• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 3, 2010

A groundbreaking Kraft Foods branded entertainment program in movie theaters, which debuted over the April 30-May 1 weekend, has already produced some tangible results in the form of a nearly 40% immediate lift in YouTube views of the first video.

Under a deal with National CineMedia (NCM), Kraft is airing branded, two- to three-minute video vignettes, as well as traditional-length commercials, on weekend nights through NCM's Cinema Network. The network comprises about 16,800 (15,400 digital) U.S. movie screens owned by AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc., Regal Entertainment Group and other leading regional chains. NCM also offers marketers tie-ins with about 40 entertainment Web sites, widgets and mobile applications.

The deal makes Kraft the first food company to create long-form content for the big screen. It also marks the first U.S. advertising initiative to include both Kraft brands and the company's newly acquired Cadbury brands. Featured brands will include Oscar Mayer Lunchables, Ritz crackers and Cadbury's Stride gum.

Kraft committed to the multimillion-dollar program because of its combination of scale and engagement power, says Kraft Foods VP, global media services Mark Stewart. The platform has "both scale and depth," he noted to Marketing Daily. "Cinema has the scale of the TV networks, but -- at least with the long-form 'mini-movie' formats we're using -- the depth of a CRM platform."

Kraft will spotlight one brand per month through the branded entertainment program, Stewart reports. Kraft has a total of three minutes within NCM's 20-minute pre-movie marketing programming, "FirstLook," on each Friday and Saturday night, and can choose to use that time as it sees fit, Stewart notes.

During the debut weekend, Kraft aired a two-minute, 15-second version of a new "mini-movie" for Lunchables early within the FirstLook programming, and a 15-second follow-up version closer to the start of the movie.

In the video, "Alien Field Trip," a group of fifth graders is let in on a secret during a field trip to the Columbia Memorial Space Center -- a visit with an "alien" residing in a hidden area of the center. At the end, the kids (who seem very taken in by the "alien"), are informed that they have actually been filmed for a Lunchables commercial. The video ends by encouraging viewers to go to Lunchables.com to nominate a classroom for one of 50 field trips being donated as part of the brand's "Project Potential."

As of the morning of April 30, prior to the evening cinema debut of the video, YouTube had recorded about 47,000 views of it during the less than three weeks it had been posted. After the weekend, on the morning of May 3, views had leaped to nearly 124,000. That jump in viewing was clearly driven by the movie theater exposure, confirms Stewart.

Of course, YouTube views (and in this case, numbers of field trip nominations) are not the only metrics being used: Ongoing attitudinal and awareness tracking studies will be conducted. "The deeper engagement factors will need to be measured over time," Stewart says.

Cinema as a whole provides the largest reach to the 18-to-49 market on weekends. Advertising research shows the reach of the NCM network, which covers 171 Designated Marketing Areas (including 49 of the top 50), to be on par with those of the top individual TV networks, according to the media company.