Not often a corporate edict gets so soundly rejected by a valuable customer base without the brand changing course. Yet here we are. Except for a cringe-worthy Q&A on the Alamo website, corporate has remained silent. It makes you wonder if they even care.
Mobile Ordering is A "Demon Spawn"
A cinema ops insider at Alamo tells me that mobile ordering is CEO Michael Kustermann's baby—the "demon spawn" (their words) of flawed analytics and rising labor costs. This baby is so ugly that its unsightliness disturbed morale in cinema operations. Servers and hosts can't watch, with many of our beloved "cinema scouts" plotting to escape a crumbling fort.
Media Mentions & The Sony Equation
The patrons' revolt has earned coverage in Austin's KUT News and The Austin American-Statesman. That's excellent coverage in Alamo's birthplace. However, we'll need more film industry press—the kind of analysis that makes Sony Entertainment look foolish for destroying the prestige of their newest exhibitory asset.
After all, what filmmaker hosts a premiere and Q&A to a crowd face deep in "second-screens"? Did Kustermann not think this through? The marketplace is far too competitive for such a lapse in judgment. Alamo execs must face this truth: there will be little policing phone use when phone use is required.
The AMC And Violet Alternatives
The bottom-line is that AMC has a superior screen. While their pre-show (if you can call it that) is insufferable, you don't have to pull out your phone for a soda refill. By forcing mobile ordering, Alamo destroys its differentiating brand appeal and hands AMC (or Violet Crown) the opportunity to become the cinephile’s preferred sanctuary.
Turning In My Top Brass Badge
Many long-time patrons have already cancelled their Season Passes. I'll go one step further. Like a veteran cop resigning from a corrupted force, I’ll be placing my Top Brass pin on the host's desk this weekend. It is a symbolic gesture, but a necessary statement. I am willing to move on.
Got a particular piece of Alamo merch or a themed pint glass? Leave it at the desk. Let Sony have something to remember us by.
Signed,
Brint Davy Crockett
Son of the Wild Frontier, Defender of the Cinema