It is obvious, however, that an undertaking on these extensive lines only appeals to the recognized leaders in each line of business, so smaller commercial concerns will find it advantageous to carry out a movie campaign entirely of their own.
A good proportion of the motion-picture theaters abroad are always glad to snap up such pictures free and to include them on the ordinary entertainment. To monopolize the advertising in the theater program, and defray the printing of same, is a reliable follow-up campaign.
VII.
APPROACHING THE WORKING CLASSES WITH A MOTION-PICTURE PLAY
It was the Bard of Stratford who said that “the play was the thing.” Although it then referred to the legitimate stage, as it does now, it can to-day apply aptly to the motion-picture theater. A good story is, also, the ideal vehicle for film advertising.
The twenty million movie fans in this country frequent their favorite form of amusement to be entertained, and some greatly resent the pure advertising or semi-educationals which they often have to sit out.
It must be borne in mind that it is the one kind of relaxation by which the working classes are able to get away from the monotony and hardness of their every-day existence. They, therefore, want their fare served up in an appetizing manner. Anything else is apt to prove a bore, and you can thus see what kind of a receptive mood by which you have to approach the average motion-picture audience. That is why it is advisable to have your advertising points ingeniously incorporated in either a comedy or drama, the former preferably.
The most common type of ad. film is the industrialog, portraying the processes by which certain goods are manufactured. Several of these subjects I have seen at the picture shows lately were so unnecessarily padded that they were enough to send spectators to sleep. No wise advertiser would attempt to cram in all the matter he could into the smallest possible space in his press announcements, neither should he try it on the film.
Industrialogs undoubtedly appeal more to a better-class audience, but it must be remembered that a good proportion of the movie theaters are still nickel shows, which attract the working classes. These folks see enough of factory and business life in the daytime, so they do not want to be inflicted with it when endeavoring to get away from the atmosphere. Here you have a large audience which is extremely difficult to address via the press, for the majority go in for hardly any reading at all. Maybe they haven’t got the inclination or money to do it. Their custom is certainly worth while cultivating, and no doubt they can understand pictures better than books, as, when the world was young, pictures were drawn on slabs of stone to indicate what otherwise could not be explained. Compelled to go out to work at an early age is responsible for a good proportion of the masses being poor readers and writers. By the motion pictures, however, you can approach a public previously beyond your reach.
I recently was commissioned to write a short comedy scenario for a well-known tobacco manufacturer, and here follows the synopsis of the plot:
Bill, a workingman, is enjoying his pipe of —— Tobacco in the parlor of his home, when a passerby notices smoke issuing from the window. Thinking the house on fire, he brings the fire department on the scene. They turn the hose on the house, and, after a severe drenching, Bill escapes. He is indignant at being duped by the passerby, and the firemen also resent being made fools of. They then turn the hose on the culprit, who pleads for mercy. Bill offers to release him if he buys four packages of —— Tobacco all round. The passerby agrees, and hurries off to the shop to buy the same, pacifying his victims, who are left enjoying the tobacco.