Advertising by motion pictures

by Ernest A. Dench

To achieve permanent results, the spasmodic plan at present prevailing must be abandoned. You would not dream of inserting a solitary one advertisement in the press and then expect it to be business-bringing for all time, would you?

Well, perhaps you have gotten the hunch that the film is a permanent ad. So it is, only, to have it do so, you must keep it on the rounds to folks who have not seen it before. It is the greatest mistake in the world to present the same film before the identical audience day after day. Let us come to an understanding. Would you employ the same copy in the newspapers in more than one issue? Hardly. You would alter it so as to eventually capture the most skeptical customer. You must, then, apply the same methods to film publicity.

And this is why I hold the opinion that a moving-picture expert will be on the staff of every large manufacturing concern. His duty will be to present his employer’s copy to the best possible advantage on the film. At the same time, each large advertiser will lay down a film-producing plant. It is going to incur him a big initial outlay, what with an artificial light studio, accessories, stock company and developing plant, but he will obtain his expense back by the considerable saving effected in not having to have his work done outside. Naturally, this expenditure will not be justified unless the advertiser is prepared to launch his publicity campaign along the same extensive lines as in the press. We shall find him, I fancy, releasing new films with clockwork regularity. By having all the facilities at his command for the producing of these, he will be dependent on nobody, and can impart the necessary individuality into his pictures.

His first big move will be to coax some of the leading movie stars to be featured in an advertising film which is to be produced in an elaborate manner. The fee for his or her services will be very large, but, on the other hand, exhibitors will simply clamor for the free hire of the film, with, say, Earle Williams as a bachelor who has his housekeeping worries lessened by some article on the market. The great saving in the fees paid to exhibitors for showing an ordinary ad. film will be effected. Such a picture would also secure a larger circulation, apart from the fact that movie fans will sit up and take notice when they behold their idol in a role similar to the one mentioned. This will mean the ad. appeal getting over more convincingly.

The next development will be the advertising film serial. As you are probably aware, the dramatic serial has taken the photoplay world by storm. It is the ideal vehicle for the advertiser, inasmuch as it permits the interest to be retained. The story, if sufficiently gripping, will keep audiences in suspense from one week to another. There will be none of those trite stories that form the basis of ad. films to-day. An aim will also be made to avoid permitting the advertising element to obtrude.

One peculiar thing about the motion-picture equivalent of the newspaper is that it does not carry advertisements, but this state of affairs will not exist much longer. For these mediums a special type of ads. will be needed. They will be sandwiched in the news items and be of a topical character, so as to preserve the same atmosphere. For instance, when a battleship is launched, you won’t forget to be told the brand of the bottle of champagne that is smashed upon the vessel.

The feature production does not appeal to me much as a paying proposition for the advertiser. It is too reminiscent of trying to cram as much matter as possible in a single advertisement.

One thing to be said in favor of the film is that it is a perfect paradise for the honest advertiser, for, as yet, fraudulent advertising has not been allowed to mingle with the genuine.

The plant of a food manufacturer, for instance, may be unsanitary and inferior raw materials used. Should this type of business man be unscrupulous enough, he might have his conditions of his plant pictured as ideal, by faking the whole thing in a film studio.

What is sapping the progress of film advertising is that no systematic method of circularizing exists, for, naturally, this end of the process is as important as the picture itself. What I predict is publicity agencies specializing in motion-picture theaters. Then when an advertiser has a high-class proposition, a circuit of high-class theaters in select localities will be chosen, thus eliminating waste circulation.