[2009 trends] Cinema advertising a positive choice

As was recently noted in the Wall Street Journal, "During five out of the last seven recessions in America, the box office has boomed. Especially when gas prices started skyrocketing early this year and 'stay-cations' were suddenly all the rage, people still had to find opportunities to get out of the house for a few hours. Apparently, some stay-cations might actually cause 'cabin fever'."

New and alternative ad opportunities

The big screen format and entertaining world of cinema will continue to excite clients into 2009 with ongoing new and alternative advertising opportunities, such as Smell Campaigns, 3D movies and various versions of cinema gaming and interactivity such as 'advergames'.

Marketers are looking for media choices that work even harder than before. On-screen digital advertising is a highly cost-effective option for advertisers looking to maintain an impactful presence among their target market and I believe this trend will continue strongly through 2009. With a crisp image and 5.1 Dolby surround sound, digital advertising is the obvious choice for brands needing to downscale their investment in other more expensive visual media and still maintain top-of-mind awareness.

From our perspective over 2008, we saw more advertisers using cinema more frequently for multiple screenings, and we expect this trend to continue for the course of 2009. Cinema has proven its value and efficiency as a sustainable medium and many advertisers are taking advantage of the off-screen options that cinema has to offer. Used in tandem with in-house promotions, cinema can literally double or triple the impact a brand can have on moviegoers.

Draw consumers into cinema

Attendances for 2008 ended on a high with movies such as Quantum of Solace, Mr Bones 2 and Madagascar 2 proving popular choices for both advertisers and cinema-goers. I believe that 2009 is going to be another strong movie year in terms of attendances and ad-revenue; titles such as Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince; Transformers 2, Ice Age 3, and Angels and Demons will continue to draw consumers into cinema.

So, while clients will continue to evaluate their communication needs and look at all platforms more carefully, and even though cinema is a small piece of the pie, the medium is undisputedly one of the better performing available to advertisers under these trying conditions.