Ernest A. Dench

“ MOVIE ADVERTISING FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF A FAN
You may hardly credit it when I assert that motion-picture audiences are the most critical in the world. They do not outwardly show their disapproval of things, but after they resolved that the photoplay was here to stay, anything as a motion picture would no longer satisfy them. So the film producers had to humor the folks who had made their wealth, and to-day the fans have been educated up to such a pitch that nothing but the best will satisfy them. Here, then, is the class of readers represented by moving-picture publicity. ”

“ After an advertising film has been produced, and the owner wants to get his investment back with a fair amount of interest, the question naturally arises as to the means of distribution. A convincing motion picture is half the battle won, but it is obviously practically worthless unless the prospective purchaser be reached. Like the placing of ordinary publicity matter with the press, the marketing of a commercial photoplay is a science. No ironclad rules can be laid down, for the simple reason that everything depends on the proposition itself. ”

“ What information there was to be had on the subject was scattered between the pages of various business publications in occasional articles, which fact set me to work to write a concise handbook, embodying everything worth knowing about Motion Picture Advertising.
It will probably seem rather strange to you that an invention like the cinematograph, which has achieved widespread fame as a form of entertainment, can perform the functions of advertising, but it is none the less a fact. Wonders have not yet ceased in this every-day world, believe me. ”

“ MOVEMENT WITH PHOTOPLAY THEATER HELP
The spring and summer are the busy seasons for the nurseryman and florist, for the thoughts of the city folk fly in the direction of the open air. The garden being the first haven of refuge, the garden “outfitter,” if I may be permitted to coin a term, benefits financially.
The neighborhood theater is best suited to your purpose, as the majority of the patrons are located in residential sections. You approach them in the right mood, for one of the charms of the motion picture, as you are doubtless aware, is the natural backgrounds. ”

“ Here you have a large audience which is extremely difficult to address via the press, for the majority go in for hardly any reading at all. Maybe they haven’t got the inclination or money to do it. Their custom is certainly worth while cultivating, and no doubt they can understand pictures better than books, as, when the world was young, pictures were drawn on slabs of stone to indicate what otherwise could not be explained. ”

“ It is not every day that a new and reliable advertising medium is unearthed, and it was decidedly a good day’s work when the selling powers of motion-picture publicity became known.
You appeal to the public at their leisure and there is no competition to fear, as exhibitors will not show more than one ad. film on a single program. You also enjoy a monopoly of the audience’s attention, for folks can only see one thing at a time in the darkened hall. ”

“ One does not have to seek far why the comedy and dramatic photoplay is not popular with most motion-picture advertisers down to date. Yet, if they only knew the truth, they would find that movie audiences enjoy an entertaining story better than an advertisement contained in a film which merely strives to educate. The former, as one might expect, is more involved and expensive. In the first place, a good story is essential, and this may only be expected from an experienced photoplaywright who has an appreciation of advertising values. ”

“ The advertising powers of the motion picture have been fully realized by the large manufacturers of this country, but the average retailer has confined himself to the slide.
With a film, however, you can cause a small-sized sensation in your town, for folks will look upon your effort as a home product. You can not, of course, live upon publicity, and the true test will be the extra amount of business it brings. Once the interest of people is aroused, there can be no doubt concerning the latter. ”

“ It is a human trait [Page 142] in buying to be able to choose between goods of the same kind, but as the exhibitor only rents out his screen to one advertiser in each trade, the public can not possibly discriminate.
“You will have to go far to find a magazine or newspaper that doles out monopolies to advertisers. I honestly think that this condition of things has a tendency to make advertisers dull and listless. Competition is the life and soul of publicity, and makes the advertisement writer put plenty of ‘pep’ into his copy. ”

“ But you can film an interview with your worthy customer and introduce some home-life scenes, not to forget his testimonial of your goods visualized. This would produce an exquisite blend of entertainment and advertising.
All in all, it is action by which you have to tell your story. You have, as a matter of fact, to regard your proposition from the angle of the man from Missouri. You can take the public behind the scenes of your works and convince them that the goods are produced under the best of conditions. ”

“ Creating a demand for your wares in new lands is, as one is well aware, a far harder task than is capturing fresh business at home, so, if the desired volume of trade is to be obtained, there must be no stinting on the advertising campaign expenditure. It is doubtful whether there is any publicity outlets that can outshine the versatile motion picture in the all-important capacity of a results bringer. ”

“ One way of gauging the precise lines you should pursue is by keeping track of what the ordinary motion-picture producing concerns are doing. This is why I advise frequent visits to the theaters, in which you can combine pleasure with business. If these producers have experienced the fact that enterprise pays, after long and diligent study of what the fickle public wants, it only goes to bear out my assertion that users of motion-picture advertising should emulate their example. ”

“ When a piece of fiction—no matter whether it be a short story, a serial or a novel—appears, an endeavor should be made to arrange with a film concern that the photoplay should appear simultaneously with it in fiction form. ”

