Publix Opinion (Aug 31, 1929)

PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF AUGUST 3lsrt, 1929 PARAMOUNT PUBLICITY —_— ENCIRCLES THE GLOBE “ By O. R. Geyer (Manager Paramount Foreign Publicity and Advertising) (Reprinted from VABIETY by Permission) |. Selling Paramount publicity and good will abroad through the ‘medium of the printed page and the 37 languages used thereon “has been the pleasant task of this department since its inception ‘more than 10 years ago under the direction of Emil E. Shauer, general manager of the foreign arene rater aaa EREEBEEE LEAL EEL LE PERIL APE IPI, ‘2 UBLIX GOLD BRICK! “Please identify a ‘gold& brick’ in Publix,’’ asks one ? of the faithful readers of § PUBLIX OPINION. ; The best answer your edi2 3 can think of at this time ¢ 3 is: 3 “A Publix ‘goldbrick’ is ¢ 3 the chap who reads PUBLIX § 4 OPINION, the manuals, and % pe ct tira and if he & oesn’t his name men§ tioned, thinks that ‘there's ; | department. 4 nothing in the paper.’ Read §|| , Thanks to Me aciye CO Opere: the editorial in the last issue, % ‘tion of the 3,000 Paramounteers Hl; with headquarters established in Hl every corner of the world, it has 'been possible to obtain publicity ARABS ASAA ADAGE oat VARIETY by Permission) tion, probably the most highly geared of based on the most ancient methods of | One of the most important phases of the department’s work . is the supplying of photographs and mats for the illustration of motion picture news sections. Thousands of photographs and specially prepared mats are mailed representation for Paramount Pic| each month to the leading news| tures commensurate to their lead| papers and magazines in every imership in quality and in distribu-| portant country and special servtion throughout the world. ices are arranged for leading pub Paramount publicity is being lications in the various trade translated today into more lanfields, such as automobiles, fashand dialects than any /|ions, sports, engineering, etc. other document in the English on with the exception of Importance of Premieres public disinterest in ‘the theatre.; the Bible. Editors abroad have not failed to appreciate the tremendous pub It is to be hoped that no Publix) : di rt | The publicity and advertising | jjinterest in motion picture news Ragin. | entic City), divisional, district | theatre will ever consider such a) i b nas “bd Geter. (224 branch managers and sales-' practice. In the first place not | CumemED: sheoed! hee ree con | ag published in American news salesman in any other business. ||5 “2 \In order to overcome this handi’ it|cap and to give each salesman as| hout |Many facts as possible about the 'pictures he is called upon to sell, sf Bois Mr. Kent iMmstituted the practice € Siof holding sales conventions, at| which preceded each new season. | The | Paramount was the first to hold | to | such eonventions. Now they are} | held by every major company in \the picture business. the value, Informations sales| a | At these sales conventions (this *' year the company held two, one| appear A : , howat St. Louis and the other at At-| “2 FOR 1” TICKETS UNSOUND PRACTICE Opposition theatres in many | communities are going in for ‘2-| for-1’”’ tickets—a most unsound | practice which at once confesses =) “\themselves just le divisions locals tween the months of May and are yon by in each | cent of sales were closed. In the ter| Carly a a sep-| men from all parts of the ecbuntry | enough business can be developed ducted on the highest possible | papers and general magazines, as well as in the publications devoted to the motion picture screen. They have commissioned representatives in New York and Hollywood to supply them with material in ad jgather to formulate plans for jlaunching the company’s new pic-, _} tures. Mr. Kent's theory has been lthat the best informed salesman is the best salesman and, in accordance with this policy, each picture is Outlined in detail so that every man in the sales and idistribution department knows what his company’s product is. Many finished pictures are shown at these conventions, so that the salesmen can see for what they will have to sell to exhibitors. Com-| plete advertising and publicity campaigns for each picture are outlined and a general survey of the new year in the picture industry is made. Every bit of information that will help the individual salesman do his job better is imparted to him at these conventions, which have developed into a clearing house for ideas and have amazingly simplified the job of selling pictures When the salesmen left these sales conventions this year they had a complete picture of Paramount’s New Show World program and were equipped with information, sales accessories and advertising plans. that would enable them, in turn, to tell the more intelligently to the exhibitor who shows the pictures | to the public. | prior to the introduction of und and the installation of aircooling systems in theatres the \bulk of picture selling took place July, when approximately 75 per days the picture exhibition seasons started on Labor Day Now the new season starts August 1 and a steady stream of good pictures are furnished to exhibi| tors throughout the yéar, regardjless of the seasons. There is no such thing any more 4s the dull summer season, when large number of theatres closed their doors. Nowadays most theatres, air-cooled and inviting, do as much business in the summer as winter. Distributing After the pictures are sold the next step is distribution, There are approximately 18,000 picture theatres in the United States, and Paramount serves a large percen| To furnish | prints to these theatres scattered | throughout the country it is nec-| number. tage of this make an average of 200 prints of each picture. These are allotted to exchanges rtion to the number of tres served by each exchange. New York exchange, which gerves more theatres than any other one branch, utilizes fifteen siagew of each picture in serving accounts. In each exchange there is a of bookers who book the time of the theatres in ; ry territory. Prints are sent |to these theatres to take care of ; playing time booked. essary to that way to meet operating cost, | and even if it could, it leaves such | resentment when the regular admission is resumed that a slump! immediately sets in. 1 NEW MANAGERIAL SET-UP IN MACON | | plane and with a sincere and attentive view to the