MARKETING & BRANDING
Smart
In examining the business of
media-buying, Arc Brand Marketing
President, Marie McClaflin, asks
exhibitors: “Are you reaching your
audience affordably?”
B
enjamin Franklin once quipped, “A
penny saved, is a penny earned.”
This can be applied across most areas
of Exhibition if you are savvy. Save
money on cups, bags and supplies,
and increase profits, right? We can
spend a great deal of time in operations looking
for efficient ways to enhance our financials. One
major area is theatre advertising – or media-buying
– an area we’ll often view more as a necessary evil
than a profit-target.
Exhibitor media-buying tends to gravitate toward
standard press and radio outlets. Some forwardthinking chains have opened the door to new med­
ia, such as online target advertising, social media,
direct mail, TV, grassroots, and the like. The market
dynamic sometimes dictates our preferences, too.
For example: tourist markets, patrons in dominant
age-groups, and aggressive competitors or shared
screen-zones might cause exhibitors either to follow
the needs of patrons or else mimic their compet­
itors. Of course, you know your patrons and trade
areas better than anyone, but the advice is not to be
afraid to be first to try new things.
Golden Rule: When exhibitors set themselves
apart from the competition, they get noticed and
when it comes to media-buying, everything is
negotiable – never pay ratecard rates. Remember
these two things and you’ll be off to a good start.
Meanwhile, here are a few “Media-Buying 101”
tips as you get creative discovering new profitcenters for your circuit:
Media
LOSE THE MYSTERY
If you’re still wondering what terms like PPC,
CPM or QH mean, then it’s high time to start
the education process.
BE SPECIFIC, BUY SMART
When buying media, make sure you are pulling
all of the target audience data. Ask sales reps to
show you their audience data based on an average
of aud­its. Determine your actual audience target
before you start buying and, in radio, always ask
for a 4-book average; in newspapers, request subscription and renewal figures. Have sales reps compare themselves with the competition.
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screentrade | Winter 2011 | www.screentrademagazine.com
FIRESALE
Inevitably, several times a year, your radio or
med­ia rep will call to tell you they have “special
deals happening and that you must take advantage!” It’s a sales tool. By all means look over the
proposal, but remember, before you buy, to see
if they are really reaching your target audience.
Cheap doesn’t always mean smart.
Call Us Superficial.
NEGOTIATE/GET IT FOR FREE
The media business is for profit, so never just accept
a letter of rate-increase without a conversation. Acc­
ording to recent surveys, movie showtime listings
are one of the top ten reasons people still buy or
look at newspapers. So, who has the leverage, here?
You do. Many metropolitan papers already realize
this and offer directory ads for free, and all because
one of your savvy competitors negotiated. Trading
for “in-kind” services or tickets is also a useful neg­
otiating tool.
It’s What’s on the Surface that
Makes the Hurley Difference.
NEW MEDIA
Isn’t it time to rethink bulky, rectangular printdirect­ory ads? With over 75% of patrons now
seaching online (or via PDAs) for showtimes, get
acquainted with new media. Are you reaching your
Internet-surfing patrons?
CASE STUDY:
The Newspaper Partnership
AN INDEPENDENT EXHIBITOR needed to be in the local newspaper with directory and display ads. And, while the budget had
been drastically cut, the ad-rates continued to be too high. After
successive negotiations with the paper, a desirable rate simply
could not be struck, so the marketing director turned to a new
department within the paper to find a solution – Circulation. The
newspaper had an aggressive plan for renewing subscriptions
under an auto-payment (direct debit) plan but was experiencing
lackluster results getting readers to sign-up.
Through a trade partnership, the exhibitor secured an annual
deal via special screenings and complimentary movie tickets to
incentivize the program. By becoming a solution for the newspaper through trade, and more than doubling their renewal
rate, the exhibitor gained sufficient leverage to trade for daily
directory ads, saving over $68,000 in newspaper costs.
GET PROFESSIONAL ADVICE
Media-buying services typically receive a +15%
discount from media outlets over retail customers. Most charge the client the difference to plan
and place media but, often, full-service agencies
are willing to reduce these fees for other projects
within the marketing area such as menu-board
des­ign, marketing-planning and promotions. Buying agencies will also “purchase media in bulk” for
several clients at a time, thus helpfully reducing
rates in your favor. Another option is to begin your
own in-house agency and to use this agency status
to obtain lower rates. S
www.arcbrand.com
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