If you’ve been to a movie theater in the past 11 years, odds are you’ve seen Silver Screen Media’s movie trivia questions, word jumbles and film stills.
But few realize just how formidable a player the Beachwood-based Silver Screen has become in the advertising game. Within the games and words that entertain us while we wait for the main attraction lie advertisements that statistically reap a greater rate of retention than television and print media combined. It’s a seldom-cited fact that’s helped Silver Screen’s founder Barbara Miller to jump start an entire industry.
When Miller, a bespectacled blonde woman and mother of two daughters, unveiled Silver Screen Media in 1975, most advertisers were scrambling for television commercials and print spots. No one wanted to advertise on the big screen.
So Miller kept to the straight and narrow path, running Harlan Advertising with her husband for 13 years before daring to break from tradition and try something new. Only a few independent theaters on the West Coast were experimenting with advertisements on movie screens in the late 1970s and early to mid ’80s, but in 1989, Miller decided the time was right to spring big screen ads on Cleveland.
Nearly a dozen years later, the naysayers have been silenced. Demand for Silver Screen’s advertising continues to grow at an amazing clip. Since 1994, Miller has expanded her representation from 400 screens to 900. And, by enlisting the help of companies like hers in other markets, she has the ability to put advertisers in 30,000 theaters nationwide.
It’s a celluloid success story that surprises even Miller.
“We try to accommodate as much as possible,” she says.
Here’s how she’s done it.
Follow the trends
In Silver Screen’s early days, Miller noticed a trend: The most successful ads were those for considered purchases like cars, homes, televisions and life insurance. She recognized that these are the sorts of purchases that families decide upon together.
Combined with the notion that movie theaters bring couples and/or families together and the fact that broadcasters usually save the strongest nighttime programs for weekdays, Miller realized there was an opportunity not being explored.
She did a bit more digging and found many double-income families want to relax on the weekends and often go to the movies together. That led her to the conclusion that if you broadcast ads for the types of purchases these families don’t usually have time to discuss during the week, you’re tapping into a virtually untapped market opportunity.
While Miller doesn’t limit advertising to any niche, she has found there are several industries that see better returns from in-theater advertising — realtors, car dealerships and retailers of electronics equipment. That explains why those types of ads dominate Silver Screen’s client list.
Target an unencumbered audience
Advertisers that choose the big screen reap another advantage — they catch the most receptive audience.
Miller recently studied the statistics of her advertising success as a possible marketing device. The results were stunning. Explains Miller, “[The researchers] found that after 24 hours, 83 percent of audience members remembered the theater ads. With television, recall is more like 22 to 23 percent.”
There may be several reason why this is so, but Miller’s made her own conclusion. A Silver Screen brochure attributes recall to the notion that moviegoers aren’t distracted by the ads: “Every other advertising medium — TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, even direct mail — competes against constant distractions and clutter. In-theater movie screen advertising through Silver Screen Media locks up the audience’s attention, focusing it on your message.”
Silver Screen’s other major advantage lies in its ability to reach people on the weekend, when most purchases are made. The company’s Web site drives that point home to potential clients: “No other medium is as compelling. Viewers can’t zap channels like they do to avoid TV commercials. Or switch radio stations. Or turn the page.
“And best of all, research shows that advertising on the movie theater screens has extremely high recall: after 24 hours, 83 percent of all viewers remember ads they saw at the movies, compared to just 23 percent recall on TV commercials after one day. And with good reason: your message is hitting viewers in a relaxed, receptive mood. Plus, 58 percent of the adult audience has annual incomes exceeding $30,000.”
Assemble a dedicated team
Miller gets help from her daughters, Erica and Melissa, both of whom are vice presidents at Silver Screen and found the opportunity to work with their mother too exciting an offer to pass up. In fact, Miller says, when Melissa graduated from college, she turned down a high-paying job offer to return to her roots and help build the business.
That family atmosphere has made it easier to concentrate on satisfying Silver Screen’s burgeoning customer base. And taking care of the customer is really the philosophy that Miller tries to follow.
“Our business is a two-way street,” she says. “If you take care of us, we’ll take care of you.”
Miller’s dedication to serving her clients was demonstrated recently when she apologetically interrupted an interview with SBN to field a call from a client and clear up a confusing situation. She told the client, “First, I’ll worry about your needs. I know this is complicated for you the first time you try something like this. I want to uncomplicate it for you.”
Build a loyal clientele
Miller’s commitment to getting the job done extends beyond simple troubleshooting. Nearly all of the work for creating ads and putting them on movie screens is done in-house.
She employs her own graphic artists. She mounts the slides on-site at Silver Screen’s headquarters. She markets advertising through in-house ads on the movie screens, and recently ran her first radio ad through a trade.
These efforts have helped make excessive overhead virtually nonexistent and let Miller concentrate on satisfying her current customer base while targeting new prospects.
So far, her perseverance has kept her competitive in the world of advertising and she has retained clients that started with Silver Screen at its inception. And with a constantly evolving marketplace, it’s becoming more likely that business owners and young entrepreneurs will seek out alternative advertising mediums to get their message across.
“Ad agencies have told us that they literally have to work with us because their clients are asking for it,” says Miller.
As a testimony to Silver Screen’s success, Miller relates the story of ads that were actually too effective.
“We were doing really well with recruitment and employment spots until theater ushers started quitting their jobs and applying for the ones we advertised,” says Miller. “That’s when a couple theaters started refusing to carry those ads.” How to reach: Silver Screen Media, (216) 831-1990
Courie Weston ([email protected]) is a reporter at SBN.
