Lights, Action... Research! Discovering Insights for Theatrical Feature Films

1. Lights… Action… RESEARCH RESEARCH FOR THEATRICAL FEATURE FILMS Presented On October 7th, 2002 Bruce B. Friend - SVP, Worldwide Research

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE • CTMG Research Organization • CTMG Research Process/Focus • Secondary Research Resources • Primary Research Resources: Ongoing • Primary Research Resources: Ad Hoc • Research Systems/Databases • New Research Projects In Development • Research “Wish List”

3. CTMG RESEARCH ORGANIZATION Columbia TriStar Marketing Group Research Department

4. CTMG RESEARCH PROCESS The CTMG Research Department works with and supports practically all operating divisions of CTFD. • Feature Film Development & Production • Film Distribution & Exhibitor Relations • Creative Advertising • Media Planning • On-line Marketing • Publicity & Promotions • Consumer Products • Licensing & Merchandising • Home Video/Home Entertainment (limited) • And International

5. SECONDARY RESEARCH RESOURCES • Nielsen/NRG Weekly Film Tracking • 3 times a week for all wide releases (Sun, Wed, Thur) • Intermedia Advertising Group (IAG/ Reward TV) • Ad Qualitative Ratings Service • Ad/ Movie Tracking service with competitive data • Youth Intelligence (Jane Buckingham) • Cassandra Report (trend-setters and mainstream) • Trend Central (on-line trends resource) • Nielsen/NRG Pop Poll • Q-Score service for Film Industry • E-Poll “e-Score” Subscription Service • Q-Scores w/visual ID, from On-line methodology • MPAA Annual Moviegoer Study

6. PRIMARY RESEARCH RESOURCES Ongoing • NRG Recruited Audience Screenings (in theater) • For Production & Marketing • NRG Competitive Concept Positioning Studies • Twice a year - Summer and November/December • NRG Trailer Testing (mall intercept) • NRG Commercial Testing (mall intercept) • TV Spots & Print “One Sheets” • NRG Exit Polls (typically on opening weekend) • In 4 to 6 nationally representative theaters across the U.S.

7. PRIMARY RESEARCH RESOURCES Ad Hoc • Market Positioning Studies (Ad Hoc) • Phone/or In-person Intercept (“quantitative”) • Focus Groups (“qualitative”) • Nielsen/NRG (Las Vegas) Dial Testing • For competitive trailer testing • Focus Groups • For development of advertising creative • In-theater Trailer Testing • For “qualitative” testing (big films only)

8. RESEARCH SYSTEMS/ DATABASES • Nielsen/NRG Cinesys Systems: • Contains all NRG data for the past 15 years. • Nielsen/EDI Box Office Database System • Intermedia Ad Group (IAG) Trend-Reporter: • On-line database to access all IAG data • E-Poll “e-Score” Subscription Database • To access “e-Scores” on-line • Youth Intelligence/ Trend Central Database • To access youth trend-setters On-line • Competitive Movie Release Database System • In-house database of all movie release information

9. NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS In Development • Building on-line “research panels” and “research software/ engine” capabilities (for testing, tracking, etc.) in key international markets. • To see if we can do ad testing and film tracking in Germany, the UK, Australia, Japan, Spain and beyond, using this more cost efficient methodology • IAG/Reward TV Ad Ratings Service • Could one day conceivably add anotherperspective to the current way weevaluate and track ad and mediaeffectiveness

10. RESEARCH “WISH LIST” • Develop better, and more timely competitive intelligence and information. • Develop a better (more precise) ad testing methodology, as monadic, “mall intercept” testing doesn’t always yield accurate results. • Gain a better understanding of the “heavy” entertainment consumer, and what motivates their movie-going behavior, relative to other entertainment choices.

