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IF YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM . . .
^ Virginia movie house chain packs in audience by sinking 75% of ad budget per film into tv exposure
Airs five to 10-minute spots on Norfolk station prior to film's opening; enlists personality's support
here's a motion picture exhibitor n Virginia who's more than willing o let bygones be bygones with his :raditional rival, tv.
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," ays Bryan Rose, manager of the Leine Enterprises which operates 11 heaters in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Eiampton and Newport News. So, tie's joined the ranks of tv advertisers.
And he sees a trend on the part of me motion picture business in general toward using more and more tv advertising. According to Rose, major film companies are providing co!op money for their pictures and often [the majority of the budgets are going to tv rather than newspapers, long the major medium for exhibitors.
By way of explanation. Rose points lout, 'The return per dollar spent in tv is far greater than the same dollar spent in newspapers. The cost of
newspaper advertising is out of proportion to the readership and consequently loses out on our ad dollar."
Rose precedes the opening of a new picture with five to 10 announcements, usually 60 seconds in length, on WVEC-TV, Norfolk. '-Our grosses on films are greater than ever, which we attribute largely to television," Rose states. "The service a tv station gives us is far superior in both promotional excitement and eventual results than any other medium."
The exhibitor receives his tv commercials from the film producer, with excerpts from the picture and a tag for theater name and location. In placing the spots, he's out to come as close as possible to reaching an audience for which the film will have greatest appeal. With children's pictures, however, it's helpful to familiarize parents with what's coming.
An example of how this approach
works is the campaign for Walt Disney's "Swiss Family Robinson." For this film with juvenile appeal, most of the spots ran in the Bungles weekday evening children's show. Unable to resist the ideal tie in, the exhibitor also ran an I.D. adjacent to the ABC TV Disney Presents program on which the film received mention.
An additional boost to "Swiss Family Robinson" came from a personal appearance by the WVEC-TV personality Bungles at the opening. He informed his tv audience he'd be on hand for the morning premiere. It was 13 degree weather, a bit nippy for Norfolk, but they reportedly were lined up around the block an hour and a half before starting time. By 2:30 p.m. the theater's crowd record for one day had been broken. At the last report the film was heading into its ninth week.
As Rose sees it, one of the most important phases of promotion for new pictures is the service a tv station can give. "The fact that a station can furnish personalities to help us put pictures across is extremely important," he says. "The stations have built their personalities over a long period of time, and we consider their following a valuable bonus." ^
ALLIANCE has proven beneficial to Bryan Rose, (I), gen. mgr. of Levine Enterprises in Virginia, and Bill Barnes, a.e. from WVEC-TV, Norfolk