Balancing art and science – the future of cinema
Digital Cinema Media’s CEO, Simon Rees, shares the highlights and themes – relevant to all media – from the biannual Screen Advertising World Association convention in Berlin.
Every two years, Digital Cinema Media (DCM) and 40 other screen advertising companies from across the world get together at the Screen Advertising World Association (SAWA) Convention, to share the challenges and opportunities affecting our industry. Like any advertising sector, we need to understand the changing nature of the world in which we operate, from constantly-evolving consumer habits to the new tech innovations that can enhance – or confront – our business.
The enduring theme from this year’s SAWA Berlin was the importance of innovation, the marrying of creativity and technology, art and science. This was echoed by the conference’s guest speakers, Sir John Hegarty, founder and creative at BBH, and Dominic Proctor, global president at Group M.
“We live in a multi-screen world, and you sell the ultimate screen…” said Sir John.
Cinema is facing new challenges from other content platforms and media, but it continues to provide an experience that other media can’t match for personal impact and ROI for advertisers.
According to an in-depth analysis between 2009 and 2013, presented by Nielsen, 24 out of 28 countries surveyed reported an increase in their on-screen ad business. If we look at the global cinema advertising industry, we have to recognise that it’s been tough for some of our friends across the world, but in the UK, US, Poland and UAE there are highlights of revenue growth and 2015 promises to be a massive year for us all.
So, how do we continue to build on this and make cinema even more of a commercial success for advertising? The answer is through technology, and more precisely the application of technology in helping us to engage with our audiences.
Technology and creativity
Hegarty described tech as “the handmaiden to creativity”, while Proctor touched on the need for a “balance of art and science”, giving more of an equal weight to the strategy and the maths.
There is a lot of head-scratching and future-gazing in the global ad industry at the moment, about how we match data with creativity and whether one can truly sit alongside another comfortably. Proctor provided an insight into how Group M’s agencies approach this, with “the creative sharing the desk with the scientist”.
Cinema is the meeting of art and science in front of our eyes, from the earliest silver screen projections to IMAX’s new laser projection that will début this year with ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies’. The industry has always embraced technology, to enhance the creation and showing of film – and the same should be the case for cinema advertising.
Technological change provides real challenge for any sector. We need to meet those changes head-on and use them where we can to tell better stories and bolster our reach. Cinemagoers are tech-savvy, with higher ownership of smartphones and higher usage of social and online, than non-cinemagoers. Cinema advertising should be looking at opportunities beyond on-screen to pre-show and foyer-time for interactive experiences and content.
The award for ‘The Best use of technology in cinema advertising – 2014’ at SAWA Berlin was awarded to cinime. The app, created in the UK by DCM with our technology partners Yummi, is now rolling out across the world including what will soon be the biggest global market for cinema advertising, China.
The ultimate persuasion medium
Ultimately, there is something special about cinema, about our connection to the big screen. We do indeed live in a multi-screen world, but cinema is the ultimate lean-forward brand experience – and one that has a more potent emotional resonance than others.
When Hegarty spoke to SAWA of how “storytelling is the basis of all communication”, he made the point that cinema is the “ultimate persuasion medium”.
DCM is soon to release the findings of its own engagement research, which will demonstrate the emotional impact of the cinema experience on audiences and how this benefits brand engagement and ad recall.
Dr Carl Marci, a neuroscientist, talked at SAWA about the science of the brain and how cinema can lead to the most immersive engagement that taps into personal identity and personal relevance.
Science is showing how the creativity of advertising has real, quantifiable results.
Sustainable innovation is the future
Cinema remains a powerful draw for big, global brands – cinemas in 2013 played host to Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Samsung, Sony and Claro. The top ten industries using cinema advertising were telecom, automotive, food, TV/music, banking/finance, CPG, beverages, alcoholic beverages, electronics and retail.
The key to building on this success for the future is ‘sustainable innovation’. Marrying creativity and technology is great and we have to look to the opportunities rather than just the challenges. We have to ensure we can make more money for ourselves and our partners, and deliver more entertainment and relevance for consumers.
We must implement initiatives that can change our business for the long-term and equip us to grow our share of the ad market. It’s not about stunts or fads. Mobile is one way we are doing this, but we need to look at new innovations in a way that future-proofs and brings together that all-important partnership of art and science.