A trip to the cinema, and why I may need help…

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Last Sunday me and Andrea decided to spend a Sunday afternoon at the cinema. (We saw ‘Bank Job’ – highly recommend it)

As I was waiting for the film to begin, there was the usual slide show of local business adverts with the piped music playing in the background.

Over the last few months, we’ve been going to the same cinema quite regularly and I’ve noticed the same ads have been displayed every time. This got me thinking…

Is this form of advertising working for these businesses and how do they know?

And this is where I may need help…

There I was – on my day off – critiquing these local business ads and wondering how they could be improved. It was then I realised I truly was a marketing geek – completely beyond help. Beyond seeing ads like ‘normal’ people would ever again…

Anyway, after this realisation, I started thinking about how I’d advertise for a client in the cinema… Here’s my rough trail of thought:

- When you’re waiting for a film to start, most people are bored and fidgety.

- The majority of the audience have a mobile phone.

- They are conscious of their phone because they’re

o Playing with it because they’re bored, or

o They’re been reminded to switch it off before the film starts.

- The audience isn’t in buying mode and they’ll forget about your ad a few seconds into the film (at best).

- So the ideal ad would incorporate:

o Instant response using they’re mobile phone (short code text)

o Gathering information in that text for the advertiser to follow up with (email, text or phone)

o An irresistible offer to get them to get their phone out and take action now. (This could be anything from a gift, heavy discount, buyers guide, something fun, the list is endless!)

Now, the benefit of getting the audience to text their response is twofold for the advertiser:

1. You capture the respondents contact information to follow up with,
2. It’s very easy to measure the effectiveness of your campaign and your return on investment, because every text response is logged.

Out of all the ads I saw last Sunday, how many of them had either a text response system or an irresistible, compelling offer?

Not one. Not a sausage.

I was absolutely astonished. There’s money on the table waiting to be claimed.

If you’re thinking of advertising in your local cinema, at least try this strategy. I think it’ll pay off handsomely.

If it doesn’t, the popcorn’s on me…