Retailer created a live cinema ad for a new promotion

Incorporating outside-the-box ideas to traditional advertising venues can create a unique and memorable campaign.

AdvertisingAge reported back in late October that the department store Daffy’s attempted the first live cinema ad in New York City’s Ziegfeld Theatre.

Prior to the showing of “Amelia,” 10 dancers came out on stage and entertained the moviegoers for three and a half minutes. While the dancers performed, images flashed on the big screen to complement the overall presentation. Near the end of the dance, it was revealed that the whole production was an ad for Daffy’s. The ad campaign consisted of dancers performing the “Fitting Dance” in which they heaped on clothes to show that they had too many clothes because of the good deals at Daffy’s.

Part of the promotion included giving the moviegoers a 20% off coupon for the store.

ScreenVision was the advertising vendor for Ziegfeld Theatre’s and modified the pre-show program to fit in the ads. The ads only ran October 23rd and 24th with a few more performances in November. Daffy’s planned to utilize the footage from the live ads and create a traditional 30 second spot to run in select theatres starting around Thanksgiving.

When utilizing outside-the-box advertising, it is important to know where the primary audience resides like how Daffy only chose certain theatres to run the 30 second spot after the initial one theatre live ad. It avoids unwanted spill.

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