Advertising by motion pictures
Part 1
Advertising by Motion Pictures
BY ERNEST A. DENCH
_Author of “Playwriting for the Cinema,” “Making the Monies,” Former Vice-president Photoplay Authors’ League, and Editor of the Late “Photoplay Writer”_
CINCINNATI THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
Copyright, 1916
The Standard Publishing Company
CONTENTS
PAGE
I Telling Your Advertising Story by Motion Pictures 11
II Movie Advertising from the Viewpoint of a Fan 18
III The Dollars and Cents of Advertising by Motion Pictures 23
IV Some Film Advertising Methods for the Manufacturer 30
V Slide and Film Advertising Contrasted 33
VI Using the Film to Secure Foreign Business 41
VII Approaching the Working Classes with a Motion-picture Play 46
VIII Reaching the Public by Motion Pictures 52
IX Introducing Advertising into Motion-picture Newspapers 59
X Employing Motion Pictures to Appeal to the Children 64
XI Salesmanship Demonstrations by the Film 71
XII Equipping a Private Motion-picture Theater for Business Purposes 74
XIII Introducing Competitions in Ad. Motion Pictures 79
XIV Bringing Out the Individuality of Dry Goods by Motion Pictures 85
XV Boosting Cities and Pleasure Resorts by Motion Pictures 92
XVI Advertising Railroads by the Movies 98
XVII Getting Over the Pureness of Your Food Products by the Film 105
XVIII Selling Automobiles and Accessories by Motion Pictures 113
XIX Clinching Agricultural Machinery Sales by Motion Pictures 120
XX How Publishers Can Capture Business from the Ever-encroaching Film Producer 126
XXI Advertising Your Newspaper with a Motion Picture 131
XXII Selling Shoes by Motion Pictures 136
XXIII Film Advertising from the Photoplayer’s Viewpoint 140
XXIV Advertising Film Circulation 146
XXV Covering the Motion-picture Field by Magazines 152
XXVI Future Developments of Advertising by Motion Pictures 156
XXVII Boosting Your Trade with a Popular Player 163
XXVIII Boosting Your Business with an Advertising Motion Picture 169
XXIX Pulling Movie-slide Advertising Out of the Rut 173
XXX Maintaining the Interest in Slide Advertising 178
XXXI Individuality in Slide Advertising 183
XXXII The Personal Element in Slide Advertising 188
XXXIII Are Your Slides Truthful? 191
XXXIV Obtaining the Best Results From Slide Advertising 194
XXXV Selecting the Theater for Your Ad. Slide 199
XXXVI Handling the Anti-ad. Slide Exhibitor 203
XXXVII Having Your Movie Ad. Slides Shown to the Best Advantage 207
XXXVIII The Ideal Slide Follow-up Medium 211
XXXIX Attracting Farmers to Town 215
XL Capitalizing Popular Screen Players in Slide Advertising 217
XLI Attracting Trade with Photoplay Stars 221
XLII Taking Advantage of Errors in Photoplays 226
XLIII How the Book Dealer Can Take Advantage of the Movie Adaptation Mania 230
XLIV Selling Real Estate by the Film 233
XLV Advertising Your Department Store by Motion Pictures 238
XLVI Hitching Motion Pictures to Musical Advertising 243
XLVII Developing “Have a Garden” Movement with Photoplay Theater Help 248
XLVIII Naming Soda-fountain Concoctions After Movies 252
INTRODUCTION
I am, in the first place, one of the few journalists to specialize on Motion Pictures. This enables me to concentrate on one subject instead of running the risk of making a regular hash of everything under the sun. I would not, naturally, have chosen to follow this path were not the theme the very versatile one it is. So you can imagine that I am always on the alert for new-idea germs for articles.
While searching for these I ran up against the advertising field. I was well aware that the motion picture had broken into the publicity game with success, but a good deal of investigating convinced me that the reason this new publicity medium had failed to gain a wide following was because there was so little definite information about it obtainable.
No advertiser, I fully knew, would consider a pig in the poke proposition, so it occurred to me that here was my chance to remedy the defect. 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.
