Perth’s 3D pioneers to showcase ads at SAWA international convention in Sydney next week

Perth based CINEads and Digipix, the only Australian companies able to offer 3D cinema advertising, will be showcasing their ads at the Screen Advertising World Association (SAWA) convention in Sydney next week.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for us. We’ve always thought of ourselves as innovators, CINEads led the way with digital cinema ads and now we’re doing the same with 3D ads,” said CINEads managing director Wes Stansfield.

“Representatives from cinema advertising companies from all over the world will be at the SAWA convention and they’ll get a taste of what we’ve been working on and what we can do. I think it could really open up some doors for us in Europe and the USA.”

The software that encodes the high-resolution 3D cinema ads is thebrainchild of Digipix Managing Director Steve Quartly (pictured). It took Quartly 17months and thousands of hours of persistently tapping away on acomputer keyboard to create the software, now he’s ready to show theworld.

“We’re just a small company from Perth and we’ll be at the Sydneyconvention rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest cinemaadvertisers in the world, so just too even be there is a real honour,”said Steve.

“It’s pretty hard to explain to people what 3D ads look like, so we’verecently held a few industry sneak previews and the reaction has beenincredible. People can’t believe what they’re seeing, so hopefully theSAWA audience will be just as impressed.”

Perth businesses Rick Hart, the Barbagallo Group and Ross North Homeswere so impressed with what they saw at the industry previews thatthey’ve already signed up to have 3D cinema ads made for them. Theiradverts will premiere on December 17 with the opening of JamesCameron’s 3D blockbuster Avatar.

“3D advertising is cheaper than most people would imagine. So whatwe’re doing at CINEads is targeting small to medium sized businesses. Ithink that people want to see local companies advertising at theirlocal cinema, and with successful businesses like Rick Hart, theBarbagallo Group and Ross North Homes already signed on, the ball hasstarted rolling. I think that the more people who see and are impressedby the 3D adverts, then more companies will want to part of this,” saidWes Stansfield.

While CINEads and Digipix are leading the way when it comes to making3D cinema ads in Australia the real drive is coming from Hollywood. Aswell as Avatar there are a number of blockbuster 3D movies that havehit or are about to hit the big screen including A Christmas Carol,Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Toy Story 1,2 and 3, Alice inWonderland, Shrek Forever After and Beauty and the Beast. There is alsotalk of George Lucas and Peter Jackson waving the magic 3D wand overtheir Star Wars and Lord of the Rings movies.

To keep pace with Hollywood’s prolific 3D output the number of 3Dcinema screens across Perth has shot from only two to 25 over the pastyear. Wes Stansfield predicts that 3D advertising will make up 40% ofCINEads revenue next year, this month alone 3D advertising has made up60% of the company’s sales.

“People who watch cinema advertising are up to six times more likely torecall the product through a single exposure to it than any other kindof advert, I think that retention rate will be even higher with 3Dads,” added Wes

 “We’re already finding that people have started voting with theirwallets and would rather pay a little more to enjoy the experience of a3D movie rather than a 2D one. These people then leave the cinema andspend money buying the products they’ve just seen advertised in 3D.”