Workshop for cinema exhibitors Mobile phones and Internet: will they increase admissions? Presented by: Emanuele de Plano – TixOS
Overview Internet and mobile phones - new sales and marketing channels? How can they be used by cinemas? What tomorrow holds in stock… What is required to implement? Case studies Questions and discussion
What are the objectives? Provide information Promote and advertise Sell tickets Encourage loyalty Collect information
What channels are available? Online sales and information (Web, WAP, SMS…) SMS promotions and marketing Loyalty and memberships
Are they used today by cinemas? US Exhibitors setting up online channel JV’s First proven online and WAP success stories Film web sites – great awareness and community builders Online and SMS promotions led by distributors Multitude of loyalty and membership schemes However, little use is made of collected customer data
Online sales and information Providing a higher service level Selling additional services Capturing extra information Extending reach of distribution and information The right channels for your target and country Revenue management: could it generate extra sales?
SMS promotion & marketing Putting forward special offers and promotions Games and prize draws Selling unsold tickets Referral to a friend – viral marketing Capturing numbers – collecting data
Loyalty and memberships Great way to identify unique customers Stored values – pre-payment cards Frequency and spend rewards - points based schemes Unlimited use / subscription cards Customer segmentation cards Third party partner joint membership
Web based customer relations management – e-CRM Registering your online visitors Direct Questionnaires Promotions Building communities
What does tomorrow hold?
Future channels 3G telephony –Virtual tickets –Alternative payment/billing options –Location services Interactive digital TV Web services
3 G telephony (source: Alcatel) Select film….Watch trailer, buy ticket… Guided to theatre….Use phone as ticket….
What are the requirements? Clearly defined long term strategy, budget and forecasts Ownership and control of costs, strategy, brand and customer data Open and flexible box office systems connected to a central server Cost effective fulfilment and payment systems Buy in from your operational staff
Implementation challenges Box office integration and communication infrastructure Interrelation between services offered to customers Customer support problems Reconciliation payments Distributor transparency Data protection issues
The TixOS solution Centrally hosted database and application accessed via the Internet Low-cost box office application based on a rental service contract Online channels and loyalty – 2 options: –Supplied API to develop own or 3 rd party interfaces and online channels –Cinema branded TixOS web channel under revenue share deal Multi-platform java applications Consultancy and project management
Case Studies movietickets.com Warner Village, UK Vizzavi ticketshop
Vizzavi ticketshop
Summary What these new sales and marketing channels are How they can be used by your cinema What tomorrow will bring along What you need to implement them Case studies
Conclusion: will admissions increase? Maybe not but…. –Lower cost of providing information and selling –Valuable data on customers – wider coverage –Building a relationship and encourage loyalty –Higher customer service than your competition –Additional revenue from new services –More diverse clients – target new segments –Build partnerships easily –Optimise your programming
Questions and discussion