BoxOffice® Pro - May 2012

FIRST
PERSON
A fantastic—and free—
tip for connecting to your customers
The common perception among the
general public is that moviegoing
is too expensive. Most think tickets
are too costly and that concession
prices are so outrageous they deserve to devise
ingenious ways to sneak in their snacks. As a
theater owner, it is up to me to overcome this
perception and create a moviegoing experience
worth the price I must charge to
survive. I need to create a moviegoing
habit—or, if you prefer, a
routine.
I could list off the things
I do to attract and retain my
customer base. Many of them
you are already doing every day
at your theaters. I could also
come up with a list of the things
I don’t do for the same reason.
But in this column, I want to
talk about the change in our
operation that I believe has had
the most important—and, even
better, no-cost—impact. The
preshow announcement.
Every year, my family and
I go to CinemaCon. Usually
we fly to Los Angeles first and
spend a couple of days touring
the theaters in Southern California
to see the latest trends and
ideas in action. Several years ago, we attended
the ArcLight Hollywood and had the pleasure
of having our movie introduced by a staff member
who greeted the room just before the lights
dimmed. We were impressed enough to bring
the idea home and implement it immediately.
Now at my four theaters in Illinois and
Iowa, we start each showing with a genuine
welcome and introduce ourselves by name.
We remind them which movie is showing in
that auditorium (in case they might be in the
wrong one!), announce the running time and
by Jeffrey Eisentraut
EISENTRAUT THEATRES
do some quick marketing for the next movie
coming up by asking them to pay particular
attention to the preview they’ll be seeing. We
assure them that we will be monitoring the
auditorium throughout the movie and encourage
them to find us with any problems they
might have. Most importantly, we personally
remind them to turn off their cell phones
and advise them of our no-tolerance policy
for talkers—the audience usually responds to
that with an impromptu “Thank you.” When
we close with our sincere thanks for choosing
our theater, it is nearly always rewarded with
applause.
Here is what we learned from doing this.
Customers love the personal touch of an announcement.
It’s like they are a guest in your
home, which makes them feel special. Most
customers ignore (and mock) the on-screen reminders
prior to the show—how seriously can
you take a “No talking!” warning that follows
dancing hot dogs? But personal announcements
have proven very effective in preventing
cell-phone usage during the movie, plus they
help create an interest in attending the next
feature coming to the theater. And they can
also be a lot of fun! We’ve become known for
singing “Happy Birthday” or congratulating
any other special occasion, and
sometimes we’ll have a trivia
contest and give away movie
swag.
True, it’s impossible to make
announcements 100 percent of
the time. If we are late starting
the movie, we know it could agitate
the more impatient people
in the audience. But on those
occasions, I will always have
someone come up to me after
the movie and express their disappointment
that we didn’t have
the chance to say hello. It’s become
so popular at our theaters
that I find myself wanting to
volunteer to make an announcement
when I visit the theaters of
my friendly competitors.
Several weeks ago, I was in
Los Angeles and caught a movie
at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
It was all I could do to stay in my seat when I
was so eager to stand up, welcome the audience
and remind them they’re sitting in chairs once
graced by Hollywood legends like Clark Gable
and Cary Grant.
I probably would have been arrested. But
celebrating Clark Gable’s keister—what a way
to earn a mug shot.
Jeffrey Eisentraut is the founder and owner
of Eisentraut Theatres. He can be reached
at jeff@bestmoviedeal.com.
24 BOXOFFICE PRO MAY 2012