The FINANCIAL — Dream Town, a film by David Imedashvili, has generated 460,000 GEL in the three weeks since its release to audiences of 26,000 people. The initial investment for the film was 410,000 GEL and the film has already generated profits of 50,000 GEL according to David Imedashvili, the director of the film.
The first week’s sales came to approximately 120,000 GEL.
Imedashvili says that approximately 30 companies were involved in sponsoring the films taking, out of which the general sponsors where GLC and MGroup.
Product endorsement and representatives of many Georgian companies actually had a positive effect on the audience. The FINANCIAL interviewed those people who had watched the film and each of them freely named at least 5 companies they had noticed in the film, however it should be mentioned that the majority of named products were high public-awareness companies such as GLC, PSP, Natali Salon, Night Office, Lukoil, Bagrationi, Teliani Valley, XL energy drink, Caparol, and MGroup.
In less than one week, the Tbilisi cinema Amirani managed to earn GEL 30,000 from selling movie tickets of Twilight Saga: New Moon, the full amount that it actually cost them to buy the screening rights for the film and launch advertising campaign. Daily number of movie watchers registered was 1000.
However there were still some other companies like newspaper Prime Time, magazine Focus, Kikalastudio, Smile – IT company, Lutecia, VONG – Asian restaurant, Printshop.ge, and Flora.
“The most memorable company was probably GLC, when the jackpot win was announced at the end. Moreover I should also mention the group Mgzavrebi and Maia Asatiani’s show, and of course TV channel Rustavi 2,” said Mako Ajiashvili, 20.
“Product endorsement is an effective way of eliciting attention and it works well if it is in correspondence with the script and will influence the subconscious of individuals if the product is associated with heroes or certain situations,” said Natalia Zueva, Director of PRoffice.
“Such cases, according to the research, increase sales and awareness. Such examples are quite commonplace throughout the world and world brands see serious profit from the means of advertising. However compared to that what happens in Georgia is quite different as in many cases the products are not well packaged and represent artificial elements,” said Natalia Zueva, Director of PRoffice.
The endorsement of products was mainly done in 2 ways, one form was when the heroes actually outlined the name of the products or the place of purchase, and the other was visual effect.
The film’s scenes developed in several well-known spots in Tbilisi. The well known night-club Night Office was a strategic point for the plot, the beauty centre Natali was the favourite place for girls to chat and pamper themselves. The actors were drinking Bagrationi sparkling wine, Samshvenisi from Teliani Valley and energy drink XL, and dreaming of winning the lottery by GLC.
Furthermore group Mgzavrebi were painting their walls with Caparol and celebrating their achievements at Maspindzelo. For purchasing cosmetics girls visited PSP and bought body cream of Lutecia. The culmination was the Maia Asatiani TV show Profile and the scene at Rustavi 2. As the name implies the film should have a happy ending, which was guaranteed by GLC and the jackpot raffle.
“As people come to cinemas for enjoyment and to relax it is much easier to influence them. With product endorsement advertising gurus rule the consciousness of people. Famous brands can get millions from product placement and this is quite a well-developed direction that is actively taking steps forward at present and falling behind the standards used by the world film industry. The potential of advertising is not fully realized and hence needs to be based on marketing directions; oriented at concrete results,” said Zueva.