It also is not, I am glad to say, a medium confined to any one business or profession. It is, in fact, equally adaptable to the large manufacturer as it is to the smallest dealer in any trade.
Some advertisers may view a new form of publicity in the light that it necessitates a greater outlay without accomplishing more than the old established ad mediums. This, however, is not true of the motion picture, for it possesses business-pulling properties distinctly its own. The extra expense is more than recovered by the increased trade it develops.
It is, furthermore, an advertising medium no modern business man can afford to gloss over, so this little book is entitled to his most careful consideration.
ERNEST A. DENCH.
I.
TELLING YOUR ADVERTISING STORY BY MOTION PICTURES
In spite of the versatility of the intrepid motion picture as an advertising medium, it has its limitations. This, after all, is but natural, for all forms of publicity are supposed to be links in the chain, and not one is strong enough to take the place of the whole.
It is clearly obvious, of course, that when adopting motion-picture advertising, everything has to be visualized by means of animated photographs, so, therefore, the appeal is presented through the eye. As for the printed work, this takes a back seat.
Since everything is intended to be absorbed by the eye, a whole mass of explanatory matter tagged on to the film would rather hinder the ad. instead of adding further enlightenment as intended. And the short time a sentence remains on the screen does not allow lengthy statements to sink in. Subtitles are weak devices to help a photoplay story over stumbling-blocks, and the less and shorter they are, the better the picture will be. There are plenty of other mediums in which to display how well you can weave words, so why drag them into a place where they do not fit?
Besides, it is what the spectator sees, not reads, that leaves the lasting impression, which is the paramount point to be reached in advertising by motion pictures.
And there is another important matter to be weighed and considered. If you overload your film with titles, you will befog a good number of foreigners who have not been long enough in our country to master the English language, so that their probable patronage is lost just because the international language of the film has been abused.
There has already arisen a select few writers who have made a specialty of combining advertising with motion pictures and laying out campaigns for their clients to the best possible advantage.
Motion-picture advertising, as a direct-appeal proposition, is ineffective. You may, for instance, have to get out a catalogue in order to list the goods you make, and you may also plan to get this over on the screen by filming each article as you would if you had a still photograph taken and precede each with an insert, giving prices and other particulars of same. Apart from the fact that the film would be voted deadly dull by audiences, it would also fall flat as a business bringer. You simply can’t do without advertising literature, for the motion picture ends at getting interested, and the old stand-bys must clinch the deal at the right time.
Where the film excels is that your ad. comes on the screen without competing with any others for attention, and although the spectator may not respond easily to press advertising, he feels he has to view the picture because he can not “turn over a page,” or, in other words, there is nothing else interesting for him to turn his attention to. He will, if approached, admit that the motion picture is the most entertaining publicity channel yet. You also reach him at his leisure, and, therefore, approach him in the right mood.
Get it out of your head right now that anything in the nature of an ad. film will produce the results you strive for; believe me, the movie fan (there are twenty million of them in this country) is a most fastidious individual, for which the improvements reached in photoplays may be held responsible. You would not expect a formal business notice to do any good nowadays, would you? Then, the same holds good of film advertising.
You can’t merely state on a film that Bondin, the famous actor, derives great enjoyment out of your preparation--it’s too crude. 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. The picture is likewise given an educational touch because an industry is being unfolded at the same time. Then, if you want to bring out the important selling points, you engage a writer to incorporate them into a comedy or dramatic photoplay. And so I could go on giving examples of introducing life into the ad. story. Action is the life and soul of the film industry.
Bear in mind, too, that it is the quality that tells, not quantity. I have seen efforts along these lines that contained material for a half-reel subject, yet they were unduly extended to two reels, boring an audience for forty minutes instead of entertaining them for ten minutes. Picture-goers are quick to resent padding, and your film may defeat its purpose. A good way to detect this beforehand is to arrange for its projection and try to place yourself in the position of the average movie fan.
