Plug Your Lugs...

Exactly Max, they're clearly demonstrating their transparency and social proof. They're saying if you can't follow our rules, we'll churn you out the door. Which might sound a little extreme but...

...in fact, it isn't. Far from it.

What the ad is saying (thanks customer! ) is that we take your movie experience very seriously indeed. We value everyone who shows respect to other people in the audience. Just as talking is not acceptable during a film or creating a disturbance is not acceptable - we will not put up with anyone who distracts or otherwise causes distractions to others.

The video ad is in fact saying, 'We care so much about our customers enjoyment that we are prepared to go the extra mile to make sure that you, as a customer, ultimately enjoy your time spent here and we're not afraid to put our foot down to proof it'.

But this ad goes one step further...

It clearly shows on the part of the business owner a willingness and adeptness to use every opportunity possible to turn what appears to be a disadvantage into an advantage in terms of their own marketing.

They're prepared to think outside the box. Laterally.

They love coming up with new ideas to portray themselves in a good light.

Rude, obnoxious people or just plainly very thick individuals of course won't get it. The knee-jerk reaction of many would possibly be to instantly jump to the woman's rescue and condone her behavior. (Nevermind the fact that in using her phone as a flashlight to find her seat, after arriving late, was itself distracting a lot of other people and their enjoyment of the movie experience.)

This is an excellent example of sending out a very positive buying signal from what many would consider to be a negative experience.

And I bet they got a bloody good chuckle out of it too. If an advertising agency had come up with this idea it would have cost the Alamo Drafthouse many thousands of dollars but thanks to this disgruntled customer, they got the ad (which incidentally went viral) for virtually free. And in return made a fantastic return on their investment.

As Malcolm Lambe said - Brilliant!


Pete Walker

PS I should also add that the Alamo Drafthouse does give out several on screen warnings to the audience before the film commences to make sure that all of the audience' mobile phones are switched off.

If the lady in question had turned up earlier (whilst the lights were still on) she would have clearly seen these on screen. So they were perfectly entitled to show her the door.

It's viral marketing much more than it can be considered a single advertisement, although technically it's both. Shortly after it was uploaded by, I must assume, an employee, it went viral on sites like Break.com and YouTube. People who have never heard of the Alamo Drafthouse have now and I'm sure it's doing wonders for their business.

I remember reading some of the video comments shortly after this appeared and nearly everyone was saying something along the lines of ".. Wow, I wish my movie theatre took this stance!"