Download Cinema looks back to the future Chaos Media`s Head of Clients

Cinema looks back to the future
Chaos Media’s Head of Clients & Craft, Glenda Wynyard, says that cinema is often overlooked
by both advertisers and media planners alike as an advertising medium. “Frequently cinema
falls victim to the perception that it is an expensive medium to gain reach or to maintain an inmarket presence. In an industry that is often dominated by discussions around cross screen
planning or the role of screens in the media landscape, rarely is cinema included in the
discussion” Wynyard continues.
According to Wynyard Australia has always led the way with cinema and most Australians
would be surprised to know that whilst the first successful permanent theatre showing only
films was Pittsburgh’s famous ‘Nickelodeon’, the first feature length multi-reel film was a 1906
Australian production.
With regular newsreels exhibited from 1910, cinema soon became a popular way for finding
out about the news. The 1950’s presented a new challenge to the cinematic industrytelevision. The increasing popularity of the medium jeopardised the future of film theatres.
Distressed by the increasing number of closed theatres, studios and companies found new and
innovative ways to bring audiences back. These included attempts to widen cinema’s appeal
with new screen formats and epic films such as The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur
(1959), Spartacus (1960) and El Cid (1961).
Wynyard adds “advertising in cinema also hasn't always had it easy and if you look back into
cinema's history most of the documents referring to cinema advertising are negative.
The 1961 speech "The Case Against Advertising" provides an insight into how hard
our predecessors in advertising fought to retain the right to advertise in cinemas. And this was
when cinema was at the forefront as an advertising medium along with printed newspapers,
magazines and broadcast television.”
Moving forward 50 plus years, cinema continues to evolve and be engage with its audience. It
is well known among media circles, that if you have a budget that allows for it, adjusting the
media mix to include cinema can deliver better results, without increasing overall budget.
Cinema advertising is proven to have the same impact on brand consideration as
television and not just for younger audiences, with older and higher-income viewers also
responding well.
Wynyard states that “it often surprises a client when you pull out a statistic about the influence
of cinema advertising. For instance, according to Roy Morgan Research, 61% of those that went
to a movie in the last three months and donated to a human based not-for-profit or charity
looked up a NFP website because of an ad that they viewed whilst at the movies.”
So with all of this in mind, Wynyard to is in awe of the aptly named Marvel Cinematic Universe,
who are currently the highest grossing movie franchise of all-time according to Val Morgan.
Marvel Comic #1 first appeared in its printed form during October 1939. Today's
cinematic Marvel crossed the $10bn mark at the global box office earlier this year with the
success of Captain America: Civil War. In Australia, again according to Val Morgan, The
Avengers (2012) is the fourth highest grossing film of all-time with $53m, another example of
Marvel's ageless mass appeal. Later this month, Australia will see Marvel’s Doctor Strange
releasing (Oct 27), followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Thor: Ragnarok both
releasing in 2017.
Marvel's success has been that they appeal to a broader audience, and CineTAM shows there is
an evenly spread age profile across key cinema buying demographics, with males making up
61% of the audience and females 39%, highlighting Marvel’s broad appeal.
“Cinema continues to reinvent itself through event 'movies' such as those released by Marvel,”
comments Wynyard “and this 'natural evolution' in cinemas will continue to see this once
traditional medium evolve and survive in a world of 'immediacy'. Already in the USA there has
been an increase of new advertisers with a total of 215 new national or regional brands who
advertised in cinema in 2015, up from 121 new brands in 2014 and 93 new brands in 2013.”
About Chaos Media
Chaos Media is an Australian-owned, and fully independent media agency who uses their media
knowledge and tools help to shape better media connections on behalf of their clients. And
these tools have been carefully designed to handle the often unforeseen fluctuations that all
businesses experience.
For further information, contact:
Glenda Wynyard +64 2 9555 7776 or email [email protected]