If you ever saw the movie “Defending Your Life” with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep (and if you didnt put it on your list now) Albert gets hit by a bus in his brand new Mercedes and essentially goes to purgatory where he is put on trial to “defend” his life. The judgement will decide whether he will move on, or be sent back. In his trail he is asked about decisions he made over his life. One that’s mentioned is a business opportunity to invest in Casio when they were looking for capital to start producing watches . “The Swiss keep time” was his rationale, and he passed. Needless to say, they point out he would be a zillionaire if he had made the other choice.
I mention this because I too have a Casio moment. In college, I was a Radio, Television and Film major. A friend and I were approached to be part of a start-up company that would produce commercials to be shown PRIOR to movies… “Commercials, before MOVIES! It will NEVER happen!” Now of course every time I see a commercial before a movie, or see an article like this I think of the beach I would be sitting on after selling my shares in the zillion dollar business it became. Of course, on the other hand, you cant blame me for commercials in movie theaters!
Taking it to the next level, this is a pretty awesome evolution of “pre-show time” and one I’m also and unfortunately not a stakeholder in. If this kicks off with enough response, I think the concept has legs in many other areas and can keep changing as the audience becomes more open to welcome and embrace new things.
Movie theaters turn pre-show trivia into smartphone game with prizes
BY MIKE FLACY
While movie theaters always encourage moviegoers to turn off mobile phones prior to a film, one company is encouraging users to keep those phones out during the pre-show experience.
As mentioned within the New York Times recently, a cinema advertising company called Screenvision is attempting to integrate mobile devices into the pre-show experience prior to watching a theatrical release in over 2,400 theater locations across the United States. Screenvision has developed an iOS application called Screenfanz that attempts to gamify the experience of arriving early within the movie theater. After registering within the mobile application or on the main site, users can collect points when performing actions like checking in at a movie theater or answering trivia questions on the movie theater screen. Outside of the theater, registered users can also generate points by rating movies and taking weekly quizzes.
These points are used to calculate the number of entries that factor into six different giveaway periods that are running from early April through late September. Over the six prize periods, Screenvision plans on giving away fifty reward codes that can be redeemed for two movie tickets through Fandango or Movietickets.com.
The company is also giving away one hundred movie theater concession codes per prize period. The approximate value of the code is only $5 though, barely enough to purchase any single item at a typical movie theater concession stand.
Beyond generating points, users of the Screenfanz application can also search for local movie theaters with show times as well as read about new movies and watch trailers. Screenvision officials hope to generate more successful relationships with advertisers with the application in addition to providing a more interactive experience for the typical moviegoer.
Prior to launching the application, Screenvision conducted research with over 600 respondents and found that over 75 percent of the group would attempt to arrive early to the movie theater in order to view the opening advertisements as well as use the smartphone application to answer trivia questions and check into the theater.
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