Ignoring the Moviegoers Can Cost You That Advertising Job

You have enjoyed that advertising job for years and have kept at it by continuously adjusting with technological changes. You know what there is to know about Internet marketing and are aware that hard print is losing out to the Internet as a medium. Your thoughts are focused on optimizing content for search engines and producing e-advertisements that are notably net-able. You are thrilled with the prospects of television commercials and think that they are the greatest media in the world. You categorize media as either old media or new, with the boom in information technology guiding and defining what is new. You have already started discarding old media as ineffective and have taken the lead in championing the Internet as the ultimate salvation for advertising. But I've got some news for you that'll make you sit up and take stock of the situation. And maybe you'll still manage to keep that advertising job you love so much.

Cinema Advertising is More Effective Than New Media in Reaching Young Consumers

In a groundbreaking survey in continuation of its "Cinema Advertising Study 2003," Arbitron, Inc. has released its "Cinema Advertising Study 2007," and the findings are breathtaking for people in advertising.



The findings of the study show that:

• More than 113 million Americans above 12 years of age go to movies at least once in a month.
  
  
• Cinema advertising, on an average, reaches almost 149 million consumers every three months.
  
  
• Among regular moviegoers, 81% are teens ages 12-17 years, and 67% are between the ages of 18-24.
  
  
• Young consumers between 12-17 years of age are frequent moviegoers, 59% of teens see three or more movies in a three months period, and 25% of teens see five or more movies in three months.
  
  
• 39% of young consumers in the age group between 18-24 years see three or more movies in three months, while 25% see five or more.

Okay, you might think that simply means lots of people go to the movies and most of them are young adults. And that's hardly anything striking enough to reassess the advertising scene. Consider, though, the following findings from the same study:

• Consumers receive cinema advertising better than new and emerging media-advertising platforms. 36% of consumers find cinema advertising to be acceptable, compared to 29% who find advertising at the beginning of DVDs to be acceptable, 20% who find Internet advertising acceptable, and 12% who find advertising in video games acceptable.
  
  
• 63% of moviegoers above 12 years of age "do not mind" advertisements put on before the movie, and moviegoers reach the theater about 24 minutes before the movie starts.
  
  
• Six out of 10 moviegoers watch commercials at the movie theater.
  
  
• Almost 59% consumers (roughly 60 million Americans in a month) RECALL on-screen cinema advertisements seen on their most recent trip to the movies.
  
  
• 21% of moviegoers get interested in a product after seeing it on screen in a movie theater.

That still may seem unimpressive until you remember that most consumers today are empowered with technologies to shut out advertisements, and they avoid commercials whenever they can. Conversely, cinema advertisements cannot be shut out, and the moviegoer learns to accept and enjoy cinema advertisements as a part of the overall experience. Moviegoers are in a more receptive mode in a movie theater since movie going is usually a social and family activity. These facts gain further importance in light of the following findings:

• 40 % of frequent moviegoers are early adopters and decision influencers. The study found that among persons above the age of 12, 24% identify themselves as the initial purchasers of new products and services within their social groups. But within frequent moviegoers above the age of 12, 40% self-identify themselves with the "first-to-purchase" role.
  
  
• Frequent moviegoers are usually from economically upscale backgrounds.
  
  
• Compared to 29% of all persons above the age of twelve, 50% of frequent moviegoers visit an electronic store within a month.
  
  
• Frequent moviegoers are twice as likely to attend professional-sporting events than ordinary persons.
  
  
• 82% of frequent moviegoers visit a shopping mall within 30 days compared to 61% of ordinary persons, and 51% visit shopping malls at least once a week compared to 34% of ordinary persons.
  
  
• 84% of frequent moviegoers visit fast-food restaurants within a month compared to 64% of non-moviegoers.

Five Implications of the Survey for People in Advertising Jobs

The survey found five implications of the survey for media planning:

1. People in advertising jobs who want to target younger consumers should consider cinema advertising.
   
   
2. Cinema advertising breaks through the advertising clutter and reaches the consumer when he/she is highly attentive and engaged.
   
   
3. The movie theater enables people in advertising jobs to use cinema advertising to create a brand experience.
   
   
4. Avid consumers and early adopters can be reached through cinema advertising.
   
   
5. Cinema advertising can reach consumers who use technology to avoid exposure to commercials on most other platforms.

Once you realize that remote controls, internet pop-up blockers, and the advertising clutter in television and on the Internet are sufficient to rob the effectiveness of ads in those media channels, cinema advertising seems a healthier option for returns on investments. So a little bit of sharpening of skills in respect to cinema advertising can maintain your lead on that advertising job. The study report of Arbitron Inc. can be accessed at http://www.arbitron.com/study_a/cinema_study.asp.