• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, July 4, 2006

Though not a recent study, the recently released analysis of 57 movie campaigns for in-theater releases by Dynamic Logic reveals that online movie ads perform among the highest industries in positively raising Aided Brand Awareness (+9.8) and Brand Favorability (+4.3) on average.

Further research shows that advertising's impact on Awareness and Purchase Intent was highest early on in the campaigns, at least 4 weeks prior to the movie release date. In fact, the online advertising's impact at four weeks out was quadruple what it was a week from the release date, +22.5 points compared to +5.4 points, respectively.

Similarly, and perhaps somewhat surprising, the impact on Purchase Intent is greatest about 4 weeks (21 or more days) prior to the movie release with an increase of +13.9 points in consumers' intent to buy movie tickets. While campaigns still have a positive impact on both metrics over time, the impact decreases as the movie release date nears, as shown in the chart below.

The report concludes that the diminishing returns in awareness can be largely attributed to the fact that as more people are made aware there are fewer people left to be influenced. But, says the analysis, there are some other important factors to consider:

• Since movie consumers want to be entertained, initial advertising is meant to create buzz and get audiences excited and talking about the film. Intent to see a new movie can be generated immediately once people become aware of one that looks interesting to them
• For online advertising specifically, roughly two in three movie ads are rich media units, which outperform standard gif/jpegs by 20% on average. Rich media ads tend to grab attention more easily and require fewer exposures to do so; online video ads are most influential at first or second exposure. This creates an initial wave of impact that is difficult to sustain long-term((
• The closer you get to the movie release date, potential audiences are more likely to be aware of competitive entertainment options for the same weekend and will become more discriminating in their choice of movies to see
• The average movie-goer is likely to whittle down choices of movies to see in a given week, rather than see all of them. ((Other sources in the form of movie critics and other word-of-mouth reviews begin to play a greater role in the movie decision making process in the immediate weeks prior to release date

The report suggests to marketers that they:

• Leverage the "buzz factor" early to generate awareness
• Use creative that will both generate an interest in the movie and provide a strong call to action to see the movie from the outset of a campaign
• Provide a "sneak peak" of the movie trailer with rich media to raise awareness and provide information
• For generating movie ticket purchases, advertise on Friday and Saturday, found to have the highest impact compared to other days of the week

For the complete analysis, please go here.