Motion Picture News (Oct 1913 - Jan 1914)

THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS 45 picture theatres in the United States and Canada that do not possess distinctive features, which, if properly emphasized in ad copy, would bring increased business. Competitors' Patrons Are Your "Prospects" Every man, woman and child in any city can be considered a prospective patron of some motion picture theatre. Why not yours? If your theatre is handy to street car lines, tell them, in your advertising copy, that rainy weather does not need to hinder them from enjoying an evening at the theatre. Tell the women that no long walk is necessary from your theatre to a car line after a matinee, when they turn homeward with an armload of packages. If the city is sufficiently large to boost of traffic policemen in the business district, mention the added safety to children in crossing streets on their way to the theatre. Many mothers, given a well-worded and dignified suggestion of that kind, probably would disregard their fears for the safety of their children who cry to be permitted to attend matinees. If your projection is exceptionally good, feature that fact in your advertising copy. Go to some local eye specialist who is well known, or an optician in any jewelry store, and convince him that clear, steady pictures are exceptionally good exercise for the eyes, and that they increase a person's powers of observation and rapid discernment. Then get him to make a statement to that effect, and use it in your ad copy, with his signature below it. Showing a slide each night for two or three weeks featuring the optician's place of business might prove an incentive. There is one invariable rule in advertising. Never make your ad copy say anything but what is absolutely true. Otherwise, your money is wasted and you jeopardize your business. If you haven't good projection, make it good before you advertise it, and feature some other selling argument. People are more quickly attracted by a familiar catch line or phrase in advertising copy than they are by constantly changed expressions. Select one, two or three really distinctive features of your theatre and emphasize them in every piece of copy you write. Place them in the same relative positions, changing the wording but seldom. Rut make those features relate directly to your theatre. Establish the connection between good projection, spacious exits, a choice location, comfortable chairs, good ventilation or the courtesy and attention of your ushers, and your theatre. After all, the people must have impressed upon them the fact that the chairs are easy and comfortable in the Lyric Theatre, not simply that the chairs are easy and comfortable. Giving the Theatre a Little Prominence In theatre ad copy in which mention is made of nothing but "to-day's program" and the price of admission, there is no direct incentive given for patronage. It is necessary to genuine success in advertising to give some definite reason why your theatre should be patronized above all others in the city. The ever changing picture titles mean nothing to the average reader. It is difficult for them to judge a good picture by the title. They have been fooled too often. In some instances it has not been the fault of the exhibitors. But those days are fast disappearing. "The Pride of the Regiment" has no advertising value. It may mean any one of fifty things. But to say in your ad copy, "Our Screen Is Tilted Slightly Forward So That the Picture Upon It Is Always Square and Permanently Centered, Eliminating Jumps and Blurring," arouses a train of thought in the mind of the reader. He probably won't know why the screen is tilted forward, nor care to find out, but the fact that the picture is "permanently centered, eliminating jumps and blurring," starts him thinking something like this: "Gee, that's a good stunt. Kittie said it made her head ache the way those pictures jumped the other night. Next time we'll go to this theatre. Then she won't blame me if she don't enjoy herself." While it is unquestionably necessary to advertise your daily program, the exhibitor who gives that preference over his theatre is spending his money wantonly, and what little benefit does accrue goes to the manufacturer. Perhaps, some day, some competitor may pay a higher price and get that program of releases which has been so well advertised, and what little benefit there is to be had, he will get. The exhibitor who can't afford to meet the increased rental loses his service, and is obliged to use different service. Then what is left him to trade upon? Nothing! He has spent his good money advertising brands of film, and people know nothing of the really attractive features of his house. Then, when he changes program, it is ofttimes similar to opening a new theatre. All the shouting and praising he has done has to be counteracted, and after weeks of advertising "the world's greatest galaxy of stars" under one program, he can't very well convince readers that those on an opposing program are just as good. A Nickel Can Be Made to Earn a Dime That is but one point out of a hundred in favor of advertising the theatre in preference to the daily program. By impressing prospective patrons with some feature of interest about your house, you set them thinking, and no amount of program changing can hurt the good your advertising has done, because you need not change the general style and appeal of your copy with the change in brand names. Every nickel invested in advertising should bring its equivalent to the boxoffice in additional patronage. It is far from an impossible task. Have the copy written with the purpose of making it pay. It is a splendid experiment for an exhibitor theoretically to change places with a prospective patron who, perhaps, has never attended his theatre, but gives his dimes to some competitor, and imagine just what form of advertising appeal would attract him. Turning words into dollars is an important part of the daily life of every exhibitor and theatre manager. The advertising manager of any local newspaper is always willing to lend his assistance in writing ad copy with a direct appeal. THE DUKE'S HEIRESS Gauniont