Breakfast at the Movies

Once a year, Sweden's theater chain SF Media, a subsidiary of SF Bio, invites all its advertisers, media and ad agencies and other partners to a special breakfast - Filmfrukost - to see the highlights of the upcoming film year. So it was on Sept. 22 at Stockholm's Sergel movie theater that some 220 guests marched down the red carpet and gathered to get a glimpse of the likely blockbusters for 2012, munching popcorn handed out from old-fashioned trays by servers. Trailers and teasers from a range of films - the next Twilight installment, the upcoming first film in the Hunger Games series, the fourth Mission Impossible and The Iron Lady were just a few of the films set for the big screen in 2012.

"We want to show our core customers one of our fantastic flagship theaters where the feeling is strengthened when you sit in a closed room and experience the magic of a movie theater in person," says Martina Linander-Barsby, project manager for the event. "It reminds customers of the power theater ads have. And it should feel special, something above the normal rush of the day, which is why we pull out the red carpet and provide special hosts."

The event has gotten good reviews from the critics - that would be SF Media's advertisers of course - says Linander-Barsby. The next event will be SF Bio's Red Carpet day in March 2012, where the same group is invited to hear the latest trends in advertising at the movies; the next Filmfrukost will be held in Sept. 2012.