January 29, 2018
The ‘silence your mobile phone ad’ is a specially positioned creative spot asking moviegoers to put their phones on silent mode – prior to the start of a movie. It is a spot exclusively sold to 1 advertiser at a time. The ad spot has to be a maximum of 10 seconds long and has to be booked on an annual basis across all screens in the Motivate Val Morgan circuit (VOX Cinemas, Oscar Cinema, Cine Royal Cinema and Cinemacity).
In November 2017 – alongside the release of Justice League, Motivate Val Morgan in collaboration with Murdoch University Dubai conducted a cinema research project in the form of questionnaires and video interviews at VOX Cinemas – Mall of the Emirates and City Centre Deira, to measure the effectiveness of the ‘silence your mobile phone ad spot’.
Between 7pm and 9pm on 17 November 2017, two teams (comprising of two media students in each team – interviewer and videographer) from Murdoch University were present at each location to conduct video interviews and get questionnaires filled out by cinemagoers visiting the respective cinema locations.
At the time of this research project, Motorola had booked the ‘silence your mobile phone ad spot’.
No of questionnaires:
Mall of the Emirates – 19 respondents
City Centre Deira – 26 respondents
No of video interviews:
Mall of the Emirates – 9 respondents
City Centre Deira – 13 respondents
Please note: the same questions were asked in both segments (questionnaire and video interview) of this cinema research project.
Results from the research carried out at both VOX Cinemas locations are as per below:
How often do you go to the cinema?
Once a week – 21 respondents
2 to 3 times a month – 20 respondents
Once a month – 12 respondents
Once every 2 months – 3 respondents
Often – 6 respondents
Depends – 4 respondents
Not Applicable – 1 respondent
How long before the movie starts (time on ticket) do you arrive at the cinema?
Hour before – 5 respondents
More than 20 minutes before – 19 respondents
10 to 15 minutes before – 27 respondents
5 minutes before – 8 respondents
Exactly at the start time of the movie – 8 respondents
Do you enjoy the pre-show (cinema ads by Motivate Val Morgan)?
Yes – 52 respondents
No – 15 respondents
Do you pay attention to cinema ads?
Yes – 53 respondents
No – 14 respondents
How many cinema advertisements seen on screen do you recall?
1 to 2 ads – 24 respondents
3 to 4 ads – 17 respondents
5 or more ads – 12 respondents
All most all ads – 5 respondents
None – 8 respondents
Not Applicable – 1 respondent
Do you recall the Motorola ad (silence your mobile phone spot)?
Yes – 48 respondents
No – 19 respondents
How creative was the Motorola ad?
Very creative – 22 respondents
Somewhat creative – 15 respondents
Neutral – 7 respondents
Not Creative – 4 respondents
Please Note: only respondents who answered yes to the previous question answered this question
What sort of on screen ads stand out?
Visually creative – 35
Long – 2
Short – 3
Fun/Funny – 6
Catchy – 2
Good Message – 3
Music accompanying the ad – 4
Ads that include the audience – 2
Other – 3
Not Applicable – 16
Please note: respondents could provide one or multiple answers to the question above.
All respondents who participated in the video interview segment signed consent forms which do not grant Motivate Val Morgan permission to publish the footage shot at the two locations.
Research Highlights:
As the results above indicate, the ‘silence your mobile phone ad’ is well-received, due to the following factors:
High Frequency – the ad plays on all screens and alongside every movie across all locations of four cinema operators.
Recall – the ad plays closest to the start of the movie (just before the ticker– movie countdown spot).
Creativity – the ‘silence your mobile phone ad spot’ showcases the most creative ads which remains ‘top-of-mind’
A big thank you out to the media students from Murdoch University Dubai – Tarek Fakhra, Kayla Nobrega, Gem Macalma and Irene Macabuhay, for taking time out on Friday 17 November 2017 to conduct the questionnaires and video interviews, and the management at VOX Cinemas for granting us permission to carry out this research project on a busy weekend at two key cinema locations – VOX Cinemas Mall of the Emirates and City Centre Deira.
Here are some example ‘silence your mobile phone ads’ booked through Motivate Val Morgan:
Axiom – 2012 to 2016
Samsung – May 2016 to January 2017
Motorola – May 2017 to January 2018
Interested in the ‘silence your mobile phone ad spot’? Contact a member of our sales team for more information.
