Sales & Advertising Films
Some catalogs had dedicated sections for commerical films complete with wonderful art.
A natural fit in a free market society, American nontheaterical films have a lengthy history with advertising and sales. Made by or for private enterprise to assist with marketing products and services, nontheaterical sales films encouraged purchases and brand recognition through introducing audiences to a business and describing and demonstrating its goods. In line with other nontheaterical films, sales and advertising films focused on specific segments of the population most likely to be consumers. Also like other nontheaterical entries, sales films were shown at a variety of locations, including public spaces, inside stores, on exterior walls, and even at movie theaters.120 Unlike theatrical releases, nontheaterical sales films playing in theaters paid the theater for showing and gave out tickets to interested consumers. While requiring the business to pay for showings, presentations in theaters allowed for exclusionary measures (tickets) to ensure the optimal audience and relieved the business from purchasing their own projection equipment. This was especially beneficial in the early stages of the moving image when equipment costs were the highest. A great example of these principles was the Gossard Corset Company’s showings of How Marjorie Won a Career (1914); the company paid the local movie theater and passed out tickets inside the department store for a ladies-only showing. The showing and accompanied sales presentation would demonstrate the company’s undergarments.121 A common tactic to save money was the reuse of industrial films with new audiences to showcase the quality of products and their support of American labor.122 Not only a resourceful business practice, but the reuse of films with new audiences displays the fluidity of nontheaterical genres. As can be seen in the wonderful catalog snippets around this page, sales and advertising films had a wide range of explicitness in their marketing efforts; ranging from more lightly sponsored films on particular subjects with a connection to the general business or interest of a company, to films with direct and constant brand recognition and sales tactics. The level of subtlety was left to film makers and marketing departments, often gearing particular approaches to specific audiences. These practices made for a vibrant sales category of nontheaterical moving images by the 1910s.
Large consumer purchases were common nontheatrical advertising film topics. This one, Tomorrow Meets Today, by Ford Motor Company highlights the exciting new technologies being developed. This catalog was focused on internal distributor for showings at dealerships and other marketing events.
Longer length films were often pitched to readers as educational, like this film from Shell Oil Company, but often had significant advertising content within.
Like other nontheaterical films, sales films reached their peak in the decades after World War II. Wartime corporate films presented a significant transition for the genre, from selling specific products to the general marketing of the company itself. As nontheatrical film expert Rick Prelinger explains through the history of the nontheaterical film company Jam Handy Organization (JHO), “While JHO continued to produce films for its prewar clients, its wartime films typically did not promote specific products, but rather depicted corporate activities in wartime or told stories designed to promote production or address specific corporate issues that arose.”123 With production turning back from wartime industries and the American public enjoying economic success, businesses sought to capture those dollars by encouraging customers with films about their products. Ranging from cars to camera equipment, companies invested in celluloid to reach new audiences for just about everything.124 Larger operations could include in-house production spaces, but many films were made by contracting with independent production houses. Correspondingly, many of these independent film businesses saw noticeable growth in this period.125 For decades after World War II, sales and corporate films reached new heights.
Catalogs for nontheaterical sales films highlight the types of products and businesses that led the field. Needing the ability to finance the expensive process of film production and distribution, many businesses that created dedicated sales film catalogs were major corporations. One area of particular concentration was the marketing of high ticket items, where a film and connected presentations could influence a hesitant buyer to make the commitment or upsell add-on items. Within Dr. Waller’s collection of catalogs, perhaps no greater example of this comes from the many General Motors and Ford catalogs; showing a history of near annual releases, automotive sales films could highlight the fun and capabilities of new vehicles and attract additional customers to the dealership.126 Dr. Waller’s catalogs also highlight the increase of corporate sales catalogs after World War II, with several entries starting in the late 1940s. Studying the catalogs themselves reveals many characteristics of sales films.
As with broader declines in nontheaterical film production, sales and corporate advertising films started declining with the release of digital moving image formats. Film projectors and celluloid were quickly being replaced by VHS tapes and DVDs. Cheaper and easier to distribute and play, digital formats would takeover sales and corporate moving images by the ending decades of the 20th century. Nowadays digital sales media is everywhere, an expansion from the nontheaterical sales films which sought out people away from the silver screen decades previously.
Sometimes the strength of the company was shown in products and services not offered to the general public, like space and military technology in this General Motors entry.
Some companies made catalogs focused on likely customers and encouraged watching the films with their product, like this one for Miller High Life.
Unlike theatrical films from Hollywood, nontheatrical films were made by sponsors to be seen by as many as possible and thus often free.
TWA would make several films about interesting destinations, the skill of its pilots, and the technology of its planes. The latter was shown in the film Letter to a Pilot seen above.