Bay State Film Productions, Inc.Polaroid Dealer Announcement (1964) (1964)

Introduces Polaroids marketing campaign for the year 1964, including TV commercials. Produced for dealers.

This item is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Bay State Film Productions, Inc.
Audio/Visual: Sd, C
Keywords: Media: Photography: Instant Photography; Advertising: Television commercials; Sales: Training

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: bosendorfer - - February 16, 2008
Subject: Best Polaroid Commercial, "Rambler or Picnic Scene"

I rated this Dealer Promotional Video the highest only based on the first Colorpack commercial within it, so I am really rating that commercial. It goes without saying that I wish more commercials nowadays were like this. In fact, I believe you could run this same commercial today, perhaps updating the folk song to a more contemporary piece, but if may work just as well today because it seems so classic, being a folk song. The pace of the commercial is excellent. Enough scene changes and at the right intervals. And the commercial actually shows you the camera product very early on, and then the instant developed pictures following it. The theme, scenes, subject and the execution are, to me, almost flawless. It's a masterful "sell" of emotion tied to a physical product that evokes an emotional feeling. And, wow, the ending uses a very subtle technique to almost actually place the viewer into the commercial, pulling the viewer into the scene, by having the photographer take a picture of the lady viewing the finished instant photos, just as the person watching the commercial is also viewing the instant pictures. This is an excellent commercial that many ad agencies don't seem to have the talent or the gusto to make today. For those who made the commercial in the late 60's, I say "Bravo!"

Reviewer: ERD. - - May 13, 2007
Subject: Good for a trade film

Lowell Thomas was much older when he made this trade film. I am sure it was effective when it was made. The TV commericals shown within the film were creative and very well done.

Reviewer: alansam - - May 13, 2007
Subject: Retail Photo Industry Perspective

I have been in the retail photo industry on a full time basis since 1975 and part time since 1964, the year this film was made. Ed Samiljan (not spelled Simillion) is my uncle and he and my father Joe were partners in Mass. Motion Picture Service. At the time, Mass. Motion was the largest photo dealer in New England. I remember selling those kits in the attache cases when I was a kid. I'm happy to report that the retail photo industry is still vital. Today my customers are the grandchildren of the customers I worked with when I started. I'm also happy to report that Ed is leading a very active retirement in San Diego.
What a pleasure finding this film.
Alan Samiljan

Reviewer: Spuzz - - February 28, 2004
Subject: Lowell sells out!!

Fairly interesting film, if you know a bit of history abotu Lowell Thomas. You see, back around a952, Mr Thomas sprung 'Cinerama' to the world, and it was a huge hit for a while. But the one-hit novelty soon died out, and then.. we see Lowell shilling for POLAROID of all people. Very odd. Lowell, looking older then I'm used to seeing him, shills the new line of Polaroid Cameras, and takes us to the field to talk to nervous sales people about their sales and what they expect in 1965. Also are some not-incredible commercials for the Polaroid line. Liked the :put your film here" moment, where Lowell introduces us to product managers, and then we have 10 seconds of nothing..

Film is off sync, has a high pitched squeel throughout.

Shotlist

CU hand taking newsreel camera out of shipping box
CUs 2 cameras being adjusted, set up
[more shots not listed]
Road signs at city limits of Boston, San Francisco, and other cities
[more shots not listed]
Aerial of Polaroid building along Route 128 in Massachusetts
CU Lowell Thomas talking
VS customers in stores peeling off instant Polaroid picture, smiling.
VS faces in store smiling (good)
Animated graph of Polaroid corporate sales 1948-1964
Graph of 1963 dollar volumes of 35mm camera, 8mm camera and Polaroid cameras
Graph of 1963 dollar volumes of still camera imports
CU boxes of Polaroid film on table
Various CUs of older and newer boxes of Polaroid film
Scrapbook flipping open to show famous national Polaroid print advertisements
Polaroid TV commercial -- woman folksinger singing, playing guitar Ð parents shooting kids and CUs of snapshots they are making
Another Polaroid TV spot, at the zoo Ð father is shooting daughter and zoo animals
Upscale Father-daughter stuff
Father-daughter in horsedrawn carriage (Central Park in NY?)
CUs of snapshots heÕs taken
CU Polaroid newspaper ads spread out in front of camera
CU pan over new Polaroid cameras on table
Pie chart of U.S. still camera market (about 6 million units in 1965) showing PolaroidÕs share of variable and fixed focus cameras
CU cash register numbers ringing up totals
CUs cameras being sold, salespeople, Polaroid Òcamera girlsÓ, promotional displays and materials
Ed Simillion, Mass. Motion Picture Service, interviewed as to how good a sales year he has just had and how he did it through promotions
Ed demonstrates Òexecutive kits,Ó which include camera and accessories in an attachŽ case
Pan down main street of Laconia, New Hampshire in the snow (good)
VS people walking down main shopping street (good)
Camera store Ð counters and salespeople in Laconia
Interview with owner of camera store in Laconia
CU Polaroid 100 camera marked ÒSpecialÓ
VS ÒCamera ShopÓ in Fort Worth, Texas Ð outside and inside view
Interview with owner of Ft. Worth camera shop, who explains how he sold cameras at higher prices than the local average
CU owner saying ÒYou bet!Ó
CU sign pointing way to ÒNorth HollywoodÓ
VS outside views of Hooper Camera shop in North Hollywood, California
Inside view of Hooper shop
Interview with owner of Hooper Camera
CU sign ÒWindsor, Population 117,700Ó (Windsor, Ontario, Canada)
Nighttime ext. of camera shop in Windsor
Interview with owner of this store
He describes how he sold cameras in spite of higher costs and being right across the river from Detroit
CU newsreel camera being replaced in locking case
Lowell Thomas outro about how 1965 will be bigger than 1964
Polaroid commercials for 1965: CU instruments of symphony orchestra, dissolved into one another in montage
CU conductor
Introducing economy model of Color Pack camera at half the price at the original model (this is the Polaroid Automatic 104)
Another commercial Ð CU man shedding tear, looking expectant and then downcast (another spot for the Polaroid Automatic 104)

Excellent conductor tapping baton in ad at end of film.

Ken Smith sez: This cheaply-produced film was shown to Polaroid dealers and features Lowell Thomas (again!) as its narrator. Lots of on-location "interviews" with camera shop owners, who read off of cue cards while Lowell eggs them on from somewhere beyond the lens. Several color Polaroid commercials are shown; most of them are pretty forgettable. This film offers insight into the crude techniques of mid-sixties sales promotion (see Diana Lives and Passport To Profits for other decades) but that's about it.