MediaPost: Cross-Media Case Study: AMC Theatres

Nice examination of how AMC has realized that movie theaters need to be promoting themselves as entertainment destinations and not rely simply on the draw of the movies themselves.

To accomplish that task AMC chose Kansas City-based VML Inc., an integrated media company owned by WPP Group, as its agency of record, charged both with creating and coordinating promotions for its rapidly expanding "stadium seating" cineplexes and with ramping up the branding and e-commerce capabilities of its Moviewatcher.com website. The challenge, recalls McGuigan, required a multi-tiered online and offline strategy utilizing direct email, print, TV, radio, and Web advertising. "We found the key to integrating media," says McGuigan, "was to leverage AMC's Moviewatcher.com website loyalty program and its national database of movie fans."