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Author Topic: Has anyone use dealflicks.com as a marketing tool? Travis Cape Expert Film Handler Posts: 122 From: St. Louis, MO, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 04-21-2014 05:42 PM                     I spoke with a couple gentleman about dealflicks.com. It seems like it's a more customizable discount service than groupon. Has anyone used them, how did it work?  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 04-21-2014 06:27 PM                     I look at it this way... Regal doesn't use them. AMC doesn't use them. Cinemark doesn't use them. Carmike doesn't use them. Pacific doesn't use them. Regency doesn't use them. Landmark doesn't use them. Are you seeing a pattern yet?  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-21-2014 10:35 PM                        If the "two gentlemen" from Dealflicks were the same two guys we kept running into at our last convention, I can see why nobody works with them. They're annoying, intrusive and obnoxious. They registered as a vendor but wouldn't pay for a booth; instead they just "worked the room" at the events and chatted people up. They would follow you around and act all interested in your hometown, state or whatever but I overheard them asking the exact same canned questions to everybody they talked to. They just sort of oozed sleazy.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 04-22-2014 08:24 AM                        Actually if all those guys are against it; it is probably a good idea. Sort of like Southwest Airlines: "If our competitors do it, it must be wrong."  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 04-22-2014 04:14 PM                     OR... if all those guys don't do it, and the only ones that do are struggling indie theatres, maybe those guys don't need to, or the deal offered doesn't work for them.  |  IP: Logged Travis Cape Expert Film Handler Posts: 122 From: St. Louis, MO, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 04-22-2014 09:02 PM                     I can see both sides of that argument. Around here, AMC has a higher admission price for Fri-Sun and lower for Mon-Thurs. I don't even want to try and put such a complex pricing policy on a sign here. Edward, you're right. If you're a huge circuit, you don't need a discount or better marketing. The deck is already stacked for you. If you're a smaller guy, then you might need a push. I just wanted to see if anyone had used them and how it worked.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-22-2014 10:25 PM                        Out of curiosity I checked out the Dealflicks website and found that the Vali Twin Cinema in Powell, WY (about 3 hours from here) is listed. You can get tickets to their shows for around $2 off. Supposedly the way it works is, theaters sign up and submit their showtimes to Dealflicks. A theater can also restrict when tickets are available (which shows, which days, which times) and can set the amount of discount to give. The theater can also restrict how soon after a movie opens that tickets will be available on Dealflicks. And, "deals" such as ticket + concession packages at a discount can also be offered. A customer opens an account with Dealflicks and deposits whatever amount of money they want into it (similar to PayPal). You can also find deals on Groupon to get account credit for below the face value (such as $20 in Dealflicks credit for $9). When a customer buys a ticket or a "deal" through Dealflicks, credit is deducted from his account and he receives an email with a voucher which he prints out and takes to the theater, and redeems it for the tickets or concessions. The theater is then paid by Dealflicks. There are a couple of catches, the biggest one being that you can't buy your tickets long in advance. At least on the Powell theater's page, you can only buy tickets for 7:00 PM "tomorrow." The site doesn't give any advance information about what times or movies are coming up, and I couldn't find an easy way to search far flung theaters (when I opened the site, the Powell theater came up automatically so it must be the only Dealflicks cinema in this region.) I don't know how this whole rigamarole works out with the studios...if I buy an $8 ticket for $6 through Dealflicks, the studio probably still wants their full percentage as if it was an $8 sale. So assuming the studio gets about $4 to $4.50, that leaves less than $2 for the theater and Dealflicks to split. It's hard to imagine either party making a LOT of cash on this. To me the big "risk" especially in a small town like Powell is, what if a lot of their "regulars" discover this thing and start paying way less for their movie tickets? The idea behind it is to reel in people who might not go to the movies due to the prices, but it seems like a lot of folks might just decide to 'wait for the Dealflicks' instead of paying opening weekend prices. I have a sneaking suspicion that SOME theater operators might just keep 100% of the money they get from Dealflicks and just not report that particular ticket sale to the studio. Not saying I know of anyone who WOULD do this, but it certainly seems like a possibility given the small amount the theater is going to get from the sale. Dealflicks also has a blog which has a bio of (apparently) the only female member of their staff. If you click on her name, it opens up a whole list of blog topics where she's responding to various complaints. The company seems to be very responsive to complaints. Also, she's super hot, so they have that going for them. They should put her on the convention floors instead of those two annoying guys, they'd probably sign a lot more theaters up.