Reinvention: Producing something new based on something that aleady exists.
Movie theaters as we have always known them are becoming a thing of the past. In fact, in the last decade, movie theaters have changed more in terms of service and experience than in the 70 years.
In this episode, Mark and Adrienne chat movie theater makeovers and how this affects the furniture, appliance and mattress industry. Scantily clad butlers and flutes of Prosseco for a Magic Mike preview, ropes course challenges and themed food at the Alamo Draft House for a screening of Cocaine Bear — what does this mean? Retailers need to being to think,
“[H]ow can I create an experience around [what is] culturally relevant that would get people to come into my store and have some fun?”
Listen or watch for more creative ideas and topics on how to reinvent the shopping experience and become culturally relevant!
FULL TRANSCRIPTION
Mark Kinsley: How are movie theaters reinventing themselves? And yes, it involves fewer screens and more stuff. Why does it matter to the furniture, appliances and mattress industry? You’re about to find out. The FAM marketing show begins right now.
Yo, Adrienne, what’s happening?
Adrienne Woods: Not much. Mr. Kinsley. What’s up with
Mark Kinsley: you? Oh, you know, just thinking about movies and movie theaters and international travel and love, all the crazy stuff that I’ve got going on.
Love. I love a good movie. Hey, what, when’s the last time you went to the movie? That’s
Adrienne Woods: a really great question. I’m trying to remember. It was funny because the last time I went to the movie, I feel like I ended up seeing three, like within like a, a four day period, I think, um, there was that movie, clearly American Underdo.
Do you remember that one? It’s the football movie. It was like back in like November-ish timeframe.
Mark Kinsley: Oh no, I, so I went to Avatar three. That’s the last movie I went to be, and it was because I wanted to go and like sit in the comfy seats and have the big surround sound experience and do the big screen and the whole thing.
Sure. But I, but I think that’s, you know, otherwise you can just sit at home and you can get most of that stuff. And a lot of people have. , you know, the equivalent of a movie theater in Ron Holmes these
Adrienne Woods: days. Okay, well apparently American Underdog was 2021 and I know I saw a movie last year, so nevermind.
But it was the Kurt Warner story. But I do remember that I went and saw that. You know what’s so interesting? In college, my roommate and I would , I probably shouldn’t say this, but we would go on a Sunday night cause we didn’t have any homework before the week would start, and we would go to our favorite fast food re.
And we would stick it in our purse. We would get whatever we wanted to get, stick it in our purse and we would go watch a movie on Sunday nights and then eat. Like for me it was most of the time Taco Bell. So, you know, I’ve got my crunch wrap, my burrito and my, you know, taco Bell stuff and we’re watching a movie cuz it was $5, it was cheap watch to a college student at the time.
$5 wasn’t that cheap, but it felt like a luxury to be able to go in and watch whatever. We wanted to watch what that was playing and then have fast.
Mark Kinsley: Well, the, I’m gonna make you look like a saint because when I was in high school, we would go into the basically empty movie theaters like midday, especially during the hot times of year.
And you know, ripping
Adrienne Woods: SIGs. Oh, good, good, good, good. I was not that child. I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you, but I was the Oh, I know. I other, other than sneaking in food other than sneaking in food, which was not , not legal either. Yeah.
Mark Kinsley: If you’re watching on camera, you can see what I’m seeing. Which is a nice little halo around the top of Adrian’s head.
I
Adrienne Woods: really was, I was a very naive child, but I was a good kid. Like I just. I didn’t do, I just didn’t push the boundaries. If you told me like, we don’t do this, I just didn’t and I didn’t question it, which
Mark Kinsley: I don’t know if it was good or not, we are not gonna do this, but hey, I’ll tell you what we are gonna do.
What we do here is trivia. , are you ready for We do
Adrienne Woods: do trivia. Um, okay. I am. Okay. Cola cherry licorice. Apricot and caram are five of the 23 flavors that are advertised in wit. What can of.
Mark Kinsley: Does that make sense? There’s it like a soda pop. It is a soda pop. I said both because I grew up in Kansas and it was pop.