conflicting national and racial characteristics that have placed their stamp upon the general conduct of world com all the quality of the product it |merce. Every effort has been to} f P |have this publicity reflect, first of ee eras ecemiore of pa rao ‘sational Paramount success, such represents, and to have it prepar“uy. 9 46 ay jas ‘‘Wings, Chang, The Paed in the most readable and en| triot” and “The Four Feathers,” | : : i | tertaining form, eliminating all | The following is the new line-/ species of ballyhooism and eccenhata: a4 Saale rg ye ert up of theatre managers in Macon, |tric methods of attracting atten-) Ga.:tion to Paramount. That this edu-| This demand for Paramount Montague Salmon, City Mancational campaign has been suc-| News is so keen, especially in ager, Rialto Theatre; Howard §&. | cessful is shown by the fact that! Brazil, that amateur radio opAmos, Manager, Capitol Theatre; lhundreds of leading newspapers| orators in the United States and Robert A. Simpson, Manager, Ritz and magazines are using Parafer h Theatre: P. D. Griffith, Manager, mount news daily, weekly and/ Brazil are employed for the Criterion Theatre. -'\monthly as prized features of transmission of special disWas vegai Supplementing the various pub a their news columns. The ParaPrior to the advent of sound mount trade mark, as a result, is| the physical distribution of pic-| undoubtedly one of the world’s /jicity services issued in New York tures was a comparatively easy | best known trade insignias used |anq in the important distribution job, but now, in addition to prints, in commerce. centers throughout the world are Translated in N. Y. ja battery of service publications Builders of the Tower of Babel |designed chiefly to assist the ex each exchange has to handle discs. New containers for the fragile \hibitors of Paramount Pictures in i ti than had no more confusing | selling their programs to the pub records had to be devised and shipping problems were increased. | : Physical equipment was practicalthe Noreet ee aieae. llie. Approximately 20 of these ly doubled in-each exchange, eX-| ‘ | magazines are issued in New York, es through which its great variety |< anaes Pari Rerlin. S of activities must be conducted. | o1, Sy Pete: eames EE ner tra space was made necessary, additional bookkeeping was required | maintained | to take care of this new develop Treen ee omes Te rea York |de Janeiro and Kobe. From the story of Paramount, they do in | ment. : The Paramount Trademark The job of the sales and distri-| bution department does not bean ‘with the selling and delivering of | a print to the individual theatre. | It must then help the exhibitor | sell the picture to the public. Pa-! ramount was the first picture com| pany to nationally advertise its} pictures. AS a result of this pol-| icy, Paramount pictures are) known by more people throughout | the world than any other brand | of pictures. For 14 years the Pa-| ramount trademark, a guaranty of quality screen entertainment, has been kept before the public in national magazines and newspa-| pers, and more directly in daily | newspaper advertising placed by the Publix theatres and individual exhibitors. In addition to the advertising in periodicals, Paramount has built up one of the eninge est tres, among lobby displays, still phot of players and scenes from pictures, and novelty advertising accessories. through the branchde ramount message activities of the various es of the public relations partment. The selling and distributing of Paramount pictures is done in a systematic and complete manner from the time the first announcement of the company’s yearly product is made until the final picture of the year is exhibited to the public. for the preparation of this news material in the principal languages of the world. This work is .supplemented by additional staffs in the principal distribution centers of the world, such as London, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, . Rome, Barcelona, Aires, Sydney and Kobe, Japan. Not only are these staffs required | preparation of publicity, | exploitation and advertising ma-| terial on Paramount Pictures, but | for the they must also edit and title the pictures for proper presentation in all of the countries of the world. ion of titles in and the title ex any one item, by the Foreign pictures. Through scores of correspondents located in New York and in Hollywood the department supplies up-to-date news material regarding Paramount ctures to hundreds of important publications seattered. throughout the world. The activities of the picture industry have reached such world-wide importance that the leading news organizations, such as the Associated Press, United Press and the special representatives of the larger publications use the cables daily to keep their publications fully advised as to the latest news and developments. artists in H uted to this int production. | Mensageiro |serves the same purpose in Brazil foreign language | Néw York office come Mensajero Paramount, which is supplied to |thousands of exhibitors -in the 21 Spanish-speaking countries, and Paramount, which and Portugal, where Portuguese Rio de Janeiro, Buenos ae the official language. With the advent of scores of fine modern theatres in the leading cities of the world, there has been a constant increase in the use of the most up-to-date exploitation methods abroad. Varying rules and regulations as issued by governments and municipalities have restricted the fullest possible utilization of modern methods of selling the pictures to the public, but the various units of the Foreign Publicity Department have been extremely successful in pro 'moting this feature of Paramount Picture salesmanship. The many record-breaking engagements enjoyed by recent Paramount specials in the leading countries of the world have shown in ample fashion the wisdom of better exploitation. : AUTO-TRADEMARK » “Pyublix’s sig cut, would be a wonderful thing on the tire cover of Managers’, District Managers’, ete., cars,” says Arthur Swanke, manager of the “Strand” at Anderson, S. C. “These people are continually covering a lot of ground and going to and through a lot of towns—pretty good advertising, don’t you think? The same could apply to a gold sticker that could be transferred to the wind-shield or door of the car. I. would be proud to use ‘em on my ear, both front and back.”