Dec
20
2005The Movie Theatre Problem
20
2005
Earlier today, I was reading a blog posting about the decline of the cinema in America. It got me thinking about what exactly could be done to stem the tide of Americans out of the movie theatres.
As with many marketing problems, they key to turning around a situation where you are losing customers to your competitors (in this case DVD’s, video on demand, and movie piracy) is to distill down to the barest essence what your product offers that your competitor’s product does not, and mold that difference into an unique advantage. What movie theatres need to do is turn their greatest liability into an asset. It can be done, and it should be done.
Whether people are migrating to DVD’s, video-on-demand, or Internet piracy, the “competitor” to the movie theatre is actually “the living room”. The type of media people are watching is irrelevant. The real issue is this: why are people staying home instead of going to the cinema?
First, let’s get the “Hollywood is making a lot of crappy movies” argument out of the way. While this is true, there are still good movies out there, and people are still watching movies - both good and bad. They’re just not doing it in the movie theatres as much. This argument is really a red herring when you’re discussing the problem of how to get people into the theatres.
Let’s take a first crack at summarizing the movie-going experience in one sentence:
“One goes to a movie theatre to view a movie on a big screen”
That’s pretty much what you’re there for, no? Maybe it’s a bit too simplistic, though. Shall we expand on it a bit?
“One goes to a movie theatre, often with friends, to view a movie - usually a recently filmed one - on a big screen with a good sound system, while possibly consuming refreshments”
That more accurately reflects what happens at the movie theatre, but how much of that actually requires going to the movie theatre?
You can obviously invite your friends to your home. You can eat any refreshments you’d like in your own home, for much less money than it would cost you at the theatre. You can own a pretty big screen these days, and if you’re the kind of person who enjoys movies, you probably have one. Even if the screen isn’t huge, it’ll likely have a much clearer picture than a projected screen. Decent surround sound systems can be had for under $200 - and any media afficionado will tell you that the audio of a film has a much more drastic impact on the overall movie watching experience than does the video. What about that “usually a recently filmed one” bit? Well, movie studios, getting fed up with lousy movie ticket sales, are already moving toward simulatneous DVD release. Movie theatres won’t have that slim advantage to rely on much longer.
When you really think about it, any advantages of the movie theatre over home viewing are incredibly subtle, and easily ignored for the sake of convenience and frugality.
Is there hope for the movie theatre? Well, instead of listing what the movie theatre believes are advantages (since they are all clearly becoming more irrelevant every day), let’s focus on the one thing that absolutely, positively, will always differentiate the movie theatre experience from the home viewing experience:
“One goes to a movie theatre to view a movie with a bunch of strangers”
There is no way that you would invite a group of total strangers into your home to watch a movie with you, right? So, chalk one up for the movie theatre!
But wait, what’s so great about being around a group of strangers? Aren’t they the ones that keep kicking my seat, talking during the movie, and chewing too loudly? Well, sure, but they’re also people who are interested in seeing the same movie as you. They are people who share a common interest. They are people you might become friends with. Plus, if you got to know someone a little before the movie, don’t you think you’d be a bit more tolerant if they had a coughing fit or dropped their box of M&M’s during the movie? Your blood doesn’t exactly boil when your friend does that while watching DVD’s at home.
American society today suffers from an extreme lack of genuinely social activity. Whether they want to admit it or not, they’re desperate for actual human contact in a world of Internet chat rooms, eCommerce, and telecommuting.
Yet, in the movie theatre, we have huge groups of people who share a common interest, gathering in a room together, and they just sit silently for two hours then go home! This is absurd!
Clearly, people should keep quiet during the movie, so everyone can enjoy it, but what about before and after the movie?
Why not have a cocktail or coffee hour before the movie? Why not follow it up with a discussion group? Or, why not follow it up with dancing? Show funny scenes from the movie while pumping out music from the soundtrack! That would be incredible!
I don’t know what the actual activities should be. Only time and market research will tell. I do know this, though. Starbucks is thriving not because they sell good coffee (that’ll win you business, but not one-on-every-street-corner good business). They are thriving because they’ve turned the coffee shop into a truly social environment that you experience with folks who share a common interest (good coffee).
The movie theatre must do something similar, or it’s doomed. Technology is making everything special about it obsolete - except for that giant mass of strangers - a potential market advantage it’s been squandering for decades. Why not turn those strangers into friends we haven’t met yet? Friends we’ll - hey! - go to more movies with.