In your company, are you responsible for booking venues, facilities, restaurants and organizing transportation for meetings and events?
| Movie Theater Events for Successful ROI Initiatives |
It’s not a stretch to say that most, if not all, corporate event planners have similar objectives when organizing their client’s annual meeting itineraries. Being productive, increasing ROI, working within budget, increasing attendee participation and diversifying their target audience are accomplishments that every person in the events industry would like to pursue. But as anything worth striving for, reaching those goals can be a difficult process. What if we said that a planner could successfully meet each one of those objectives just by venue selection alone?
If you’ve been to a cineplex anytime in the past 10 years, you’ve surely seen the advertisements before the movie about renting the facility for large-scale events. If you’re like other planners who have taken a more traditional and conservative approach to their careers, you have probably viewed the idea of a movie theater event as nothing more than an entertaining novelty rather than a viable option for a successful corporate gathering.
However, NCM Fathom has been able to harness the storytelling power of the cinema in order to create compelling and memorable corporate events. Stories, which are the backbone of Hollywood’s legacy, are, after all, one of the few human elements that everyone has in common. With the movie screen as your canvas, planners can convey their messages in a manner that’s both meaningful and entertaining. Location isn’t a problem either; Fathom’s network of more than 1,200 cinemas encompasses everyone’s favorite theater, including AMC, Cinemark, Edwards, Regal Cinemas and United Artist Theatres.
“The primary driver for using a movie theater is threefold,” says Mike Nelson, vice president of NCM Fathom. “You have a high level of audience retention, convenience and one-of-a-kind attendee engagement and immersion.” The benefits of movie theaters are many, including reaching a crowd effectively in a large format, creating a comfortable environment that’s familiar to attendees and allowing for creativity rather than playing it safe. Movie theater rentals are also cost-effective when compared to marquee hotels and convention centers.
Still not quite sure if a cinema event is worth risking your budget? Consider this: “If the actual content is being retained, then naturally a company’s ROI will be better,” says Nelson. “If you’re going to spend the money on an event, you have to make sure that attendees walk away with the information being presented. The high level of engagement of a movie theater undermines the cost.”
Movie theaters also have a high level of versatility when it comes to planning a broad range of events. NCM Fathom has coordinated just about every type of corporate function imaginable. Some of their most popular requests include employee appreciation events meant to increase company morale, encourage attendees to continue to be successful and to create a positive team-building atmosphere, as well as client appreciation events designed to strengthen business relationships and build consumer trust. There’s no better way for a company to show that they care about their affiliates than a private screening of a popular movie.
Cinema screens also make for great branding and marketing opportunities. Why have a run-of-the-mill press junket in an office building lobby when you can create vital industry buzz utilizing the majesty of the big screen? Imagine having your client’s logo and new product or service projected onto a 60-foot screen. Bigger is certainly better when it comes to getting the word out to media and industry professionals about your company’s latest image makeover or marketing efforts.
The movie theater environment has proved especially effective when organizing effective and productive training seminars. Just imagine your key points and lesson plans magnified by the immense size of the screen. It’s a surefire way to get your audience personally invested in the information before them, not to mention excited about participating in the session.
Microsoft took advantage of the benefits of cinematic training seminars when the company needed to find a more efficient approach to their program of education seminars aimed at the business owners and IT professionals who sell their latest products. Microsoft began utilizing cinemas in order to reduce costs, broaden its audience and improve on-site customer care. The end result was that Microsoft was able to save $1 million during the program’s first year and $2 million each subsequent year by eliminating the expense of booking multiple rooms at other facilities. From a purely financial standpoint, it’s clear that movie theaters open up a whole avenue of possibilities for careful spending without downgrading an event’s impact.
Product launches are another great example of how cinemas can exponentially increase the odds of success. In the media culture that we live in, consumers can sometimes be jaded by the number of buying options that they have. Rather than be just another face in the crowd, stand out by introducing your product with an indelible first impression. Movie theaters provide the size and scope to make potential buyers and investors take notice.
Consider the task faced by Plan 365, a marketing agency that represents a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company. They had to reach their client’s audience of physicians to efficiently convey new information about one of their products while also keeping within rigid marketing guidelines. In order to pull off the two-fold task, Plan 365 utilized a network of movie theaters across the nation to showcase new research data in high definition. A renowned physician delivered a keynote address that was broadcasted to 25 nationwide venues through Fathom’s satellite network. In addition, a live Q&A session followed the keynote address, allowing for maximum audience interaction.
