A couple of days ago Microsoft uploaded a two minute video ad for Windows Phone featuring Olypmic gold medalist Kerri Walsh and the Nokia Lumia 920, with a cameo from Microsoft's Surface. Today, it was revealed that video clip won't be heading to a TV set but rather projected in thousands of movie theaters.
Ad Week reports that Microsoft has signed a deal with with with National CineMedia to place that long form Windows Phone ad on over 19,000 movie screens before movies such as The Hobbit and Zero Dark Thirty. In addition, Microsoft will set up some interactive lobby displays in those same theaters.
This is a long term arrangement between Microsoft and National CineMedia and it will include similar promotional campaigns for other Microsoft products such as Windows 8, Surface, the Xbox 360 and more; financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
So what's the difference between a commercial shown in the movie theaters versus a TV ad? One is that the ad will have a captive audience; there's no clicking on the remote in a movie theater to bypass the commercial.
Betsy Webb, the general manager of of global media at Microsoft Marketing, states, "We see cinema as a great way for us to go beyond that 30-second TV ad and continue a conversation with consumers in an interesting way. Branded entertainment on the big screen will let us tell stories about people’s lives and how they use technology."
Source: Ad Week
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