The Cinedom in Cologne: A whole new experience

The Cinedom in Cologne has become a showcase for cinema advertising: Brands can now playfully engage with the entire cinema space for the first time and offer visitors a 360-degree experience. With three new advertising formats, Weischer.Cinema takes advertising clients on a journey into the future of cinema advertising. Bahlsen, as the first consumer goods brand, utilizes the digital 360-degree journey for its brand PiCK UP!

Hamburg, October 14, 2020 – Premiere at the Cinedom in Cologne: One of the most visited cinemas in Germany is transforming into a showcase for cinema advertising. A year ago, the extensive renovation of the cinema was completed. Now, the operator has digitally realigned the building, offering visitors and advertising clients entirely new possibilities. In addition to the digital signage system, the WLAN structure has been expanded, providing visitors with free internet access throughout the entire building, including all 14 movie theatres.

A novelty: The Cinedom’s Cinema Signage Offering

The Cinema Signage offering at the Cinedom is unprecedented in Germany in terms of scope and technical equipment: it includes a total of 60 square meters of Full HD Wavescreen, programmatically controlled by Weischer.Cinema. With its wavy appearance, it attracts the attention of visitors throughout the entrance area, in the gastronomy areas, and in front of the cinema building. This iconic landmark is accompanied by 20 monitors in all foyers, a triptych screen consisting of three LED elements, and a matrix screen consisting of nine LED screens. These screens are also equipped with the latest playout technology, allowing all areas to be individually and real-time controlled.

The app, introduced to the German market by Weischer.Cinema for the first time, originates from Scandinavia and is already an integral part of the cinema experience there. After downloading the REDyPLAY app, visitors can use a gamification offer during the pre-program. Advertisers can reach cinema visitors through augmented reality games and in-app mini-games. This enables data-based re-targeting of the cinema audience for the first time. Consumer goods brands can also establish advertising contact with users via the WLAN access login page.

360-Degree Customer Journey now in cinemas

“At the Cinedom Cologne, advertisers can now stage a completely new digital 360-degree customer journey,” says Stefan Kuhlow, CEO of Weischer.Cinema. “With this showcase, we vividly demonstrate the possibilities that the future of cinema advertising had to offer. All parties involved benefit from these innovations: visitors, cinema operators, and advertisers.”

The first consumer goods brand to utilize the new digital possibilities is Bahlsen. To showcase the new PiCK UP! CHOCO HAZELNUT bar, the company, in collaboration with Weischer.Cinema, has developed a concept that incorporates all elements of the screen journey. “With PiCK UP!, we have already set benchmarks for cinema advertising in the past, for example, when we produced and aired individual spots for 13 films last year,” says Dimitri Herber, Head of Media & Digital Marketing DACH at Bahlsen. “Therefore, we didn’t hesitate to use the innovative stage of the Cinedom in Cologne for a new attention-grabbing appearance.”

With its extensive digital equipment for a cinema showroom, the Cinedom continues its course to expand the multiplex cinema into a flagship for the city of Cologne. The cinema dome with its 14 halls and 3,748 seats aims to position itself as an experience location in the heart of the city, offering numerous opportunities for events, functions, and presentations of all kinds in addition to film screenings. At the same time, Holger Pfaff, Managing Director of the Cinedom Kinobetriebe, wants to focus even more on the visitors. “In future, cinema visits should be more individualized, comfortable, and experiential, from ticket booking to the parking ticket for the journey home,” says Holger Pfaff. “The professional, target group-oriented marketing of digital screens, powerful WLAN, and the new gaming app REDyPLAY are important milestones on this path.”