Aero Film has always garnered work that finds its way to the Big Screen. If you’re a filmmaker, it’s always about sight, sound and motion. When you see anything on the Big Screen, it comes with high expectations. What better way to establish a client’s brand than with an ad projected in larger than life fashion? Shooting and directing spots for the cinema is an appropriate fit for our directors. Klaus Obermeyer, Henrik Hansen and Ken Arlidge are all visual storytellers. Klaus just did a cinematic piece for the National Guard. Henrik recently did a huge branding spot for Mercedes-Benz shown at dealer conventions worldwide. Ken just finished a Suzuki campaign that started on TV and then played in theaters before the story climaxed on the Internet. It’s what Aero Film does best.
There’s a huge upside to cinema advertising. Millions of people go to movies every month. They are also active consumers. They go places, travel and spend money. That’s true in countries around the world. You can’t Tivo or DVR a cinema ad placement. Cinema advertising gives you a captive audience that is receptive to a good story. Your message can’t get interrupted, you have people’s full attention. With this much control, though, comes a responsibility to entertain, inform and emotionally connect with the audience. Demographic-wise, if you want to target just college-age kids, cinema advertising can let you reach the exact demographic you desire.
The past few years, there’s been a confusing array of options offered to agency media buyers. What mix will yield the best results for their clients? Viral release on YouTube? Banner ads on Yahoo? A broadband Internet channel? Cell phone screens? Video games? All of these new outlets are great. We think the future involves an entire palette of options. Marketing strategy continues to grow and become much more sophisticated, and yes, integrated. But what separates cinema advertising from the pack is proven distribution.
As a production company, I think we best serve agencies when we help them separate hype from fact. Agencies now have budgets to try things that didn’t exist five years ago. But let’s get back to reality; the purpose of advertising is to create demand by influencing people to take action. Coke has done some great advertising in theaters for years and no one can contest its success in helping to build awareness for the brand.
Some say that cinema advertising is great, but expensive too. Not if you account for the higher than average recall rates a cinema ad can garner versus other media buys, even a traditional :30 spot. If the ad is produced right, nothing compares to cinema advertising. People underestimate how cinema advertising can heighten the effectiveness of their overall integrated marketing efforts. That’s why Aero Film recently hooked up with Screenvision and formed a team to help agencies keep cinema in mind when working on new creative. In the past year we’ve worked on National Guard, Army, Navy, Suzuki, Marines, Northrop Grumman and General Motors. Each had a media strategy that included cinema advertising. By producing ads for the Big Screen, we’re helping agencies to build their clients’ brands and achieve each marketing objective as quickly as possible.”
Lance O’Connor is partner/executive producer at Aero Film, Santa Monica.
L.A. Location Lensing Declines In 2024 Despite Uptick In 4th Quarter
FilmLA, partner film office for the City and County of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions, has issued an update regarding regional filming activity. Overall production in Greater Los Angeles increased 6.2 percent from October through December 2024 to 5,860 Shoot Days (SD) according to FilmLA’s latest report. Most production types tracked by FilmLA achieved gains in the fourth quarter, except for reality TV, which instead logged its ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline.
The lift across all remaining categories came too late to rescue 2024 from the combined effects of runaway production, industry contraction and slower-than-hoped-for post- strike recovery. With just 23,480 SD filmed on-location in L.A. in 2024, overall annual production finished the year 5.6 percent below the prior year. That made 2024 the second least productive year observed by FilmLA; only 2020, disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, saw lower levels of filming in area communities.
The continuing decline of reality TV production in Los Angeles was among the most disappointing developments of 2024. Down 45.7 percent for the fourth quarter (to 774 SD), the category also finished the year down 45.9 percent (to 3,905 SD), which placed
it 43.1 percent below its five-year category average.
The two brightest spots in FilmLA’s latest report appeared in the feature film and television drama categories. Feature film production increased 82.4 percent in the fourth quarter to 589 SD, a gain analysts attribute to independent film activity. The
California Film & Television Tax Credit Program also played a part, driving 19.2 percent of quarterly category activity. Overall, annual Feature production was up 18.8 percent in 2024, though the... Read More