Pearl And Dean
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Pearl & Dean is a British
cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ** Filmmaking, the process of making a film * Movie theate ...
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...
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 An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
, Showcase and
AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...
; the company also represents approximately half of the UK's independent cinemas.


History

Pearl & Dean was formed in 1953 by Ernie and Charles Pearl and Bob Dean, to sell advertising on British cinema screens prior to the showing of the main feature. The short adverts, with which
British cinema British cinema has significantly influenced the global film industry since the 19th century. The oldest known surviving film in the world, ''Roundhay Garden Scene'' (1888), was shot in England by French inventor Louis Le Prince. Early colour ...
audiences quickly became familiar, were the idea of Joe Morris (born Joseph Iglitsky), one of Pearl & Dean's in-house advertising executives. The initial staffing of Pearl & Dean was by employees of Theatre Publicity and Langfords (The
Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the Uni ...
) who followed the directors when they left to form the company upon obtaining the advertising rights in
ABC Cinemas ABC Cinemas (Associated British Cinemas) was a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. Originally a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), it operated between the 1920s and the 1980s. The brand name was reused in ...
, the first time that group had accepted advertising in their cinemas. In 1966, Pearl & Dean formed a subsidiary company called Radiovision Broadcast International (RBI) to represent the marketing interests of the
American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...
radio and television stations in Europe. During the same year, the company signed an exclusive contract to represent the sale of advertising time on the offshore
pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...
stations
Swinging Radio England Swinging Radio England ("SRE") was a top 40 offshore commercial station billed as the "''World's Most Powerful''" that operated from 3 May 1966 to 13 November 1966 from a ship in the North Sea, four and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, En ...
and Britain Radio. This contract with the offshore stations became mired in controversy due to a lack of sales and led to the headline-making bankruptcy of the original London management company for the two offshore radio stations that had been created by a private investment group formed by Don Pierson of Eastland,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, USA. Pearl & Dean was acquired by
British Lion Films British Lion Films is a film production and distribution company active under several forms since 1919. Originally known as British Lion Film Corporation Ltd, it entered receivership on 1 June 1954. From 29 January 1955 to 1976, the company was k ...
in 1969, following a successful decade for the company, having 52% of the market share in cinema advertising, competing with Presbury, Faber Advertising Services and
Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the Uni ...
. A few years later, the company was acquired by Mills & Allen. Around the same time, Rank acquired Presbury and Faber. Under Mills & Allen's ownership, their share depleted to 12%, an all-time low for the company. For many years Pearl & Dean held the contract for ABC Cinemas, until ABC was bought by Cannon in 1986. In 1993, Pearl & Dean was acquired by Mediavision, a French cinema advertising contractor, and their fortunes started to improve. In 1999 the company was bought out by Scottish Media Group (now
STV Group STV Group plc (formerly known as Scottish Television plc, Scottish Media Group plc and SMG plc) is a media company based in Glasgow, Scotland. Beginning as a television broadcaster in 1957, the company expanded into newspapers, advertising and r ...
) for £22 million. In 2015, the company changed hands again with Image Ltd disposing of its holding to Willowbrook Investments Ltd. As part of the change of ownership, Irish media entrepreneur Dermot Hanrahan became the Chairman of Pearl and Dean. Hanrahan is also Chairman of Wide Eye Media in the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
which operates a similar business to Pearl and Dean. Both companies are now owned by the same group. Pearl & Dean supplied advertisements for Warner Cinemas throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Warner was later renamed
Warner Village Cinemas Warner Village Cinemas was a chain of multiplex cinemas operated by Warner Bros. in the various locations throughout Europe. Created in the late 1980s in the UK as Warner Bros. Cinemas, these locations acted as a rival to Paramount and Univers ...
and then
Vue Cinemas Vue International ( , like "view"), is a multinational cinema holding company headquartered in London, England, and registered in St Helier, Jersey. It operates in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark as Vue, with international operations in ...
. In January 2011, Vue's advertising contract was taken over by
Digital Cinema Media Digital Cinema Media (DCM) is an advertising company, supplying cinema advertisements to Cineworld, Odeon, and Vue cinema chains, as well as some independent cinema chains. The company was formed in July 2008 and is a joint venture between Cinew ...
. Pearl & Dean currently supplies advertising for the UK cinema chains
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
, Showcase, The Light, many independent cinemas in the UK and pop-up cinema events.


Theme tune

Pearl & Dean is known for its distinctive theme tune entitled "Asteroid", composed in 1968 by Pete Moore, which can be heard on the Pearl & Dean website.Pearl & Dean's web page on ''Asteroid''
Retrieved 26 April 2010
The introduction of the new titles accompanied by the "Asteroid" theme saw the disappearance of the Grecian pillars, with its music "Grand Vista" composed by Trevor Duncan. The theme was sampled by Goldbug in their 1996 cover version of "
Whole Lotta Love "Whole Lotta Love" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is the opening track on the band's second album, '' Led Zeppelin II'', and was released as a single in 1969 in several countries; as with other Led Zeppelin songs, no singl ...
", which peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearl and Dean Advertising agencies of the United Kingdom Mass media companies established in 1953 1953 establishments in England