As they were setting up the nearly 20-foot high bag of popcorn and fixed the lightning rod inside it on a field in Windsor earlier this week, the team at Cineplex Entertainment experienced something unexpected: the first tornado to hit the area since 1974.
“Suddenly we said, ‘Hey, this could happen tonight as we’re starting the promotion,” recalled Peter Furnish, the company’s vice-president of marketing, referring to the next step in its #WeatherOrNot promotional campaign.
Cineplex put the popcorn bag deliberately in what is known as “Lightning Alley” because it gets lightning an average of 47 days a year. The company has set up a site that features a livestream of the #WeatherOrNot popcorn bag and an online polling system where consumers can vote on whether it will be struck between now and when the promotional stunt ends on Sept. 2. Those who participate in the online voting will be eligible for a coupon to get a free bag of popcorn.
The first stage of #WeatherOrNot kicked off with Cineplex representatives presenting beachgoers with a towel that looked like a giant theatre ticket. This time around, the company worked with a Toronto-based firm called Performance Solutions to create the bag and set it up in the field.
“They started off with a scale model, just like Doc did with the town in Back To The Future,” Furnish said. “They put a little sensor in it and a test coil that’s hanging atop the mini-bag. Once it was established it would work, they basically multiplied it by an order of magnitude.”
Furnish said there had been considerable excitement among those traveling the 401, with some motorists stopping to take selfies next to it.
“Some of the people aren’t realizing it’s being filmed – there’s a little hut at the end of the field,” he said. “There’s also been a really great reaction on social channels, and even among our theatre staff – popcorn is a huge part of their lives in terms of what they offer to our guests, so it’s great for them to see that being highlighted in this way.”
Cineplex will be able to use the free popcorn vouchers to track redemption and help measure the success of the #WeatherOrNot popcorn bag, as well as its Scene loyalty points activity. Furnish said the team was still exploring whether it would continue other #WeatherOrNot promotions into the fall, though it’s not expected to be a part of the holiday-themed work that’s underway now.
The #WeatherOrNot activities are all part of the “See The Big Picture” platform Cineplex kicked off late last year with the “Lily And The Snowman” short film for its pre-show entertainment. Partners for the #WeatherOrNot popcorn bag include Zulu Alpha Kilo for marketing, Hill + Knowlton for communications and Isobar for media.
