Don’t Break the Habit: The Real Risk of Asymmetrical Marketing Partnerships

Movie theatres and streaming services make strange bedfellows.

I was online booking advance tickets for the upcoming Project Hail Mary.

(It was one of the best audiobooks I've ever heard, and Ryan Gosling never disappoints, so even though a family-of-six trip to the movies is INSANELY EXPENSIVE*, I felt it was worth it for this one to celebrate what will be the last day of my children's March Break.)

And after I had purchased my tickets, an offer popped up on my screen... for Disney+.

A partnership between Cineplex and Disney+ makes a lot of sense for The Walt Disney Company.

After all, Disney is targeting people who have already demonstrated a willingness to spend money on entertainment... and who may be in the right mindset for a deal after spending a small fortune on theatre tickets.

But for Cineplex, this partnership is an absolutely TERRIBLE idea.

It's a well-known fact that the rise of streaming has hurt theatre chains: it didn't take long for people to realize they could enjoy multiple evenings of entertainment at home with their friends and family members for the cost of a single movie ticket.

So if I were in charge of marketing at Cineplex, the last thing I would allow is a tactic designed to drive consumer trial for a streaming service I didn't own, one that could ultimately end up cannibalizing my ticket sales should those consumers decide their at-home movie experience was equally satisfying to their theatre experience... at a significantly lower cost.

Granted, Cineplex and Disney are already partners (i.e. people often go to Cineplex to see Disney movies on the big screen), so perhaps this is an extension of that partnership, and Cineplex is earning a bounty for every Disney+ sign-up that occurs via this offer.

But it would need to be an enormous bounty before it could begin to justify enabling a possible change of movie-watching behaviour that could prove devastating to the theatre chain's future business. And even if that were the case, this would still be a classic example of short-term gain for long-term pain.

I love going to the movies, and I'll continue to enjoy watching films on the big screen regularly for as long as I can.

But if these types of asymmetrical marketing partnerships continue, there's a real risk I may not have that option for much longer.

When your customers are in the habit of visiting you regularly, an asymmetrical marketing partnership that might break that habit is a huge strategic error.

Companies, take note

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* I'm a CineClub member. I had three "free passes" and two discounted tickets available to use for this film, which means I only needed to buy one Child's Admission to take my family of six to the movies on the last day of March Break. And yet, because the film is only showing in AVX, and because there is a surcharge for AVX tickets, I STILL had to pay $71 for six tickets! If you want to know why theatres are struggling, here's why: movies are really expensive, and only worth the cost for big blockbuster events.