11. ResourceDetails

12. YOUTH INTELLIGENCE • The Cassandra Report: • Gen X & Y Trend-setters • Gen X & Y Mainstream Consumers • TrendCentral On-line Service: • On-line Youth Trends Database

13. The Cassandra Report • Conducted three times a year • Trendsetters: • 4-5 cities • 300 individually screened/interviewed • Mainstream: • 750 telephone sample • Nationally representative • Three age groups: 14-18, 19-24, 25-30

14. The Cassandra Report • Macro trends • Micro Trends • Reports (Fashion Shows, Sundance) • International Reports (London 2X, Asia 1X per yr.) • Lifestyle Investigations • TV advertising reel • City Guides • Hot new products • Brand Tracker™

15. TrendCentral • Daily E-mail • Comprehensive Internet Trend site • Covers: • Fashion • Beauty • Lifestyle (attitudes, sports, issues) • Technology (gadgets, internet) • Entertainment • Stats and facts • City guides

16. INTERMEDIA ADVERTISING GROUP “IAG Entertainment” monitors the performance of TV marketing efforts on an ongoing basis using proprietary technology and analysis. Data is collected via RewardTV, a web based panel with over 150,000 members. Research is conducted among movie-goers, early/frequent attenders, home entertainment users, purchasers and renters. To date, IAG's database has performance measures for well over 130+ movie titles in release since January 2002. • Studios use the IAG Movie Monitor to: • · Evaluate the strength of creative while it is on the air • · Track the marketplace on an continual basis • · Plan for upcoming releases, using historical performance of "like" films • · Monitor in-flight performance using results to adjust media schedules • · Hone strategy using IAG special analysesi.e., day of week, premium programming, special events • Movie Measurement Metrics Include: • · Intent to Go, Rent, Purchase (Top, Top 2 Box) • · Qualitative "Reasons" for Intent • · Creative Recall • · Title Recall • · Appeal (“like-a-bility”)

17. NRG FILM TRACKING • Nielsen/NRG Film Tracking is conducted 3 times/ week (Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday) among a nationally representative sample of 400 movie-goers per day. • In the U.S., if a movie is targeted towards a family audience, an African-American audience or Hispanic audience, “supplemental tracking” is conducted among the specific groups to determine awareness and interest among the targeted groups (at an extra cost). • A movie appears on tracking 3 1/2 weeks prior to the scheduled release date, but only qualifies if it is being given a wide release (600+ theaters in the U.S.).

18. NRG FILM TRACKING • Movie-goers are questioned on “unaided awareness,” “aided awareness,” “interest” in seeing a movie, and “first choice” among movies that are/or will (that weekend) be out in the marketplace. • U.S. “norms” for unaided awareness are 12%, total awareness 77%, definite interest 40% and first choice 12%. For International markets, these “norms” vary significantly. • Awareness, interest and first choice numbers are analyzed by audience segment (e.g., males/females under 25, males/females 25 & over) to determine if the marketing message is reaching the targeted audience segment.

19. NRG TRACKING “PULSE CHECKS” • Tracking “Pulse checks” (pre-tracking tack-ons) are conducted among the tracking sample before a scheduled movie appears on regular tracking. (This info is also proprietary) • Pulse checks are used to obtain early information regarding “awareness,” “interest” and “discrete choice” (against competitive films) and to: • evaluate effectiveness of trailer play and in-theater print, • or to fine-tune media plans, • or make determinations for appropriate release dates. • We typically do pulse checks now for all films in the U.S., and some almost as early as a year prior to release (e.g. Spider-Man)

20. NRG TRACKING “PULSE CHECKS” Men In Black II (Example)

21. NRG RECRUITED SCREENINGS Research Screening Process:(with the National Research Group) • A movie is shown to a recruited audience that meets the specifications of the target demo(s) for the movie. • The audience scores the movie overall on a variety of measures including: • “overall rating” (excellent, very good, good, fair, poor) • “expectation ratings” (better, or not as good), and • “recommendation” (definite) word-of-mouth scores • The audience also evaluates elements of the film such as the beginning, ending, story, cast/acting, music, pacing, etc., and indicates most and least liked scenes.

