Hollywood Connections:
Tracking by Ticket Stub

The National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) set a precedent for a business organization-filmmaker affiliation agreement by connecting with MGM Studios and its 2004 Christmas season film, Polar Express. The film advertises a $3 discount on a pre-cut or u-cut Christmas tree from participating NCTA members when film-goers present their ticket stub to the grower. The growers received movie promotional materials, including a wall-size poster, and funding to promote the movie at their local theaters through advertising in local media. One grower anticipated a 15 percent increase in the Christmas season sales the year the movie debuted. Learn more about the NCTA-Polar Express partnership

A byway representative at the roundtable sessions for Driving Financial Sustainability for Byway Organizations suggested that byways collectively develop a relationship similar to that of the NCTA with MGM with the production partnership behind the new movie titled "Cars." Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios are releasing a film initially called Route 66, now titled Cars, in June 2006. The film is the brainchild of John Lasseter, who was inspired by a cross-country trip with his family on the historic byway in 2000. Lasseter is quoted in the Detroit News as saying, “Hopefully, it’ll (the film) get them (kids) out on car trips and trying to find these great places (towns along the byway).”

A count of ticket stubs would serve as a tracking mechanism for the byways.