Everything is moved to St. Louis and it was soda. Ooh, no. What’s soda is coke. And then if you’re in like Houston, where Tara was a kid, it’s, it’s coke. What kind of Coke do you want?
Adrienne Woods: Yes, yes, that’s exactly, I’m from here. I’m from northwest Arkansas. Bentonville, everything is Coke. Okay. What kind of Coke you want?
Oh. Oh, Coke . Oh, Dr. Pepper. Oh, Pepsi. Oh, whatever it is. So anyway, those are the five
Mark Kinsley: ingredients. I like this question too because it makes me think about going to the movie theaters, because in the past you would go to the movie theater. Mm-hmm. , and you would get your giant coke. Right of
Adrienne Woods: Sprite. Coca of Coca-Cola.
Mark Kinsley: Of Coca-Cola. And you’d get your buttered down popcorn with some sort of chemical draped over the top of it, and you would go and you would sit in the movie theater and you would have this amazing experience. Well, you know, these days movies are getting released. On streaming services? Yeah. As the same, at the same time.
They’re getting released in theaters and there’s less of, of an incentive to go out. So what’s happening with movie theaters and what can you learn from it that could apply to the mattress and furniture business? Well, number one, they’re starting to go down in, in the number of screens. Uh, so the 30 screen mega plexes, those are out and you’ve got 12 to 16 screens and they’re converting those other spaces into arcades and bowling alleys and.
Bars, people want to come out and have some cocktails and hang out with their friends, and they, it’s just not all, all about the, the onscreen experience. You know, people can stay home and watch it in their PJs now, I mean, do you, do you relate to this or is it, is it like, okay, if we’re gonna go out, we gotta be making an event?
Adrienne Woods: Yes and no, right? Because I still think just like going to the movie theater is a splurge in general, probably because it costs like $27 per ticket now. But I will also say I have gotten a little more, I don’t know, bougie, but it’s like now that you can pick your seat, it’s like, oh, they don’t have the seat that I want, so I’m not gonna go or I’ll go see something else.
I mean that, that’s just me. I mean, that’s the way that I look at it. Like I’ve just become much more particular because they have now afforded me the luxury to be particular. Does that make
Mark Kinsley: sense? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely does. I mean, yeah, that’s, It is funny that you mentioned like being able to choose your seat online, uh, at the theater that’s close to our house here, that’s like the only one I go to.
I mean, they have really comfy seats, but if I have to sit in the front row, I can see that ahead of time and I’m not gonna go, I’m gonna wait until absolutely not. Absolutely not. Unless
Adrienne Woods: opens up . You’re like, I’m a grownup. I can pay for what I want now. And it is not the front row,
Mark Kinsley: but even, even the theater experiences are having to.
The stagecraft and the pageantry to a new LE level. Um, everything from, there’s a company called Warehouse Cinema. They sold, uh, over $1,005 tickets to a pajamas and PA popcorn screening. Of the 1988 film, the Land Before Time. Remember the little dinosaurs? Yes, yes
Adrienne Woods: indeed. Barely . No, no. I remember it like I’m a child of the eighties.
Barely. Um, I was born in 87. It’s fine. You know, one thing I will say that I feel like they have started doing, and I remember this specifically with The Greatest Showman, did you see that one in theaters? I did not. No. Oh, okay. So they had the director, and I don’t remember the director’s name, but then they also had Hugh Jackman come on beforehand and they were just like, thank you for coming and seeing this movie in the theaters.
It was intended for the big screen. What you will experience was meant to be, you know, on this gigantic screen. And so we just appreciate you taking the time and spending the money to come watch it. And I remember I saw it with Jonathan, I think we had gone to see it for our anniversary, and he looked at me, he’s like, that was really nice.
Like it was just a little something extra that made the people in this movie relatable to you. Like, oh, they took the time. Even though it only took him three minutes to sit there and actually film a thank you that got, you know, broadcast to everyone in every theater to say, Hey, thanks for coming to the movie.
We really appreciate it. We made this movie with you in mind, and those of you that you were talking about are the people sitting here in a theater and it’s great at home. You can have a big theater, but there’s just something about a movie size screen that makes things bigger and come to life.
