The Limits of Social Networking

As a practical matter, I have been using facebook to both build buzz and gain market knowledge for my new Zeus Digital Theater project. I started the facebook page in November at the behest of my 15 year old son, John.

John was right that it would be a good way to reach out to the theater's main demographic, teenagers. With the facebook page, I have been able to get teen boosters talking about the new theater which should open October 1st this year. In addition, I have been able to gain significant insights into how people viewed the new theater, what they expected from it and what they disliked about the competition.

While the Facebook page works for the market analysis and the buzz building, it fails in the traditional "call to action" marketing. If I put up some call to action on the page, I do get some response. However, without a strong reward (such as a t-shirt give away), it does not register as high as one would expect from "fans".

As a result, I believe the theater will need to use a reward based call to action system that is based upon email and text messages instead. You see, with facebook, fans see a stream of updates on their wall. If you post something on the Zeus page, it is posted by date (default) which means that if the fan has lots of other activity after my post, then my post will be buried way down their wall. If the fan only gets on their page once or twice a week, then they don't see it at all. In other words, Facebook has lots and lots of noise. Noise, as any marketer knows, is the enemy of messages.

So while Facebook gets lots of press, it is only one tool in the arsenal of the modern marketing package. And just like any marketing message of the past, a call to action must have some time related benefit to the consumer. Otherwise, it is just noise.

Zeus Update: March 4, 2010

Lots happening on the theater. First, the weather is finally breaking. It has been the worst Winter on record here which has stopped all our work. That is about to change.

While this was going on, we made some changes to the building. Now, instead of using 9 1/2 inch concrete tilt up walls on the exterior perimeter of the building, we will be using a steel stud system that is skinned with 2" of concrete. It is way lighter, which will allow us to save money on the footers and foundation.

The lobby designs are done. I am using a cool laser show to put the stars up over the open area. This is far more economical than putting thousands of fiber optic strands up in the ceiling. It looks awesome.

Steve LeRose, our new General Manager, is finishing his move from RentQuick to Zeus. We have hired his replacement at RentQuick and things are transitioning well.

The seats  have been ordered. The stadium seating is ordered. We are waiting on the final numbers for the projectors, but I expect to have them ordered by the end of the month. I am still unsure about some of the concession equipment, but that will fall into place quickly.

A good thing is that 52" LCD 1080p screens are dropping in price. I need to put in a bunch of these, so the better prices help.

All in all, I am looking at spending close to $6 Million on this project. I need to work day and night at the printing press to put that out in $20 bills. (Just kidding Secret Service guys!).

Update on Zeus Digital Theaters

Much has happened since my last post.

We have started work on the site and are about to begin construction of the building. The weather has been awful, but that is okay. We will continue to work around the snow, ice and rain. I have been through and seen worse.

• Steve LeRose, my long time friend and confidant, will be the General Manager. He will be leaving RentQuick in March and moving over to the Zeus payroll. Rick Burns will take over running RentQuick. 
• We have selected Barco digital projectors for the theater. We will use Dolby 3D in two of the auditoriums. 
• We will have full rocker seats. Each seat will have the Zeus logo on the head rest. The seats will be black leather. 
• Total seats in the theater is 1,106. 
• We are about to get a parking variance from the city, which will leave us with 278 parking spaces. 
• The facade of the theater will be brick with accents. 
• I am still evaluating whether or not to have a coffee bar in the lobby with cappuccinos. 
• We have Zeus t-shirts that are showing up all over town. Only the coolest kids are wearing them. 
• We still expect to open the theater on September 1, 2010. 

Zeus Digital Theaters

Zeus Digital Theaters is my new project. Zeus is an 8-screen, all digital theater being built in Waynesboro, Virginia. The theater is going in on my DeWitt Crossing project.

When I do a new project, people have a hard time catching up with the concept. So below is my little Q&A Interview with myself on the subject.

So, you are building a new theater in Waynesboro. Why there and why now?

Waynesboro is the perfect market for a new movie theater. Why there isn't one already is beyond me. I think the easy answer is that most theater companies overlook Waynesboro because the demographics don't look right on a map due to Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. However, I know the market very well and expect it to perform nicely for this theater.

Why did you call it Zeus?

We all know about the Apollo Theater and the Mercury Theater, but there is no Zeus Theater. Greek gods are great for theater names simply because they invoke the fantasy that is shown in the movies. Zeus works especially well since his icon is the lightning bolt which loosely translates into digital projection.

What is special about the theater?

First, it is the only all digital, stadium seating theater that I have found in Virginia. Second, it will have more Digital 3D screens than any other theater within a 2 hour drive. Finally, the theater will have a retail store inside that focuses on movie related tshirts, toys and accessories.

What is so great about digital projection?

Since 1929, theaters have been showing movies using film. This 35mm film project has held up well for 80 years, however, the movie studios are moving to digital systems which have a number of benefits. With a digital movie, there is no physical print which means that the quality of the image does not decrease with each showing as it does with 35mm.

Also, digital gives us the ability to show 3D films. Finally, digital allows us to show locally produced movies from the public.