This padding is often done by the smaller fry so as to make as much as possible over the deal. But if the advertiser places himself in the hands of a reliable industrial film concern, he may rest assured of them not taking undue advantage by charging for a lot of superfluous footage.
II.
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.
The obvious conclusion is that advertisers will have to follow in the path of the ordinary producer in order to obtain the greatest value out of this new advertising medium.
A talk with an intelligent motion-picture fan, as I found, is very interesting. “I would like your views on ad. films,” I asked.
“With pleasure,” she replied, and forthwith got down to business.
“I must say that they are considerably more interesting than the advertisements that meet your eye in the newspapers. How nice it is to watch an industry on the screen and be taken through a big manufacturing plant. It is an education in itself, and it never strikes you as though it was intended as a boost, although the particular thing--the point the advertiser wishes to bring home, I believe you call it--leaves an indelible impression on you.
“I also enjoy the films in which there is a story. One such film, I remember, told of a poor family who took in washing. Disease abounded, and the folks who had their laundry done learned their lesson. Then the sanitary methods of the steam laundry were contrasted. It impressed me very much.
“The comic films are frequently laughable, but I remember being offended once at seeing a man like somebody’s beer so much that he drank it until he was dead drunk. I noticed that I was not the only spectator to leave the hall. I like, at all times, my photoplay fare to be in good taste.
“At some of the movie theaters I attend they make a practice of running a number of slides after the reels. They relate to neighboring stores, but are so dry and shown for so many weeks without being changed that I always skip them.”
“Would you prefer,” I chimed in, “that the advertising film portion be abolished?”
“I would not so long as the ordinary pictures did not suffer in quality and quantity. A show I regularly visit out in New Jersey always runs the ad. films after the program has finished. As the pictures are invariably good ones, I always stay to see them through, and most others in the audience seem to do likewise. And another thing, the subjects are frequently changed, for naturally one grows tired of seeing the same things over and over again.”
“Have you,” I broached, “any suggestions for improvements?”
“Sure; I would like to see some of my favorite photoplayers take the leading parts in the ad. stories. It would be just crazy to watch Mary Fuller and Francis X. Bushman as a pair of newly weds who try to overcome housekeeping difficulties with various modern articles to be bought at stores.
“I also think that there is considerable room for improving the film plots. They should be as good as the ordinary photoplays. What they seem to lack is strength. There is seldom any of the strong, exciting situations which I am accustomed to see, and the punch is often conspicuous by its absence at the end.”
III.
THE DOLLARS AND CENTS OF ADVERTISING BY MOTION PICTURES
So far as I am aware, the cost aspects of advertising by motion pictures have not been dealt with in print before. This may explain why so many advertisers, national or otherwise, have neglected to avail themselves of the many opportunities offered by the new publicity medium. As in all things, the cost is the deciding point, and although the average advertiser will not quibble over a few dollars where there is the prospect of increased business, he, nevertheless, likes to know beforehand just what the campaign is going to cost.
Every business man thinks of the facts before anything else, and this chapter is intended to furnish them so that he need grope in the dark no longer.
I will suppose you follow the vade mecum of most advertisers and arrange to have a single-reel motion picture produced showing conditions at your plant. Even though it is only an industrial subject, it calls for much careful thinking and painstaking effort. A scenario will have to be prepared, and in this the various details you wish emphasized are introduced in logical order. You can, of course, withhold the trade secrets that are not desirable for the public to see. There is also a knack in inserting and wording the subtitles, for one is frequently employed to explain the obvious. This results in film wastage, while all the difficult points should be explained as explicitly as possible, as each word used consumes one foot of film.
A very bad habit which readily becomes apparent and detracts the attention of spectators from the object of the film is the employees at the plant staring hard at the camera while working. This defect has marred a good many industrials, and it gives the impression that the workers are aware of what is happening, whereas everything should appear perfectly natural.