Mark Kinsley: My favorite theater in the world is Ragtag in Columbia, Missouri.
And so when I lived in Columbia, Missouri, which is the home of the University of Missouri, for people who don’t know, And it’s a very cool kind of hippie town and all, all the things you would expect from a college town and this theater called Ragtag, played all these crazy independent films. You can get a bottle of wine, you literally have to duck behind a curtain to get into the theater, and you’re sitting on couches and it was just this really fun, you know, almost like at home, but at a theater experience.
And at the very beginning of every movie, somebody would come out and they would talk about the movie. And they would share their excitement for the film and what it meant to their theater to have this film there and without further ado, and they would introduce the film. So you always expected that to happen.
It was just like a nice little human touch in an environment that you expect to be on your own and not interacting with people. So stuff like that I think goes a long way. You know, I was looking at some of the. Ideas that people are implementing. Oh, by the way, quick aside, yes. The Land Before Time. Yes.
The Dinosaur movie. This is a . Yeah, the dinosaur movie. They, they did the PJ and Popcorn Party. Mm-hmm. , I remember they had these, uh, this program at Pizza Hut and it was called Book and like you were a kid. You like, you read books and you got stars personal paying pizza, VE Visa. That’s right. Yes. Well, around the same time is when Land Before Time came out and they had these little toys that you put your fingers up into and then, Made you control the little dinosaur characters.
And that was tied in with Book . Well, hey, that was a foot traffic driver. They got kids to come in and get their personal pan pizza. Don’t That’s true. Discredit, that’s true. Ideas like that. Um, okay. Back to movie theaters. , uh, Alamo Drafthouse. They did a, a screening of Cocaine Bear. That’s a recent one. Yep.
Which
Adrienne Woods: looks stupid in my opinion, but that’s an aside.
Mark Kinsley: Okay. Adrian, you’re saying that’s stupid. Have you ever heard of a movie called, uh, shark, NATO? Shark, does
Adrienne Woods: it have to do with sharks that are in a formation of a tornado?
Mark Kinsley: Yeah. Ever since shark NATO happened, everything is permissible.
Adrienne Woods: This is, I was sitting in a theater, so I, so I’ll have to go back and figure out what movie it was, but I saw the preview for Cocaine Bear in a theater and whoever I was with, I looked at them and I’m like, this is what movies have come to really.
This is what we’re making movies of now. Great. Anyway, back to your story about Cocaine Bear.
Mark Kinsley: Okay. So what they did at the cocaine, at the Alamo Draft House is they had an agility course. They had themed food that was all around. Hopefully , not cocaine. Hopefully
not
Adrienne Woods: laced with cocaine.
Mark Kinsley: There we go. Right?
Hopefully not. But you could see the idea here. It’s like take the movie and create the experience around the movie at the uh, Edinburgh Theater. They held a Magic Mike screening, and of course they had scantily clad butlers serving Prosecco. Why would you not? It’s a screening of magic. And it created Instagram worthy moments, and it created an experience around the screen.
So that that’s, it’s just one thing to think about in terms of now think about your own business. Tap into that, which is popular. Tap into pop culture in the moment, and it doesn’t have to be a movie screening, but get your brain juices thinking in that direction. What is happening now? How can I create an experience around that that’s culturally relevant that would get people to come into my store and have some fun?
You
Adrienne Woods: know, and I’ve often said it before, I think we’ve probably put it in a newsletter. So if you’re not subscribed to one, um, this is your plug to get subscribed to it. But I think I have often wondered what it would be like if a furniture store with all these vast recliners and everything else that we had actually put in a movie theater, maybe somewhere sized screen, I was able to do a showing that you could also like sit in the luxury lounges that they have.
Like, I often thought I’m like, oh, that would be fun. But I’ll tell you what I want is I want somewhere where I can go. And like have a nice dinner and actually talk to people. And then also watch the movie. Because a lot of times, like the theater that’s close to your house, right, you can only really get in like 20 minutes before the movie starts, obviously, because they’ve got a movie before that.
