CINEMA SOLICITATIONS; MOVIE THEATERS BAGGING BUCKS BY SHOWING ADS.

Byline: Jon Bigness Chicago Tribune 

There's a current Nike Inc. commercial that's drawing rave reviews from viewers, but you won't see it on television.

What makes the Nike advertisement unique is it was specifically made to be shown only in movie theaters.

That's something no consumer-products company would have risked doing several years ago, when movie advertising was widely panned by American moviegoers. But now, they seem to be changing their minds.

``I think what people like about it is it's clever, it's funny and it's not overtly trying to sell shoes,'' says Nike spokesman Scott Reames. ``It's visually interesting and it tells a story, albeit a somewhat crackpot story. But as long as you can entertain, I think people will give you more latitude.''

In the 60-second Nike spot, produced by Portland, Ore., ad agency Wieden & Kennedy in black and white and intended to look like a low-budget science fiction movie from the 1950s, an enormous doomsday asteroid hurtles toward Earth.

As disaster looms, military commanders huddle in a war room seemingly inspired by ``Dr. Strangelove''; supermodels rush into a bakery to scarf down cakes and pies; and a scruffy guy in a wheelchair holding a sign that reads ``The End is Near'' jumps up and starts to run, only to get hit by a speeding taxicab.

But just as the asteroid is about to strike Seattle's famed Space Needle, Seattle Mariners slugger Ken Griffey Jr. saves the day by smacking the fireball back into space with his bat, and the Nike slogan ``Just Do It'' appears over a shot of the meteor plopping down harmlessly on the moon. The ad ends with Griffey blowing smoke off his bat.

Movie audiences have responded to Nike's first attempt at a spot specifically for U.S. movie theaters with cheers and applause, according to Reames and other ad industry observers. That's a far cry from the reaction cinema advertising got when advertisers first started placing ads in movie theaters in the early 1990s.

Back then, lots of movie patrons complained that this traditionally noncommercial entertainment environment was being violated. Though in Europe movie ads are considered no more intrusive than roadside billboards, Americans long held to the view that the cinema was supposed to be a place where you could escape from all those annoying commercials seen on network television.

But these days, movie ads are a hit. Or, at least American film audiences are becoming accustomed to the fact that seeing ads on the screen is as much a part of the moviegoing experience as a $5 tub of buttered popcorn and sticky floors.

Cinema advertising has become a $130 million business and is growing at about 20 percent to 25 percent a year, said Dennis Fogarty, president and chief executive of Screenvision Cinema Network, a New York-based media broker that distributes commercials shown on 14,000 screens.

Some of the biggest brand names have created special advertising just for theaters, including General Motors Corp., Eastman Kodak Co. and Philip Morris Cos.' Kraft Foods unit, Fogarty said.

More big theater chains are getting into the act as well. Last year, Marcus Cinemas Corp. and AMC Entertainment Inc. embraced advertising as a way to boost their revenues. And Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp. is beginning to hook up with corporate sponsors who can deliver their messages in a manner relevant to movie patrons.

For movie theaters, revenues generated from the ads drop straight to the bottom line, because there are no additional expenses for them. Fogarty estimated advertising revenue can make up 10 to 15 percent of an exhibitor's pretax earnings. ``If they didn't have that, who knows what they would charge for a ticket?'' he said.

About two-thirds of the nation's 30,000 movie screens now show ads. In addition, theaters are also allowing in-lobby promotions and product sampling, from cosmetics to computer software. Radio ads routinely play when the lights are up and patrons are settling into their seats. And, of course, product placements in the features themselves have become more blatant than ever before.

``Cinema advertising has become a very accepted, if not expected, form of advertising,'' said Fogarty.

He claims movie ads were never as thoroughly despised as widely believed. According to independent research of more than two dozen ads that played in theaters between 1993 and 1998, only 1 percent of 2,500 consumers surveyed said they strongly disliked ads shown in theaters, he said. What's more, some ads actually have been extremely popular with audiences, especially younger people who may not recall the days of commercial-free flicks.

Major advertisers love to pitch their products on the big screen because they can take advantage of a captive, undistracted and relaxed audience. The result: a dramatically higher percentage of people will remember ads they've seen at the movies than commercials they've been exposed to on network television at prime time. For example, the average cinema ad will garner an 80 percent recall rate. By comparison, the network prime time ads average only a 15 percent recall, Fogarty said.

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Photo

Photo: (Color) Dennis Fogarty, CEO of Screenvision Cinema Network, produces ads for screening in theaters.

Todd Plitt/Chicago Tribune