Cartoons To Make Cinema Comeback

The cartoon short before the main feature used to be an integral part of the cinema going experience. Generations of adults remember them fondly and now in a media first, Cartoon Network UK is bringing them back as a way of promoting its TV brand to the kids of today. This seven figure campaign is Cartoon Network’s single largest ever marketing initiative.

From April, in a national campaign negotiated by MediaCom, major kids’ films at Odeon (Carlton Screen Advertising) and Vue (Pearl and Dean) cinemas will be preceded by six-minute Cartoon Network shorts which will receive an estimated 20 million admissions per year.

Three individual Cartoon Network shorts have been created to be released throughout the year, each starting and ending with the same scenario. All will begin with Cartoon Network’s well known characters fast-talking their way into a cinema. When they sit down to enjoy the film, it will then launch into the cartoon short for characters and audience alike. Each one will then end with an animated curtain coming down, reminding the audience to watch the channel thereby ’top and tailing’ the short with a subtle but effective message.

"This is a completely new way for a kids TV channel to talk to its viewers," said Nibs Dearsley, Marketing Director for Cartoon Network. "These cartoons will give them the Cartoon Network experience at the cinema and takes TV out of the home and into the leisure environment."

"With 94% of kids attending the cinema each year, coupled with the recent explosion in the number of family films, cinema is the perfect way of reaching Cartoon Network’s target audience" said Catherine Aylward, Planner at MediaCom.

The Cartoon Network shorts will begin at the advertised film starting time. In addition there will be posters in the cinemas, inclusion in the listings in the in-foyer flyers, presence in the cinemas magazines and websites - all of which considerably add to the weight of the campaign.