Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

July 3 , 1943 MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE 53 The Selling Approach On "Victory Through Air Power, " a United Artists Release [In presenting these remarks of Paul N. N. Lazarus, Jr., we suggest that the reader bear in mind that Mr. Lazarus is establishing a precedent by giving this information so jar in advance, and that it represents his personal preliminary observations rather than the complete final campaign on the picture. You will note that he makes mention of supplementary aids that zinll be sent to the men in the field from time to time.] by PAUL N. LAZARUS, JR. United Artists Director of Advertising, Publicity and Exploitation We feel that in "Victory Through Air Power" we have a very unusual property which must be exploited by the exhibitor in a very different way. It is unusual in this respect : that Disney, who stands for something very concrete in the minds of moviegoers all over the world, has come up with something completely different for him. Just as "Snow White" was revolutionary in its time as the first full-length cartoon, so Disney has progressed. In this picture he is going into a different medium, bringing a serious book to the screen. Now, the problem as far as the exhibitors are concerned is to capitalize on the two principal sales values in the picture: (1) It's Disney — and it's automatically entertainment. (2) It is completely timely, up-tothe-minute and of headline importance. Public Pulse Probed We have investigated through the Gallup research organization to find what the public temper is, what they expect from us. The public isn't sure what Disney has done. They don't know whether or not to expect Mickey Mouse In preparing our campaign material on this picture, that's exactly what we have kept in mind. What we have done is to take material which is factual and serious and present it in a comic strip technique to convey the fact that it is Disney, it is entertainment, and has humor. As far as the campaign itself goes, it must be handled with considerable care and thought by the exhibitor — more so than the average picture. This is not the kind of show that can be handled as a circus — no girls on the street, etc. But we can interest every reader of newspapers, because this picture is going to explain to him what the headlines mean. Will Route Window Displays He may feel that it is going to be heavy going, that it's going to be dry and dull. As a matter of fact, the picture is one of the most engrossing and fascinating pictures ever made. "Victory Through Air Power" will make everybody from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, understand when the headlines say "Pantelleria Falls To Air Power," how it was done, and when that same procedure on a large scale can end the war very quickly and very conclusively. In the campaign itself, we are having prepared a set of store window displays, fully prefabricated, which can be moved around PAUL N. LAZARUS, JR. to various cities. These can go out to meet playdates. The store windows, we feel, are great attention getters. They hit the right audience — the women ! We feel that windows can do a tremendous sales job, because they are based on actual scenes from the picture, with stills as a part of the setup, and perfect for theatre tieups. One of the most important features of the campaign, naturally, is the fact that the book has been read by a tremendous number of people. It was condensed in Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest, and was selected as the Book-of-the-Month. The book has been syndicated to over three hundred newspapers around the country. The picture has been shown to Army and Navy officials who raved about it. It has been shown also to airplane manufacturers, who are equally crazy about it. Solution to Kid Appeal One of our principal problems on it is that in the past Disney has appealed to kids. "Bambi," "Dumbo," etc., were basically kids' pictures. This property has no direct appeal to children . . . they didn't read the book. At the same time, airplanes as airplanes are hot with kids. They identify them, they build them, etc., and we will try to capture the young audience through the medium of such tie-ups as the Scripps-Howard Junior Airmen page, with which we will have definite cooperation. What I am trying to drive home is this — that this is a property unlike the usual Disney picture, but it must be swung back into the same lines without misleading the audience. One idea we had earlier was that of letting the usual Disney characters be featured in the ads saying, "Why can't we be in 'Victory Through Air Power ?' " We felt, however, that it was misleading to the public. Exhibitors can tie up with the American Legion, Gold Star Mothers or any other organization with a war service flavor, and at the same time tie up with kids' airplane organizations. Local newspapers will go all-out. Most papers are strong advocates of Seversky's theories, so that editorial cooperation will be terrific. Aid on Local Advertising We have prepared a few novelties such as a special glass with which you can tell how high a plane is flying and how fast it is traveling. Kids will love it. There will be considerable cooperative advertising with local playdates, because we don't feel that this picture can be set up long in advance. The ads must be keyed to the headlines. Next time some place "falls" you get a perfect tie-in with the picture You put a slug in the ads saying: "Now you can see how and why it fell !" The newspaper ads now in preparation will have the aforementioned comic strip treatment. The 24-sheets, etc., will have special appeal to kids, Disney fans and adults. Panorama of Aviation History As for publicity, Seversky is an unending source. He has been all over the country on lecture tours. All the lecture groups know him and the book has made him an authority. His name and his statements will be issued any time there is a reason . . . the next time there's an aerial victory he will issue another statement . . . always tying in with the picture. Publicity must be kept up to the minute. We will be sending out supplementary campaigns as often as necessary, keyed to the latest current events because the picture is current. And there are predictions in the picture which will undoubtedly come true. The first part of the picture concerns itself with the history of aviation from Kitty Hawk up to the start of World War II. This runs for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Then you go into a discussion of what air power is and what it can do in the war. All this is done by animated drawings showing that a plane taking off with long enough range can bomb Germany and return. It shows, too, why you can't bomb Japan from bases in China or Siberia and ends with the conclusion we must strike Japan from the Aleutians. Can't Misconstrue Theme At the conclusion of the interview, Mr. Lazarus was asked "What would happen if a local critic labeled 'Victory Through Air Power' as a propaganda picture ?" In answer to the direct question, he replied: "Victory Through Air Power" is not propaganda. The picture is nothing more, or less than a dramatization of Seversky's book. It is tremendously exciting. Our big obstacle in this picture is that we have got to overcome in the public minds any preconceived idea as to what the picture is. Once a reviewer or moviegoer sees it, word of mouth is going to do the rest. It is impossible to misconstrue it. You see it and you believe it. And then — you, too, will want the whole world to see itl