| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | DCM |
| Categories | Exhibitor News |
Speaking to our independent cinema colleagues recently, alternative content is a growing and thriving area on many of your schedules. Cinemas are not the only places looking for new and innovative ways to draw audiences. Using venues outside of their main purpose can attract new people, which means marketers can extend their brands’ reach through partnerships and sponsorships.
Following the excitement of the London 2012 Games, the Olympic stadium will soon house music events with major summer concerts moving from Hyde Park in 2013. Marketing Week’s Mindi Chahal, takes a look at what is arguably the biggest change in the use of a venue in recent years and how the trend is spreading in other spheres including cinema, read on for her coverage on events in our industry.
“From Friday, comedy fans will be able to watch live stand-up on the big screen, following a deal between cinema sales house DCM, Sony Digital Cinema and The Comedy Store.
This is DCM’s first distribution deal to broadcast alternative content in cinemas nationwide and will enable comedy fans to watch performances at 150 screens in the UK.
Alcopop WKD is supporting the partnership through promotional activity including social media competitions to win tickets to showings in local cinemas, enabling it to target particular groups of people.
“This great content from live music events, comedy, sports or opera can be opened up to a national audience through cinema,” says Joe Evea, commercial director at DCM. “You then attract footfall you might not have had before.”
It also means that WKD can reach people in several locations rather than sponsoring just one event in one venue. “WKD can also take over cinema foyers or auditoriums. It gives the brand something it can activate, either on-pack or in its own marketing, to give it a sense of ownership.”
Odeon also runs alternative live event content that draws in new audiences for its cinemas. It has shown live National Theatre productions, ballet, opera and music and sports events including boxing, rugby, football and the Wimbledon tennis championship in 3D.
“It’s a great way to use screens that are under-utilised,” says Drew Kaza, executive vice president digital development at Odeon. “It’s a win-win for us and for the provider of the content. If you speak to the National Theatre or Royal Opera House, they’ll tell you that this helps with their remit in reaching audiences around the UK.”
The cinema chain routinely sells out of National Theatre Live performances and Kaza believes these events are a great experience, potentially giving audiences a better view than at the theatre.
Initiatives such as these also enable brands to pursue hard-to-reach demographics. Kaza claims that these events are attracting lapsed cinema-goers: “In some cases, there are people who haven’t been to the cinema in 10 to 15 years and now we have them coming back four times a year to see opera with us.”
Click here for the full Marketing Week article by Mindi Chahal “Bringing in audiences other places cannot reach”