How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth?: Powerful Lessons In Marketing &
The Psychology Of Selling - Part 2
Could buying popcorn in a theatre be a 'conditioned' response?
Could it be that people are 'trained' to believe that movies and
popcorn go 'hand in hand' - and that one without the other
is...."incomplete?" And, therefore, price is just not an issue
at all?
What a powerful place to be as a marketer, wouldn't you agree?
Of course, there are some customers who fall in the above group
yet still aren't completely happy with the experience. They
still end up buying the popcorn because the desire to have
popcorn with their movie outweighs the pain of having to pay the
higher price.
Here are more answers that I received...
"It is marketed as all part of the movie going experience! And
they've got a captive audience - you can't get it in there
unless you buy it from them. So if you want to experience the
movie it it's fullest extent, you need to get the popcorn, and
it needs to be their popcorn."
And another...
"First off may I say it is the conditioning that the movie
theatres, producers etc have done. Movies and popcorn go hand in
hand. The movie goer has been conditioned all throughout life,
so that is what is on their minds when going to a movie. Once at
the movies the smell of popcorn cooking, the power of the senses
reinforces the thought of movies and popcorn. Once at the movies
you are a captive audience."
Yep. As, you can see, there's more than one marketing principle
at work here. Stacked on top of each other, these strategies
produce the overall result that's very powerful and very
effective.
I'll go over each one below. And...I'll also cover one big
mistake movie theatres are making.
Let's discuss the various marketing principles that are involved
in "popcorn marketing":
1. Conditioning and Programmed Responses
Since childhood, people have been 'conditioned' to associate
popcorn with movies. Growing up, many of us enjoyed popcorn with
our favourite movies, and we now see a bag of popcorn as an
addition to the "overall" movie-enjoying experience. Some of us
even see it as a 'requirement' to watching a movie.
Here's how one of my smart subscribers explained it