The Asta Nielsen brand: advertising long feature star series in German local newspapers, 1911 to 1914

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on nearly 5,000 cinema ads from German newspapers, this article reveals the marketing of the Asta Nielsen brand from 1911 to 1914 in 53 cities and towns in Germany. The three Asta Nielsen series were the first long feature star series in Europe to be distributed with exclusive exhibition rights. The distributor Internationale Film-Vertriebs-Gesellschaft m.b.H. (IFVG) supplied promotional materials such as ad models and sales brochures to support cinema managers’ advertising in their local newspapers. With the epithet ‘the Duse of cinema art’, uniform portrait vignettes and versatile character vignettes, IFVG tried to address several target groups at the same time. In the course of the three cinema seasons from 1911/12 to 1913/14, a change in the Asta Nielsen brand can be observed: the face of the brand changed from a figure with whom the average viewer could identify to an inimitable film diva and the references to legitimate theatre became less and less prominent. By analysing business-to-consumer communication, this article shows which promotional materials cinema managers adopted and which specific strategies they used to attract their local audience.