Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1939)

Page 20 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW June 3, 1939 Is Film Advertising ''Corny''? THE advertising fraternity has been plagued for the last few years with a strange group of specialists. They term themselves "Doctor This" or "Professor That" and with from 2 to 6 initials "tailing" their names, set themselves up as experts in judging the contents of advertising. They claim they can pre-judge the results of any campaign, before it starts. Recently, at an AMPA luncheon in New York Cit3', a professor who is a radio advisor attempted to "dress down" the motion picture advertising departments. He was "list'd to", with varying after-comments by the hard-boiled directors of motion picture advertising. Being a dealer in charts and theories he found it difficult to deduce whether he was being given an intensive course in practical advertising or being gently chided for his lack of a fundamental knowledge of the "why and how" of advertising in general. The world is full of "phonies". The movies have their share. Those who are too "phony" to get a movie job, sometimes get a break in radio — during its growing-up period. Balzac was a "phony" in his endeavor to pose as a member of the aristocracy. His name was not "de Balzac" but "Balsa", from a peasant family in Canezac. Balzac in literature "got away with it" — now the movies are being threatened with psychic professors. Comparison With Balzac The difference between Balzac and today's advertising professors is that Balzac contributed some of the world's finest literature, despite his abortive attempts to be what he was not. The professional analysts of radio will never contribute anything more than disrespect for what may develop into an imposing science — the study of peoples' likes and dislikes. One doctor calls himself a psychologist — a high sounding but little understood appellation, aimed to engender respect for his adopted calling and to sell himself as a quality product to his employers and other prospective employers — perhaps the movies. Many manufacturers mix a bit of talcum powder, a little soap, some sugar and peppermint and the preparation emerges from EDITOR'S NOTE: Here is an article that has vital interest for theatremen as well as advertising men in the industry. Dr. J. S. List, consulting psychologist to NBC and other broadcasting companies, told home office advertising men at a meeting of the AMPA in New York on April 27, that picture advertising is hopelessly outmoded — that their advertising today is substantially the same as it was 15 years ago; flatteringly compared what he declared was the superior technic of radio, from the standpoint of psychology and merchandising, in appealing to a public conditioned by life as it is lived today. This highly informed and thoroughly informing analysis of motion picture advertising is an answer to the charges made by Dr. List. But more than that, it presents a shrewd study of picture advertising and its opportunities for an even greater service in advancing the popularity of the box office profits of motion pictures. We invite the reactions and thoughts of theatremen in general to the many provocative points raised and discussed in this article. their factories, fittingly trademarked, as toothpaste. Other manufacturers mix finelyground rice powder with perfume, pack it in fanc}' boxes, and sell it to the consumer as "Princess Tamale face powder" — at very fancy prices. These manufacturers get away with it, because American people are too lazy to search underneath the gaudy wrapping to discover the real contents. But the selling appeal is still sliced from the same old "boloney". One competent advertising man who places a lot of radio copy remarked recently that "advertising men don't know much about advertising" and cited the numerous surveys and readership methods as contributions to their developing knowledge of people and media. It could easily be proven that advertising men with long experience often make sorry spectacles of themselves when they essay to be sales managers; likewise, sales managers who attempt to be advertising men invariably wreck a campaign, as the doctor went off the deep end of the realm of discussing common sense promotion in movies. The professor is learning — learning by "knocking." Radio stations would never admit that radio does not pay out. If the inerchandise sells, it is credited to radio. If it does not sell, radio stations easily crawl out from under with a series of difficult-to-disprove assertions. As a matter of cold fact, radio as a selling medium is in a more experimental stage than other older forms of advertising. Too often a radio program may be a success even while the sponsor is dying from sales malnutrition. 2% of Radio Programs Hits There are more programs on the air than there are movies in the theatre in any one month. Of all the programs on any one night, surveys show that about 2% of them are hits. Surveys also indicate that of about five top programs, any one may get the attention of from 60% to 80% of the listeningaudience. What about the rest of the programs? Where are their audiences? They rate much further down the scale in acceptance than a triple "C" picture. Of the smash programs, the stars are movie personalities. Without movie stars where would radio be — and the big audiences. Radio has the same problem that movies have — too many programs on the air — as the movies seem to have too many pictures. Borrowed Ideas Long dissertations could be written on the movies, but how about radio advertisers who use movie showmanship to plug dull commercial products? The recently printed book, "SHOWMANSHIP IN ADVERTISING," is nothing more than a refined edition of the ordinary stunt books that lay on the desk of every promotion man in a movie office. The book, "ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EXPLOITATION", by Bill Hendricks and Howard Waugh could be dressed up with a rewrite and it would be a best-seller in advertising circles. Agencies would hasten to use the stunts, calling them "Point-of-Sale Merchandising." Our good friend says that movie advertising is "Lousy" that radio, in a short time, has passed movies in selling their programs. Is it true? How about radio program giveaways (Send in a coupon and get something for nothing — or for a small sum of money.) Movies have been doing it for years — so much so that they have developed a nice Frankenstein. Radio is fast approaching the stage when it will develop a Frankenstein of its own — because of give-aways. The Star Build-Up Our professor says that the picture business is suffering from too much attention to stars. Radio sells stars always, preferring them to unknowns. Radio builds up stars with the same technique that the movies use. What is the difference between movie and radio promotion — nothing except that movies spend ever so much more money to sell their pictures than radio does. Radio grafts free space — and when radio does do any advertising, it follows the technique of the movies. No discussion of motion picture advertising would be complete without comments on the high quality of the Music Hall copy and physical presentation, also the recent MGM copy in the Astor Theatre in New York on "Pygmalion". Music Hall copy has continuously set standards in consumer appeal—it is the "Lincoln" or "Cadillac" of the industry. The MGM "Pygmalion" copy using even HE PYGMALION J>~i— .>iCABRlEL PASCAL.. in «ENDY Starts TH U RS DAY ASTOR Theatre BERNARD SHAW if' bares his soul ! ihc S™ B:m C. B.S.hu.tcr V LESLIE 1 HOWARD PYGI WALION r™*-. t, GABKIEL PASCAL \^^| ASTOR Theatre Advertising That Won Acclaim The campaign for "Pygmalion" worked out by MGM under the direction of Hozvard Diets introduced a new, sparkling note in picture theatre advertising. Used in connection with the premiere and long run of the George Bernard Shazv story at the Astor. New York, this advertising was applauded by advertising men generally.