The movie camera man next films the picture according to the scenario, allowing, however, a certain amount of feet for each incident, which depends on the importance of same. Providing sufficient daylight is available, the usual inclusive fee charged for the producing and developing of such a film is fifty cents per foot--or $500 for the entire reel, which is exactly a thousand feet. This is only for the negative, ten cents per foot being charged for each positive copy. You will, naturally, require more than one print, so you can figure on a cost of $100 for each copy. I will come back to this point later.
Maybe in parts of your manufacturing plant daylight is at a premium, in which event you will be obliged to pay fifty cents more per foot for the negative copy for installing the necessary artificial lighting. These charges include an allowance for padding, which is promptly eliminated, thus improving the whole picture.
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. Personally speaking, I have received as much as $100 for conceiving and putting a one-reel photoplay in scenario form. Then you will need a capable cast of actors and a talented director to produce the picture in order to give it a distinctly expert professional touch. Probably interior scenes are called for outside of your works. These have to be erected in the studio at an additional expense.
The cost, of course, depends on the nature of the play, but all these things should be provided from $1.25 to $3 per foot. This works out at a cost of from $1,250 to $3,000 for producing the negative.
It is well to remember that, once the film has been produced, it is always available, the only extra charge being for extra positive copies you may require to replace the ones in use when worn out. If you want to save expense in the matter, and do not object to delay in operating your campaign, you can arrange for a given number of your dealers over a certain territory to retain the film for a day, then loan it to the local motion-picture theater for its evening show. If, however, you want to cover all the territory at one time, then you will need more prints in circulation.
Do not permit a print to be constantly in use for more than six months without replacing it with a new copy, for you have to make a due allowance for wear and tear. It would not do to let your film graduate to the “rainy” stage, since your pictorial advertisement, to leave a good impression on movie audiences, must be in perfect condition.
Unfortunately, no general advertising circulation plan has been put in execution, but it is best either to have the producing concern help you out, or else rely upon your dealers to aid you in their respective localities. Being on the spot and knowing the co-operation is to the advantage of all concerned, he can, no doubt, arrange matters with the best local exhibitor. The fee for showing is merely a matter of arrangement, but in many cases you will incur no expense.
IV.
SOME FILM ADVERTISING METHODS FOR THE MANUFACTURER
BOOSTING TRADEMARKS
I will first endeavor to show the proprietor of an advertised article the best uses to which the motion picture can be put, for some “copy” screens better than others, and the advertiser should use discrimination.
Now, one of the greatest assets a manufacturer can have is a trademark. This he uses as fuel when trying to point out to the public, by means of press announcements, posters and literature, not to accept substitutes. Be the trademark a good one for pictorial purposes, and a specialist is called in to give the branded article a lasting impression on the public desired to reach, and the results will please. I am a photoplay writer who specializes in writing such plays to order, so I know what I am talking about.
MAKING CATCH PHRASES MORE POPULAR
Catch phrases are also good plot germs, and are capable of being worked in the same manner as trademarks.
Not a few of our leading manufacturers have familiar persons in connection with their standard articles. The other year Messrs. Siemen Brothers, an English firm, brought their well-known “Wotan” maid and “Tantalum” man to life in a film. It was a comedy, and the plot’s mission, besides introducing these figures, was to bring home how 75 per cent. of the electric-light bill could be saved by the “Wotan” and “Tantalum” lamps. This play was first shown at one of the local theaters and was well received.
BRINGING ROMANCE TO LIGHT
Behind many commercial undertakings there is romance. It may be forgotten in the press of business, but human interest is too valuable as a publicity stunt to be overlooked. It is quite possible that these romantic stories are not appreciated at their full value until a motion-picture publicity expert comes along and squeezes all the “juice” out of them.
The motion-picture industry has made its marvelous progress through the lifelike stories that predominate in the picture theaters. It, therefore, only stands to reason that a real life story would have a better appealing power.
V.
SLIDE AND FILM ADVERTISING CONTRASTED
When using the press, you either advertise in the newspapers or magazines, or both. So is there more than one medium at the motion-picture theater. You can employ a slide or a film to present your advertisement, according to which of the two devices you may favor. I have no axe to grind in contrasting the two mediums, so will do so in a fair manner.