SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE: South African movie exhibitor Ster-Kinekor revealed a new tagline, along with new branding and the end to a teaser television advert at their Sandton City cinemas in Johannesburg on 20 September. The new tagline is “Great Moments at Their Greatest’.
The event was held at Sandton City because it is Ster-Kinekor’s first fully digital site. Doug Place, marketing executive at Ster-Kinekor, explained: “The conversion to digital is the single biggest investment in Ster-Kinekor history. We estimate that the digital projectors will result in almost 40% better picture quality and 10% better sound for our audiences.’
The digital conversion process has also been completed at the Gateway mall in KwaZulu-Natal, and Ster-Kinekor marketing manager Bradley Knowles noted that the rest of their cinemas will be converted within the next six months. “It’s going to change the landscape of cinemas in South Africa, and will allow us much more flexibility,’ said Knowles.
As for the new tagline, Knowles explained that they made the decision that it was time for a change. “We kind of fell in love with the line “Great Moments at Their Greatest’. We want to send the message that movies are made for a big screen.’
Place added that the smallest screen at a Ster-Kinekor cinema is still 450x bigger than the biggest television screen in the world. “We understand that there are many ways to watch a film, but there is just nothing like the big screen, the big sound and the big coke – no matter how convenient a small screen may be.’
He explained that the tagline refers to the great moments on the screen as well as the one’s in front of the screen, including first dates, happy family moments and good times with friends.
The new television and cinema ad – described as the biggest in Ster-Kinekor history – was created by FoxP2, produced by Bouffant and directed by Dean Blumberg. Post production was done by Sinister Studio. Knowles explains: “We briefed Fox2 and gave them a business problem: How do you talk about how much better cinema is using TV as a medium? Their answer was: You don’t.’
The result is a “tease and reveal’ campaign. The teaser ad ran on television from 10 September, but stops short of revealing the explosive climax, which will show exclusively on cinema screens as from 21 September.
The ad sees an out of control 12 ton kerosene tanker, a decrepit truck filled with fireworks, a party pick-up truck packed with glitter containers and a circus lorry full of parachuting snakes travelling on a collision course. The ad stops just before the anticipated collision with the message: “Some things should only be experienced on the big screen’.
“It’s created a lot of buzz online,’ said Knowles. “We’re banking on it that people will visit the cinema to come and see the ending of the ad the way it was intended to be seen.’
Report by Linda Loubser
