Best of cinema in 2015 for finance brands

    Date
    Author Zoe Aresti

DCM's Pete Troiano analyses the 2015 film slate, outlining what cinema has in store for finance and insurance brands this year, highlighting the key films to look out for.

Welcome to February, another exciting month for cinema off the back of a memorable January, which saw a mix of titles to suit all tastes perform exceptionally at the box office. Award nominees such as Birdman, The Theory of Everything and Whiplash all came out to favourable reviews and were not only recognised at the Golden Globes but are also nominated at the upcoming BAFTAs and Oscars, while other notable highlights include Wild, American Sniper and the latest Disney behemoth Big Hero 6.

This month, we want to tell you about cinema’s growing relationship with finance brands and their affinity with the big screen. Q1 (and Q2) is the time of year that sees a peak in both account and credit card applications for finance brands, which is reflected in the strong investment they’ve made in cinema during this time in the last five years. Industry spend and brand count have both gone up significantly, the former by £10.8m since 2010, with the biggest YOY increase coming in 2013, when brand spend shot to £14m from £9m in 2012. The number of finance brands advertising on cinema peaked in 2014 when 25 brands appeared onscreen, a 44% increase since 2010.

Over the last five years, the finance sector, which includes insurance brands, has cemented its position as one of cinema’s biggest categories. It’s been the 4th highest spending category over the past two years (only telecoms, motors and drink spent more), whilst also maintaining spend of at least £1m+ in four of the last five Q1s. The evolving nature of the category’s creative helps to explain this shift, such as Go Compare’s 3D campaign in May 2014, but also Direct Line’s 2014 September campaign, where Harvey Keitel reprised his most famous role, Winstone Wolfe from Pulp Fiction. In what was a new brand message, Keitel’s role as the ‘ultimate fixer’ showed Direct Line repositioning itself as the best problem solvers out there instead of competing on price, as well as tapping into the natural cinematic quality behind Keitel’s role in what was one of the most revered films of the 90s.

The film slate for the next few months shows exactly why finance brands should be onscreen. There’s a significant variety of films across numerous genres, which means brands will be able to target a broad audience at the most important time of the year to develop their existing customer base as well as attract new ones.

This rich mix of film in February begins with awards contender Selma (6 February), a Martin Luther King biopic generating strong awards buzz in the US, while 13 February sees without doubt the highlight of the month in Fifty Shades of Grey. E.L. James’ literary phenomenon is the fastest selling paperback of all time in the UK, and with more than 100M books sold worldwide and 250m online trailer views, the excitement around the film’s release is now going into overdrive. The month’s other blockbuster sees Maggie Smith and co all return for the sequel to the incredibly successful The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, hoping to eclipse the original’s magnificent £20m box office total.

With the mix of films scheduled for release this month, it looks like the relationship between cinema and finance brands is once again set to flourish this quarter and throughout the rest of the year.