Pearl & Dean Ireland (formerly Wide Eye Media) is the main

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

advertising company in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The company is owned by SGO Products Ltd and is a sister company to

Pearl and Dean Pearl & Dean is a British cinema advertising company, founded in 1953. Pearl & Dean is now owned by Willowbrook Investments Ltd, and controls advertising at many UK cinema sites including multiplex operators Empire, Showcase and AMC; the company ...

, the worlds longest established cinema advertising sales company.

History

The company, as Carlton Screen Advertising, was established in 1996 when Carlton Communications purchased the cinema advertising company Cinema Media (formerly RSA), then owned by a venture capital company backed by Shroeders who had bought Rank Screen Advertising from the then beleaguered

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 subsi ...

and renamed it eponymously. The Rank Organisation, after making a deal to buy Mecca Bingo Halls, was forced to sell the family silver and first Rank Screen Advertising then Rank Films were sold off followed later by even their prized Odeon circuit itself. After the purchase of Rank Screen Advertising, Shroeders netted a multi-million pound profit in just three years. However the high purchase price and the increasingly onerous terms of business with the cinema exhibitors led to its eventual sale by ITV to Cineworld and Odeon. On 2 February 2004, Carlton Communications merged with

Granada plc Granada plc (previously called Granada Ltd, Granada Group plc, and Granada Media plc) was a British conglomerate best known as the parent from 1954 to 2004 of the Manchester-based Granada Television. The company merged with Carlton Communicatio ...

to create

ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on the ...

, following which the Carlton name was dropped from all other uses. Until its break-up in 2008, Carlton Screen Advertising was the largest cinema advertising company in the UK. A tough advertising climate in the mid-2000s saw it struggle to make a profit and it was sold on when ITV made the decision to focus on core assets.

Break-up and sale

The company's UK and Irish operations were separated in mid-2008, when

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 ...

Group plc and

Odeon Cinemas Odeon, stylised as ODEON, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name ...

acquired a 65%

majority stake A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the major ...

in the UK operation. On 1 January 2009, this was rebranded as

Digital Cinema Media Digital Cinema Media (DCM) is an advertising company, supplying cinema advertisements to Cineworld, Odeon, and Vue cinema chains. The company was formed in July 2008 and is owned by Cineworld and Odeon equally. Formation In 1996, British med ...

. The Irish operation remained as Carlton Screen Advertising, and continued to be wholly owned by

until May 2009, when it was sold to an Irish Media group with Media Entrepreneur Dermot Hanrahan becoming the Chairman. It continued to use the Carlton branding and on-screen ident until 6 March 2014.

2014 Rebrand

On 6 March 2014, as part of a €2 million investment, Carlton Screen Advertising rebranded themselves as Wide Eye Media, which uses digital technology instead of 35mm, which will be used in their 643 screens across Ireland. In July 2015 the parent of Wide Eye Media purchased London based Pearl and Dean, with Dermot Hanrahan assuming the position of Chairman. Both companies now control 28% of the cinema market in Ireland and the UK and the only operator active in both Ireland and the UK.

2022 Rebrand

In September 2022, Wide Eye Media rebranded to Pearl and Dean Ireland.

Ident

The ident for Carlton Screen Advertising was usually the first clip to play in a cinema, and consisted of the trademark Carlton star as a brand being put into flames for a few moments, before being removed and thrusted at the screen. Unlike Carlton's TV idents at the time, this was often considered frightening due to its loud, powerful sounds and visuals of flames. The closing ident at the end of the advertising reel would simply display the Carlton star with its flames fizzling out into smoke. Wide Eye Media features a journey through an eye before the slogan "See it. Hear it. Feel it." would appear.

References

External links

*https://www.pearlanddean.ie/ *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSUKnKEX2aU *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2EDvHgGxxk - original Carlton Screen Advertising sting. {{ITV Advertising agencies of Ireland Companies based in Dublin (city) Marketing companies established in 1996 Companies of the Republic of Ireland ITV (TV network) Irish companies established in 1996