A promotion to make you flip your lid Regal Cinemas gives away enhanced CDs in an effort to expand its entertainment division's reach
07/05/03
KRISTI TURNQUIST
You've worked up a Terminator-size thirst sitting through a summer movie at a Regal Cinemas theater. You order the $4 large-size soda, a cup of liquid refreshment so hefty you could weight-train with it. Grab a straw, punch it through the hole in the plastic lid, and -- what in the name of Schwarzenegger is that?
Behold the latest manifestation of movie marketing. Through the month of July, Regal Cinemas moviegoers who order the big-swig pop will find embedded in the clear-plastic lid a mini-CD featuring tunes by a pop singer named Rachel Farris.
First question: Who the heck is Rachel Farris? Answer: A pop singer whose tunes on the CD, "I'm Not the Girl" and "Soak," are a sort of cross between Michelle Branch, Britney Spears and Vanessa Carlton.
Now, the larger question: What's up with this top-of-the-pop giveaway? Is Regal following in the dubious footsteps of AOL, with its habit of sending unasked-for free discs to unsuspecting consumers everywhere?
"It's part of our way of changing the face of the modern-day movie theater from a very passive, sit back and be entertained experience to a more active, engaging experience," says Cliff Marks, Regal CineMedia president, marketing and sales.
That's a tall order even for a large-size soda. But it's linked to a larger strategy under way at Regal Entertainment Group, the dominant exhibitor in the Portland market and the largest motion-picture exhibitor in the world. Regal CineMedia, created about a year ago, is Regal Entertainment's marketing and promotion arm.
"We were created to utilize the Regal assets in a way to help bottom-line profits without interfering with the day-to-day process of our primary function of running movies and entertaining people," Marks says.
The mini-CDs fall under Regal's arrangement with its "content partners," NBC, Turner Broadcasting, Vivendi Universal Entertainment and The Convex Group, the company behind LidRock, which makes the drink-top CDs.
Farris' CD can be played in most standard CD players (although not in cars or other slot-loading players). The "enhanced" CD contains the two songs, plus other features, such as promotional clips of the upcoming Matt Damon-Greg Kinnear comedy, "Stuck on You," and of Universal Studios' theme park rides.
This is only the latest example of "enhanced" CDs as promotional tool. Such CDs have been used by companies including United Airlines, Coca-Cola, Victoria's Secret and Acuvue, which made a CD featuring songs by Enrique Iglesias. About 2.5 million CDs for a Pepsi campaign featuring singer Shakira have been given away as prizes in Spain and Latin American countries during the past 18 months.
With anywhere from 3 million to 4 million of the mini-CDs expected to be given away during July at theaters owned by Regal Entertainment, Rachel Farris will get a nice boost.
"The whole industry is in such a state of flux," said Bill Edwards, whose Big3 Records is financing the Farris promotion. "It's kind of a tough situation, especially for an independent label, to get music played, because we're vying against everyone else in the world."
The marketing push by the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based label is unusual for a new artist.
"We know it's a gamble, but we think it's a very good gamble," Edwards said.
For Regal customers, this may be just the beginning, Marks says. "We're currently talking to (LidRock) about that now. We're not sure what the next step will be. More CDs. It's not impossible that it could be video games. It could be music videos. It could theoretically be a feature film on that disc, like a DVD."
It's also possible, Marks says, that Regal might offer such CDs for sale. However, many moviegoers already complain about commercials and sales pitches at theaters. In February a Lewis & Clark Law School professor and his Chicago-based law partner filed a class-action suit alleging that Loews Cineplex Entertainment intentionally deceived moviegoers about actual starting times for features so as to generate a captive audience for pre-movie ads.
Marks says, "We will always respect our patrons' desire to just come to the movies to see a movie. If there is a sales model, there will always be an option where you don't have to purchase it. We're not going to put the patron in a position where they feel pressure or feel like they have to buy it. We want it to be an added value."
Regal CineMedia's deals with its partners in content, advertising and promotions are also behind "The 2wenty," pre-feature programming consisting of music videos -- such as the Rachel Farris video on view in July -- coverage of upcoming movies, promos for Universal, NBC or Turner Broadcasting programs and other material. "The 2wenty" runs up until the advertised start time for a feature -- at which time trailers show, which may delay the true start of the movie for several more minutes.
The digital delivery-and-satellite technology that brings "The 2wenty" to theaters also is used for live sports, entertainment and corporate meetings, Marks says. Such events help use theaters at times when they might be empty or underfilled, he says -- which helps recoup some of the $75 million Regal invested in the digital-satellite setup.
"One of our fastest-growing businesses are corporations having what we call 'cinemeetings,' " Marks says. "You can have a giant video conference and talk to each other across the country, beamed around by the satellite."
