In the vaults of Hollywood, there are many films which can, with a touch of imagination, serve many of the purposes of sales promotion.
The alert promotion man can hire a variety of Hollywood talent on a surprisingly low budget. Obviously, Hollywood luminaries are not personally available for the money most sales promotion men have. But you can hire them on film for surprisingly low figures. Considering that it is the filmed images of these people that the public buys, the bargain is potentially all the more attractive.
This sales potential results from a recent awakening which is still in process in and around Hollywood. What it boils down to is that Hollywood has created so much motion picture product by now that there is bound to be some area of mutual interest between existing films and existing sales promotion problems.
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One good example of how this approach works was developed recently by Carl Nater, director of the 16mm division of Walt Disney Productions. Mr. Nater's department is "packaging" films especially groups of Disney for community relations programs of savings and loan associations.
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Mr. Nater is quick to point out that in this and in similar programs, Disney Productions is careful to design their releases sO they don't compete with normal motion picture theater operations.
"In fact," he said, "if anything, this type of program would tend to encourage more attendance at motion picture theaters rather than compete for their audiences."
A similar arrangement was made by a major soft drink bottler. This firm uses Disney films in connection with its promotion of educational field trips through its plant by school groups. Such trips play a key role in the building of consumer goodwill for the bottling industry. Bottlers, bakeries and breweries all rely heavily on such tours to build their image of the wholesomeness and healthiness of their product.
Today, however, the setting up of educational field trips has become a competitive area. Factories of all types, from steel mills to aircraft and missile manufacturers, are encouraging student visits.
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In a similar vein, the United States Information Service also selects films which depict American life for showing in foreign countries.
The point is that the secondary use of professional motion picture materials is a potential benefit to virtually any promotion man who applies the imagination necessary to put these materials to work for him. This is one field where everyone benefits. The advertiser gets an expensive product for a little money. And the studio realizes extra income from a product which has already been amortized.
