In the 1930s, despite the fact that dollars were sparse, many Americans still managed to eke out enough pennies to buy a movie ticket—their small passport to the serene, dark space where dreams still lived and breathed. In that Golden Age of cinema, the likes of Clark Gable and Marlene Dietrich momentarily tugged people out of their despondence into a realm of vast possibility, one where even the all too elusive creature, hope, dared to stay for awhile.
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Thankfully most of us are not as pressed as that greatest of all generations, despite the current strain on Wall Street. But like our depression-era forebears, we may appreciate a little escapism once in awhile, especially if it involves film, and more especially if we can take it to go.
Marketers and advertisers who want to reach the on-the-move boomer cohort may be interested to know that online video is rapidly becoming the communications medium of choice. According to a 2007 Pew Internet Report, nearly 60% of adult Internet users watch videos online, and most share what they discover with others. Another report, by eMarketer, projects that nearly 80% of U.S. Internet users will watch video online at least once a month in 2008.
Today we are tethered to the Web via computers, iPhones, cell phones, Blackberrys, iPods, televisions and other devices, and those who want to reach boomers will recognize video now travels most places they do. This format offers an unprecedented portable storyteller that will increasingly engage consumers in a way that it has never done before.
In an era where the Internet is king, let’s not forget why: it connects us not only to new knowledge and amusements, but to other people. So it makes sense that an Internet-based medium such as video is skyrocketing in popularity. Film’s greatest appeal has always been its humanity—and now thanks to technological advances, we can add its ‘portability’ to the list as well.
Amanda Sobanet