Take my advice: Deliver what you promise

Mar 1, 2004 12:00 PM, by M. Richard Vinocur

I've always been a big film fan. I can remember sitting in the darkened theater when I was young, blurting out the next line of dialogue. My mother would shush me, but ask how I knew what the line would be. To this day, I still can't refrain from saying what I think will be the next words out a character's mouth. Now my wife does the shushing.

I never truly understood my fascination with movies until I read Marshall McLuhan's “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man,” written in 1964. McLuhan is considered by many to be the father of the electronic age. He coined the word “media” to describe the communications industry, as well as “the global village” created by the electronic world. I met him at a publishing seminar in 1974 and I'll never forget him describing television as a “cold medium,” while film in a theater was a “warm medium.” When I asked why, he explained that TV projects to you, but movies project from behind you.

The ‘golden’ screen

It's no surprise, then, that my wife and I enjoy film festivals. About 30 years ago, a conference center near my home solicited a New York film critic to host a New Year's event, hoping to find a unique selling proposition to fill its rooms for the holiday. The four-day program featured 10 yet-to-be-released movies. Occasionally actors, directors and producers showed up to discuss their films. Attendance grew through word of mouth; eventually a second conference was added for the spring.

My wife and I began attending about 15 years ago. Seventy percent of the attendees are repeat customers, and over the years we've made some great friends. The program has been so successful that the conference center, which was sold to a chain about 10 years ago, built a large-screen theater with very comfortable chairs to accommodate the audience.

Need for revitalization

But as the years passed, I noticed the audience was getting much older. A number of attendees are now in their 80s; there is even a group of women in their 90s. The program is rather expensive, and as the economy started softening in 2000, attendance began to decline. The event's capacity is about 250 people, but in 2002 there were only 168 attending. That's a decline of close to 35 percent.

Having become friendly with the general manager, I approached him with some ideas to promote the event and rebuild his audience. The first was to raise prices by 10 percent, but offer a 10 percent discount to those who brought new attendees. The hope was to keep his revenue from past attendees, but to add revenues at higher rates from new people. My second suggestion was to offer an early-bird special: Sign up now for both New Year's and the spring weekend, and save 10 percent on both. The third was to advertise in print media and entertainment websites. The event had been advertised in its early days, but once top capacity had been reached, the conference center discontinued its campaign, a shortsighted move.

The program has always offered a mélange of movies, including major studio releases, independent films, foreign films and even a silent movie. The silent movie was dropped when the audience objected. So my final suggestion was to survey attendees after the event to learn what they thought about the movie selections.

Hits and misses

In 2004, the incentive to get attendees to bring new customers, the early-bird discount, and the print and Internet advertising worked. This year, the film festival attracted 250 movie buffs and was considered sold out. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, a number of extenuating circumstances put a damper on the program. Since the Academy Award presentations were moved from March to February, several studios accelerated their movies' distribution schedules. As a result, two of the films had opened publicly prior to the event, making the selection of movies less unique than expected. Four of the 10 were foreign films, and, contrary to advertising that promoted only “major studio releases,” only two movies actually fit that bill.

The audience was extremely unhappy with the program. My final suggestion to survey the audience following the festival was moot. On the last day, during the discussion of the movies we had viewed during the previous three days, the audience let the critics know how they felt. (I privately interviewed 10 newcomers to determine if they would return again, and only one said yes.)

So I guess the moral of this month's column is twofold: Listen to outside advice and take action on it, but deliver what you promise, and not only meet, but exceed, your customers' expectations. When you destroy the trust of your customer, you also destroy your future hopes for success.

M. Richard Vinocur is president of Footprint Communications. His e-mail is mrvinocur@aol.com.