The film must be charged to the copy writer’s account, for an exhibitor charges from $12.50 to $50 per week for renting out his screen for advertising purposes. A film, I admit, represents a big outlay for the copy writer’s services, but it is a worth while investment.
The Maxwell Motor Sales Company, for instance, had a series of films produced which were presented over five thousand times in America, Canada, Australia and England. It is estimated that they were seen by at least two million people. The circulation was mainly achieved by dealer co-operation, the dealer making arrangements with the local exhibitor and presenting free tickets to all who cared to accept same.
Those advertisers who do not make their appeal to the general public will find that quality circulation is far preferable to quantity circulation. Hoggson Brothers, the New York contracting designers, realized this when they showed their film exclusively to business men who contemplated having buildings erected or remodeled.
The film owned by the Columbia Paper Manufacturing Company, of Washington, D. C., was exhibited by one of their traveling representatives before printers in various parts of the country.
The film which boosted the products of the Peabody Coal Company, of Chicago, was shown at a number of educational institutions, as well as to individuals interested in the coal business.
The Reliable Incubator and Brooder Company took advantage of a recent poultry show held at Quincy, Illinois, to present a motion picture, “taking spectators through their plant and showing their poultry-raising methods.”
Both the French China Company, of Sebring, Ohio, and the National Tube Company were represented at the Panama-Pacific Exposition by motion-picture exhibits.
Under these conditions, the motion picture becomes a catalogue in celluloid. It is more powerful than the printed page, and helps to substantiate the claims of the salesman. Whether it is best suited to general or class circulation is determined at the outset, after which it is necessary to seek the right channels, these being determined by the character of the proposition.
XXV.
COVERING THE MOTION-PICTURE FIELD BY MAGAZINES
Not so long ago photoplay audiences were content to just see the films through, so the players remained mere shadows until the industry advanced a few steps further, when stock companies were formed. Now, this meant that the fans saw the same actors, week in and week out, instead of a fresh face every time, and, very naturally, they began to evince an interest both in the screen players and the brands of photoplays. Then the motion-picture companies were bombarded with inquiries asking for the name of the man with the curly hair, and so forth.