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.
As the direct results of my investigations in numerous motion-picture theaters of all types in and around New York and Brooklyn, which set the average for the rest of the country, I have made the discovery that there is a far greater percentage of the manufacturers adoptingslides than films. Why is this so, then? Personally speaking, I think that it is due to the fact that the one thing most in vogue is considerably cheaper than the other. I say this without any thought of giving offense to advertisers, for I know that the wise ones regard results as of paramount importance rather than haggling over the question of price. Maybe, however, they haven’t been acquainted with the screen long enough as a publicity outlet to become sufficiently conversant with the two channels.
One big drawback is that few of the slides are attractive enough to become business producers. It is one thing to gain attention and another thing to retain it. It only stands to reason that you can not expect an audience to be interested in a dull and commonplace business any more than you can hope a hackneyed newspaper ad. to return aninvestment. It might have done when advertising was in its infancy, but to-day, never.
Even greater pains should be taken in preparing the matter for a slide, for the folks that you will shortly show it to have been educated up to seeing things excellent in pictorial form. Neither is just one slide sufficient in order to get home. You must take into consideration, too, that yours is only one of a dozen or more thrown on the screen. The whole batch are usually projected after the reels have been shown, in rapid succession. Since you are competing with a bunch of advertisers, no matter whether they be competitors or not, you can not expect an audience to indulge in a game of mental gymnastics so as to remember them all. They are, to use a slangy expression, tempted to bite off more than they can chew.
Besides, place yourself in the positionof motion-picture playgoers. They don’t attend merely to witness a magic-lantern show or to read books. The former is out of date, while the latter they can do at their leisure at home. You can’t be surprised at them taking offense when they are forced (that is the strongest word for it) to wade through a tiresome number of slides before the next reel is shown. The practice merely helps to blackball the advertiser, and that surely is the last thing to be desired.
If you are still in favor of slides, then take my tip and get out of the rut; only, first of all, bear in mind that you are not preparing something for people to read, but see. Your ad. will then stand out above the rest. Introduce pictures, preferably something to make them laugh. You can make them move, too! Who does not remember the Old Dutch Cleanser lady chasing Dirt, all within the limited compass of a single slide? You can alsopicturize comic stories on similar lines to those contained in the comic sections of the metropolitan Sunday newspapers. Run the series as a serial, and so maintain the interest from day to day. It is going to cost you more, ’tis true, but you will be recompensed amply. Another grave mistake is to allow a slide to be shown at the same theater several weeks in succession, for movie fans are accustomed to a varied daily change of program and hate seeing the same thing over again.
My main reason for favoring a film is because it is the right vehicle in the right place. The twenty million Americans go to see pictures in motion, and it has been proved from experience that the average movie patron does not object to a film which combines either instruction or entertainment. A motion picture taking an audience through your manufacturing plant and bringing out all the selling points you wish would come underthe former heading, while a comedy or dramatic photoplay incorporating your ad. would be applicable to the second designation. By one or the other of these ways your campaign would get over more convincingly, and you could conduct it on an extensive scale. There would be no possibility about it not sinking into the audience, inasmuch as good pictures always do have this effect.
It is also pleasing to know that you would have no competition to contend with, for the simple reason that no exhibitor with brains would think of including more than one picture of this nature on his regular program. As the semi-ad. film is extra, why should spectators be offended in the least? Or, come to that, you could stipulate in the contract to this effect. You would thus enjoy a monopoly of the screen and not be in fear of the attention of the audience being divided. Your film is on the screenfor eighteen minutes or more, whereas a slide barely occupies a minute.
It must not be thought that I am wishing to denounce slide advertising; far from it, let me assure you. It has its uses.
Naturally, to secure the desired results, you have to work in co-operation with the dealers throughout the country. Now, with a film alone you can accomplish this much satisfactorily, but an attractive slide shown on the screen after the film has been run over fills the gap O. K. It also acts as a follow-up and direct-appeal stunt, for it is no earthly use familiarizing people with your goods without acquainting them where they may be obtained locally. Put forward some attractive proposition and get the people to action. The slide has always been a device more eminently suited for retailers on account of it being inexpensive, and the manufacturer should thereforeonly employ it as an ally to his movie publicity campaign. Then both will work to mutual advantage.