So you shorten any, you know, visiting time with whoever you’re with to the 20 minutes before and then they serve you dinner while the movie’s going on, which is nice. But it’s like you feel like you have to do something extra in order to get any sort of like quality time with people. And so it might be nice if you had, and I don’t even know how you would do this, I’m gonna leave this logistics up to other people, but a way to like have a really nice dinner in whatever you’re in that then also converts to like a lounge chair after you’ve had your hour to have dinner or whatnot.
Mark Kinsley: I don’t know. You know, um, our friends over at house, uh, spelled H O W S E, they carry a bunch of Englander products and we have a great relat. And we have a showroom there. Well, during Dream Camp, they came in and brought all the furniture for Dream Camp set up so that it felt more comfortable and it wasn’t a bunch of conference room chairs and all that stuff, and did an amazing job.
Laura Williams is just a, a, an absolute delight, block star, delight. She’s a delight. And, and the whole team around her too. And it made me think, you know, if you did have like an independent theater or something in your, in your area or someplace where people do sit for a long period of time and want a better, , you could create a partnership potentially where you provide, you know, the furniture, the, the, all the different items that would go into appointing that, that area.
And then as part of your partnership, you get the customer information of everybody that attended that venue and you’re able to market to them in some way. Or maybe there are QR codes around, Hey, you enjoyed your, your time. get these pieces at house. Yeah. So think, think out of the box too. You know, I, I, I notice people are going out and doing more shows these days, uh, events go to where the traffic is, is kind of what I’m saying.
Absolutely. Just think, go to where the traffic is and then get creative with how you connect the dots back to your business and, and don’t like when you’re thinking about creating experiences. Also, uh, we’ll go back to the theater world. Don’t be afraid. And don’t discount getting lucky, just like our friends did in Rio de Janeiro.
They had a 25th anniversary screening of the movie Titanic. And during, I love Titanic . You love Titanic, right? Titanic’s such a wonderful, I think Terra saw it three times in theater. Yes. Back when it came out. So they have this 25th anniversary screening of the film Titanic. In Rio De Jane Degenero de Janeer.
Adrienne Woods: Yes.
Mark Kinsley: It’s just like that . And during the movie, The theater flooded Uhuh. You know,
Adrienne Woods: sometimes stuff
Mark Kinsley: just happened, so of course it was immersive, but it wasn’t intentional. Fair. And don’t be afraid of getting lucky. Absolutely. Maybe, maybe we’ll happens. So I needs luck at the very end of the show as we get to our trivia question though.
Okay. Needs luck.
Adrienne Woods: Well, . I love, this was a great topic because I love going to movie theaters and it is interesting to see how they’ve evolved because I would say that they have evolved more in our lifetime than in the previous generations before us, right? Like it was just kind of this typical, you get popcorn and you go to a movie, and that was for decades and we have now gone from you go to a movie and get popcorn to like these whole immersive experiences where you get drenched.
So, um, okay, so for the trivia question, Cola cherry, licorice, apricot, and cardamom are five of the 23 flavors famously advertised to be in every can of what drink
Mark Kinsley: Dr. Pepper.
Adrienne Woods: Yes. I don’t have to come up with better ones than this too clearly ,
Mark Kinsley: I just, I think the only reason I remember that is because I was thinking about the flavor profile, but I do remember years ago hearing that Dr.
Pepper had all these different flavors and that was part of their advertising. I wanna
Adrienne Woods: say at one point, even on their can, they had 23, or like the number 23 was somewhere in a slogan that they’ve had before and they’re like, you know, these 23 flavors make up Dr. Pepper. So, but yes, it is Dr. Cardamon seems so interesting cuz if you, if you put that in something else, it would never remind me of Dr.
Pepper. Right. It’s only with all of these other flavors mixed in that you have like the quintessential Dr. Pepper flavor.
Mark Kinsley: Oh, and cardamon seeds. Ugh. Yeah. Not for
Adrienne Woods: me. Are you disgusting? They’re, yeah. So that’s why I’m like, I would just never have
Mark Kinsley: thought, I’ve crunched into one a few times and I’m like, Ugh, please take him out or grind him up, do something different.
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