“ To acquaint the public with how their welfare is studied and that of the employees is just the very thing to form the basis of a successful film. It is, on the other hand, hardly practicable to extend the advertising to specific bargain offers, such as you often set forth in newspaper announcements. The boiled-down stories of every-day life, which are so frequently seen on the movie screen and are so popular with the majority of picture-play-goers, offer their counterpart in the advertising field, so department stores would be wise to follow the fashion. ”

“ But the ‘make-up’ of the motion-picture theater screen differs in that only one thing may be presented at a time. If an advertising film is unfolded, you have no other alternative in the darkened hall than to give it your attention. ”

“ It may prove a stepping-stone to an engagement with a big film company. Events have turned out this way before now.
Important links in the chain are the local motion-picture exhibitors. All are fully alive to the value of a photoplay possessing a strong local appeal. Therefore, if you agreed to announce in your newspaper where the picture was being presented, you would find all the local exhibitors clamoring to hire it. You would probably be able to charge a nominal fee to help cover the cost of production, for it is not as if the photoplay is advertising pure and simple. ”

“ It is one thing to gain attention and another thing to retain it. It only stands to reason that you can not expect an audience to be interested in a dull and commonplace business any more than you can hope a hackneyed newspaper ad. to return an [Page 35] investment. It might have done when advertising was in its infancy, but to-day, never.
Even greater pains should be taken in preparing the matter for a slide, for the folks that you will shortly show it to have been educated up to seeing things excellent in pictorial form. Neither is just one slide sufficient in order to get home. ”

“ It is quite likely that more than one spectator will detect the same error, in which case it will prove too costly a stunt, so it is advisable to limit same to the first four persons who report the error. As the average motion-picture theater changes its program daily, it will be hard to verify the mistakes, which may not prove to be such. To guard yourself against the unscrupulous, it is well for you or somebody you can trust to see each program. Failing this, stipulate that spectators report the error to the exhibitor immediately after seeing the picture. ”

“ The only chance a person would have of discovering that your stock slide is used by a competitor would be if he happened to be a patron of more than one motion-picture theater. Here, again, you would gain a brilliant victory. ”

“ And this is why I hold the opinion that a moving-picture expert will be on the staff of every large manufacturing concern. His duty will be to present his employer’s copy to the best possible advantage on the film. At the same time, each large advertiser will lay down a film-producing plant. It is going to incur him a big initial outlay, what with an artificial light studio, accessories, stock company and developing plant, but he will obtain his expense back by the considerable saving effected in not having to have his work done outside. ”

“ If you note your trade is already represented on the screen, then the theater is unavailable for the time being.
This may strike you as peculiar, since [Page 201] no newspaper grants a monopoly in one particular trade, but it is the custom in slide advertising. The healthiness of a newspaper may be judged by the volume of advertising it carries, but, in so far as the photoplay is concerned, the fewer the slides the better. Time is precious, and, if the exhibitor is to give each advertiser the service he pays for, he can only do so when the slides do not exceed one dozen. ”

“ This is why I advise you and your friends to frequent the theater that carries your advertising and see if you are getting value for your money.
At a certain motion-picture theater in Brooklyn about thirty slides are shown at the end of every performance. You have only got to look at the faces of the spectators to realize the resentment caused by the bad practice. That number of slides at one time is entirely too many. The exhibitor of this type is attempting to cram the stuff down the necks of his patrons, whereas he should accomplish it in an unforced manner. ”

“ At the present time the schools in various parts of the country are, more or less, adopting the motion picture as part and parcel of their educational course. They are, for the most part, only too glad to receive the free hire of a film depicting how your goods are made, inasmuch as it costs them at least $5 for the day’s rental for a single-reel, anti-ad. industrial picture. Films along these lines blend well, in that they possess educational qualities for school use and general theater consumption besides containing advertising for your goods. ”

“ If yours is a high-class store, it naturally will not do to have your film shown at a nickeldrome attracting the poorest of the working classes. I would especially advise you, before putting your motion picture into circulation, to make a tour of the photoplay theaters in your territory. It is not enough to judge by the outside appearance—mingle with the audience—and size each one up from the point of view of your proposition. ”

“ FILM ADVERTISING FROM THE PHOTOPLAYER’S VIEWPOINT
Business and art do not usually go together, but this can not be said of Edward Earle, the popular photoplayer.
“Perhaps why I evince such a great interest in advertising,” Mr. Earle began, “is the fact that without it a photoplayer would soon find his popularity on the wane. A player must, first of all, possess ability, as otherwise the most brilliant publicity campaign in creation will fizzle out.” ”

“ Great as is a motion-picture player’s need for publicity, he will seldom allow his name to be exploited by an advertiser without adequate remuneration, as he feels that he, too, should reap some of the financial benefit. ”

“ It is the custom to offer exhibitors a fee for showing an advertising film, but in this instance the picture was meritable enough as a comedy to offer a theater in each town the exclusive rights for a special price. ”

“ Once upon a time—and it was not so far back, either—it was a comparatively easy matter to coax a motion-picture exhibitor to take an advertising picture for one or more days’ showing, but nowadays it is hard work to do so, for there are now ten manufacturers to every one that adopted film advertising as part and parcel of its publicity campaign in the past. ”