Airway Clipper for the winner; and for runners-up all expense trip to Washing¬ ton, D. C., and $500 in cash, outfit of clothing, record players, etc. The cooperating newspaper gave us two front page stories, plus one full page spread, and a dozen other mentions. Radio station WLIB carried the story and mention of the theatre. The All Ameri¬ can newsreel covered the coronation on our stage and this was shown across the country. The leaders of the community were present the evening of the awards, and a packed house resulted on the night of the coronation of “Miss Teen-Ager.” The community was pleased over the contest and so expressed itself to us. Over 170 teenagers participated in the contest. A “Teacher Of The Year” made the presentations to the winners. Following the theatre presentation the girls and their escorts, parents and friends were party guests of the newspaper at United Mutual Insurance Company. A highlight of this party was a cotillion dance. December 26, 1956