22. NRG RECRUITED SCREENINGS Research Outcome/Results:Production • Based on performance of the movie in comparison to established norms, the various elements are evaluated, • And, if the performance is below norms, or company expectations, revisions are often made to the movie. Research Outcome/Results: Marketing • These results help “fine-tune” who the target audience is for this movie, and what they responded to best: • Conceptually (providing insights for positioning) • And in terms of specific scenes that were appealing (which can then be used in Trailer, Print and TV)

23. NRG TRAILER TESTING • Trailer testing is conducted via “in-person intercept methodology” (usually in shopping malls*) with a nationally representative sample of 300 movie-goers, to assess just how effective a trailer is at increasing the audience’s “interest” in seeing the movie. • For the U.S. market, the goal is to have a trailer that generates about 50-65% “definite interest” and about 80% “positive interest” in seeing the movie. • Trailer testing is also used to pinpoint the scenes of the movie that have the strongest recall/affinity among the target audience, for use in TV spot development. *Note: We have begun testing in the Nielsen/Las Vegas Dial Test Facility.

24. NRG TV SPOT TESTING • TV spot testing typically starts after trailer testing. • TV spots (either :30 or :60 in length) are also tested among a nationally representative sample of about 300 movie-goers per spot. • The goal for TV test scores for the US market is about 50-60% “definite interest” and about 70-80% “positive interest”. • The overall goal of the testing is to obtain spots that generate high awareness and high interest so that it translates to high awareness and interest numbers as the movie appears on tracking.

25. NRG PRINT TESTING • Print testing is usually conducted when we’re unable to achieve creative consensus on one approach/look, or we need quantifiable justification for filmmakers. • Like trailers, print tests are also tested among a nationally representative sample of about 300 movie-goers via in-person (usually in shopping malls), or via the on-line Internet testing (more on this later). • The overall goal for a print test is to determine which of a number of executions best communicates/sells the concept of the movie and also generates the most “interest” in seeing the movie.

26. NRG EXIT POLLS • Exit polls are usually conducted the first weekend that a movie opens at usually 4 to 6 representative U.S. cities nationwide. • Exit polls are conducted to determine the audience composition on opening weekend, and to evaluate the movie’s “playability” among key audience segments. • Additionally, exit polls aid in further targeting the marketing message for “post-open” media planning by evaluating the various channels of communication that worked best for each audience segment.

27. NRG MARKET POSITIONING STUDIES Types of Market Positioning Studies: • “Quantitative” Market Positioning Studies are only conducted for select, usually bigger budget, films such as: • Ali • MIB2 • Spider-Man • “Qualitative” or Focus Group Positioning Studies are usually conducted for most “wide release” movies.

28. NRG MARKET POSITIONING STUDIES Quantitative* Study:(By telephone or in-person “intercept”) • In a “quantitative*” market positioning study, movie-goers are questioned on various movie content/story elements (including cast, director, concept, genres, F/X, title, etc.) • Results are then analyzed to determine the positioning combination, and specific elements/attributes that yield the highest interest in the movie in the expected competitive environment (other movies it’s against). • This research is conducted very early in the marketing cycle in order to guide marketing strategy and to provide direction for the development of the marketing materials. * Based on a nationally representative sample of 1,000+ movie-goers

29. MARKET POSITIONING STUDIES Qualitative Study:(Focus Groups: in-person group discussions) • In a “qualitative” market positioning study, “focus group” discussions are conducted to show/review marketing materials in the early, developmental stages. • This research helps to identify various movie elements that appeal, or do not appeal to the target audience, and is ultimately used to fine-tune audio/visual marketing communications to the various target audiences. • Additionally, this research is used to determine whether the marketing message/strategy is being clearly communicated to the audience, and to assess the specific strengths and/or weaknesses in the materials.