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 04-23-2014 01:44 PM                        I don't quite understand the appeal from the theater's perspective, especially in an area without a lot of competition. Why wouldn't a theater just run promotions similar to what DealFlicks is offering, and cut out the middle man? The primary advantage to working with a service like this is to take advantage of the traffic they generate through their marketing efforts. So then, the big question for a theater looking to work with them is whether DealFlicks can get them customers more cheaply than they can get them independently. In Mike's example, the cost per sale by going through DealFlicks is $1, plus the labor involved in working with a third-party with all the transactions. The net revenue per DealFlicks customer is $1, where if you offered the same discount directly, your net revenue per customer would be at least double (could be more, depending on how the studio percentages work out), right? So, if you could attract an extra 10 people per night, that would be 70 people per week. You would be $70 ahead by doing it yourself. Could you take $300 per month and put it towards promotions, advertising, or other publicity efforts to attract more customers? Do you think those efforts would attract more people than DealFlicks can? If the answer is no, then the DealFlicks arrangement might be a good one. If the answer is yes...  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 04-23-2014 03:40 PM                     quote: primary advantage to working with a service like this is to take advantage of the traffic they generate through their marketing efforts. From a consumer perceptive, what marketing efforts? If you do not already know that their web site exists, what are they doing to publicize it? I have my doubts as to whether a slight discount will actually generate much if any new customers. Price (within reason) is not a major motivating factor around here for whether people go out to the movies or not. What discounting seem to do is spread the existing customer base out to less trafficked days/times.  |  IP: Logged Mark Hajducki Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Edinburgh, UK Registered: May 2003 posted 04-23-2014 04:21 PM                     I would have thought that running promotions through general discount sites (such as Groupon) would have more impact than using a cinema specific site. The only visitors to dealflixs would have already be thinking about going to see a movie and would be less likely to be new customers. Visitors to Groupon would be more likely to be looking for something to do and then decide to go the the cinema. ----- A local cinema (which goes for the luxury market) has offers on Groupon (not valid Fri/Sat).  |  IP: Logged Paul Looker Film Handler Posts: 83 From: Pittsburgh, PA/United States Registered: Sep 2009 posted 04-23-2014 06:45 PM                     I've been using them. I was offered a. 90/10 split after credit card fees. I worked out all of our deals so based on 70% to the studio they still turn us a profit of $5.00 per deal. I believe it is doing what I need it to do.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-24-2014 01:59 PM                        I was treated to lunch by this company. This is only for theatres that have a lot of competition and are looking for an 'edge' to get customers to come to your theatre over another one. That's it.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-24-2014 03:07 PM                        Well then it's silly that they signed up the theater in Powell, WY -- it is the only theater in that town. They have two screens. Their closest competition is a four-plex in Cody which is about 20 miles away and basically shows the same movies.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 04-24-2014 06:22 PM                     quote: Mike Blakesley Well then it's silly that they signed up the theater in Powell, WY -- it is the only theater in that town. They have two screens. Their closest competition is a four-plex in Cody which is about 20 miles away and basically shows the same movies. More like it's silly that the particular theater signed up for it. Also, perhaps they came to a deal that made it work for a smaller market?  |  IP: Logged Terry Lynn-Stevens Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1081 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 04-24-2014 06:27 PM                     www.dealflicks.com and discounting with groupons or wag jags in general is a stupid idea. While a quick influx of money might happen in a very short time, you simply damage your brand/cinema for those who are doing it. Customers will then expect the deal and paying full price becomes a thing of the past for many of your customers.  |  IP: Logged

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