If you’ve been to a cineplex anytime in the past 10 years, you’ve surely seen the advertisements before the movie about renting the facility for large-scale events. If you’re like other planners who have taken a more traditional and conservative approach to their careers, you have probably viewed the idea of a movie theater event as nothing more than an entertaining novelty rather than a viable option for a successful corporate gathering.
However, NCM Fathom has been able to harness the storytelling power of the cinema in order to create compelling and memorable corporate events. Stories, which are the backbone of Hollywood’s legacy, are, after all, one of the few human elements that everyone has in common. With the movie screen as your canvas, planners can convey their messages in a manner that’s both meaningful and entertaining. Location isn’t a problem either; Fathom’s network of more than 1,200 cinemas encompasses everyone’s favorite theater, including AMC, Cinemark, Edwards, Regal Cinemas and United Artist Theatres.
“The primary driver for using a movie theater is threefold,” says Mike Nelson, vice president of NCM Fathom. “You have a high level of audience retention, convenience and one-of-a-kind attendee engagement and immersion.” The benefits of movie theaters are many, including reaching a crowd effectively in a large format, creating a comfortable environment that’s familiar to attendees and allowing for creativity rather than playing it safe. Movie theater rentals are also cost-effective when compared to marquee hotels and convention centers.
Still not quite sure if a cinema event is worth risking your budget? Consider this: “If the actual content is being retained, then naturally a company’s ROI will be better,” says Nelson. “If you’re going to spend the money on an event, you have to make sure that attendees walk away with the information being presented. The high level of engagement of a movie theater undermines the cost.”
Movie theaters also have a high level of versatility when it comes to planning a broad range of events. NCM Fathom has coordinated just about every type of corporate function imaginable. Some of their most popular requests include employee appreciation events meant to increase company morale, encourage attendees to continue to be successful and to create a positive team-building atmosphere, as well as client appreciation events designed to strengthen business relationships and build consumer trust. There’s no better way for a company to show that they care about their affiliates than a private screening of a popular movie.
Cinema screens also make for great branding and marketing opportunities. Why have a run-of-the-mill press junket in an office building lobby when you can create vital industry buzz utilizing the majesty of the big screen? Imagine having your client’s logo and new product or service projected onto a 60-foot screen. Bigger is certainly better when it comes to getting the word out to media and industry professionals about your company’s latest image makeover or marketing efforts.
The movie theater environment has proved especially effective when organizing effective and productive training seminars. Just imagine your key points and lesson plans magnified by the immense size of the screen. It’s a surefire way to get your audience personally invested in the information before them, not to mention excited about participating in the session.
Microsoft took advantage of the benefits of cinematic training seminars when the company needed to find a more efficient approach to their program of education seminars aimed at the business owners and IT professionals who sell their latest products. Microsoft began utilizing cinemas in order to reduce costs, broaden its audience and improve on-site customer care. The end result was that Microsoft was able to save $1 million during the program’s first year and $2 million each subsequent year by eliminating the expense of booking multiple rooms at other facilities. From a purely financial standpoint, it’s clear that movie theaters open up a whole avenue of possibilities for careful spending without downgrading an event’s impact.
Product launches are another great example of how cinemas can exponentially increase the odds of success. In the media culture that we live in, consumers can sometimes be jaded by the number of buying options that they have. Rather than be just another face in the crowd, stand out by introducing your product with an indelible first impression. Movie theaters provide the size and scope to make potential buyers and investors take notice.
Consider the task faced by Plan 365, a marketing agency that represents a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company. They had to reach their client’s audience of physicians to efficiently convey new information about one of their products while also keeping within rigid marketing guidelines. In order to pull off the two-fold task, Plan 365 utilized a network of movie theaters across the nation to showcase new research data in high definition. A renowned physician delivered a keynote address that was broadcasted to 25 nationwide venues through Fathom’s satellite network. In addition, a live Q&A session followed the keynote address, allowing for maximum audience interaction.
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editorial@MeetingPlannerResources.org. We will contact you if your submission is chosen.