Digital Cinema Media (DCM) is an advertising company, supplying cinema advertisements to

Cineworld Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irela ...

Odeon Odeon may refer to: Ancient Greek and Roman buildings * Odeon (building), ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions * Odeon of Agrippa, Athens * Odeon of Athens * Odeon of Domitian, Rome ...

, and

Vue Vue or VUE may refer to: Places * Vue, Loire-Atlantique, a commune in France * The Vue, a skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina Arts, entertainment and media * Vue (band), a rock and roll band from San Francisco, California * Vue Cinemas, a c ...

cinema chains. The company was formed in July 2008 and is owned by Cineworld and Odeon equally.

Formation

In 1996, British media company

Carlton Communications Carlton was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton shareholders gained ap ...

purchased Rank Screen Advertising from

The Rank Group The Rank Group is a gambling company based in the United Kingdom. Rank was involved in the cinema and motion picture industry until 2006, and continues to use the Gongman logo originally used by the Rank Organisation's film distribution subsidi ...

and subsequently renamed the operation as

Carlton Screen Advertising Pearl & Dean Ireland, formerly known as Wide Eye Media, is the main cinema advertising company in Ireland. The company is owned by SGO Products Ltd and is a sister company to Pearl and Dean, the worlds longest established cinema advertising s ...

. The new company supplied cinema advertising for Odeon, Cineworld as well as

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and

UCI Cinemas UCI Cinemas (''United Cinemas International'') is a brand of cinema, currently operating in Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Brazil, which has been owned since 2004 by Odeon Cinemas Group, whose owner is now AMC Theatres, except for the UCI Cinemas ...

prior to their respective takeovers by

. In 1999, cinema operator UGC joined the business following its buyout of

Virgin Cinemas Virgin Cinemas was founded in 1995 when Richard Branson's Virgin Group acquired MGM Cinemas, the largest movie theatre operator in the United Kingdom. Virgin Group bought the cinemas for £195m, and subsequently sold 90 of the chain's smallest c ...

. However, its UK business was taken over by Cineworld in 2004. In July 2008, Cineworld Group PLC and its rival Odeon Cinemas Ltd bought back the company we know today as Digital Cinema Media (DCM), acquiring the company in a 50-50 venture. It supplied idents for the UK sites of Cineworld and Odeon; the new look and identity first came into force on October 1, 2008. The Republic of Ireland sites continue to use the Carlton name until 2014. A deal signed in 2010 saw all

Vue Cinemas Vue International (, like "view"), is a multinational cinema holding company based in London, England. It operates in the United Kingdom and Ireland as Vue, with international operations in Denmark and Germany (as CinemaxX); Italy (as The Space ...

sites included in the business from 1 January 2011; this has resulted in the company supplying advertisements for nearly 90% of UK cinemas. In April 2011, DCM changed their on-screen identity for the second time. In September 2012, DCM became the first UK cinema advertising company to 'go digital', though some older cinema sites, mostly those operated by

, continue to use standard film. In January 2013, DCM changed their idents and company logo, and also introduced a brand new strapline - 'Dynamic Advertising'. The old idents were still in use until early March 2013. In January 2014, DCM hosted a College Project in which students have to design a new ident for DCM. In December 2016, DCM was awarded a contract with

Everyman Cinemas Everyman Media Group plc (known as Everyman Cinemas) is a cinema company based in London, England. The company was founded in 2000, when entrepreneur Daniel Broch bought the original Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, London, which dated to 1933, ...

, becoming the chain's commercial partner.

Digital advertising

Beginning in 2009, when 3D films began to take a dominating force in the film market, DCM introduced reels produced in 'digital film', which were only used to precede films in 3D at the time. This eliminated such implications as 'cue dots' and graining that had become familiar on standard film. The 'fade to black' function after each advert was also removed, and thus the reel started the next advert immediately after the previous. Upon the original change of image in April 2011, all reels were produced in digital format for all films at cinemas that were capable of showing them. DCM stopped using standard film in September 2012, and is currently in the process of converting every cinema site that it supplies advertising, to digital. Following the current trend of the latest films becoming available in digital 3D, DCM announced plans to go down that route with advertising. In December 2009,

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

was the first film in Britain to be coupled with a 3D advertising reel.

Controversy

In 2015, DCM created controversy when they did not permit the display of a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

advert featuring the Lord's Prayer, due to their policies prohibiting religious advertising. The government's equalities watchdog also voiced alarm, suggesting it undermined "essential British values". However, the

BBFC The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...

had no problem with it and passed it with a U rating.

History of Idents & Advertisements

DCM have used three different idents. Usually, a 10-second version of the ident is seen as usually the first clip seen at the start of the cinema reel. A 15-second version is later seen before the trailers begin, around 10 minutes into the cinema reel.

2008 - 2011

The first ones, which debuted in UK cinemas on 1 October 2008, showed a montage of film images with a cinemagoer, accompanied by electronic music. These idents were in use until 3 April 2011, when they were replaced again.

2011 - 2013

The previous idents were replaced with an 'illuminated glass' version of the DCM logo and new music, produced by Jump Design. These idents were used until March 2013.

2013 - 2014; 2017 - Present Day

The "Dynamic Advertising" idents by Fearlessly Frank were introduced.Campaign, http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/dcm-celebrates-digital-emotional-idents/1167890# The tagline was short-lived, however, and was changed to "Welcome To Our World" in October 2013. These idents was uploaded to YouTube on January 23, 2013, and was officially adapted two days later, though some cinemas did not adapt it until a few months later. Laughter and Suspense were dropped in January 2014, but made a comeback in some cinemas in December 2014, though it did not make a comeback in all cinemas until 2017. Originally, at the end of the idents, the company's then-slogan,''"Dynamic advertising"'' was seen at the end, but now the slogan ''"Welcome To Our World"'' is seen since 2014. Usually, Amazement is seen before a generic film, Laughter before a comedic film and suspense showing that a horror or action film is up next

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.dcm.co.uk Advertising agencies of the United Kingdom