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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
Media Week turned 30 last week and, after closing its print edition five years ago, it celebrated its birthday by publishing a special anniversary print edition. As part of the celebrations, industry stalwarts commented on what the future holds for those working in media today and DCM’s Karen Stacey penned a piece discussing the broad appeal of the cinema medium.
For over 100 years, the big screen has been the best place to tell the greatest stories. With MediaWeek celebrating its 30th year, we’re looking back to 1985, the year Back To The Future, Beverly Hills Cop and The Goonies were released in the UK.
Roger Moore also played Bond for the final time and Mad Max went Beyond the Thunderdome. This year, Bond returns in SPECTRE and Tom Hardy steps into Mad Max’s shoes, just two of the films expected to help 2015 cross the 170m admissions mark once more.
With cinema thriving, it’s easy to forget that 1984 was the nadir for the cinema industry, with admissions at an all-time low – just 54m. 1985 was the start of phenomenal growth and was also the year Levi Strauss’s iconic Launderette ad hit the big screen for a year-long campaign. Voted number four in a poll in 2000 for the 100 top ads of all time, the tongue-in-cheek parody of 50s style increased Levi’s sales by 800% in just five months!
The industry couldn't afford to rest on its laurels however and has continually looked at ways to enhance the experience for the cinemagoer and create special storytelling moments. Technological advances over the last 30 years have seen the evolution of 3D, 4K, HFR (higher frame rate), Dolby Atmos and 4DX. The most significant change was in 2012 when the cinema industry invested £200m in installing 3,000 digital projectors in cinemas across the UK. This transformed programming for many smaller, independent cinemas and a more diverse range of films is now delivered to more and more people across the country.
Digital also transformed the cinema advertising medium, enabling us to be cheaper, faster and more flexible. The ability to plan what you like, when you like, to whom you like has led to a 60% increase in brand count at DCM over the last 18 months. For the first time in 13 years, we’ve also been able to open up the most prestigious advertising position in cinema, the Gold Spot, to advertisers on a more flexible and targeted basis.
This is timely for advertisers as 2015 is set to be a huge year for the medium as a whole. We’ve certainly never seen a line-up of blockbusters like it. The year has already got off to a huge start with Fifty Shades Of Grey contributing to the second biggest week for admissions in 10 years, and with Skyfall becoming the first film to cross the £100m mark in 2012, everything points to SPECTRE being the film to beat.
Bond and cinema's enduring appeal is as simple, pure and powerful as it has always been, if not more so. In an increasingly crowded media landscape advertisers are seeking to reach our early-adopting, socially savvy audience. They are busier than ever and know all the tricks to avoid ads on digital platforms. But....the minute the lights go down and the hush descends on the audience is still a moment of huge excitement and as long people continue to tell the big cinematic stories, the cinema will always be the place to see them.
Karen Stacey is CEO at Digital Cinema Media (DCM).
This article first appeared in Media Week's 30th anniversary print edition.