In a first for Vista Group International, its companies Vista Entertainment Solutions and Movio have won a joint proposal to provide their cinema software to Ster-Kinekor Theatres, the largest cinema exhibitor on the African continent.
Ster-Kinekor Theatres is a wholly owned business of the Primedia Group. To most South Africans, the word movie is synonymous with the name Ster-Kinekor. The company is the pre-eminent name in cinema across the African continent operating 57 commercial cinema complexes in South Africa, six international sites based in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe and three additional sites in development.
The cinema chain’s sites house more than 480 large-scale screens and boast South Africa’s largest 3D footprint. It has pioneered cinema concepts such as Cinema Nouveau, one of the world’s largest dedicated art-house multiplex circuits, and the luxurious Cine Prestige theatres, the first ‘business class’ cinema experience in South Africa. It has also spearheaded the return of The Imax Experience to the country, with the opening of seven Imax Theatres across the country since 2013.
“Ster-Kinekor Theatres will be operating nearly all of Vista’s modules,” said Mischa Kay, VES’s managing director, EMEA. “This represents Vista’s broad and inter-connected suite of products focused on the exhibition industry. By moving to Vista Cinema products SKT will enter a new era, using a single software system to manage their extensive circuit of cinemas in Africa, replacing a disparate and complex network of systems from multiple vendors. We look forward to supporting their ongoing commitment to innovation in the marketplace.”
Ster-Kinekor is already a customer of VGL’s MACCS International for its film distribution business, which means the company will hold contracts with three Vista Group companies. By the end of 2016, VES and Movio offerings will be implemented in all of Ster-Kinekor’s cinema complexes in South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“Establishing this deep relationship with such a valuable customer has tremendous meaning for us,” said Murray Holdaway, CEO of Vista Group International. “Signing a joint arrangement for VES and Movio alongside Ster-Kinekor’s existing engagement with MACCS International further validates our effort to build synergistic software solutions for film industry customers throughout the world.”
“Vista Group International’s rich and robust stable of companies, all catering to movie distributors and cinema exhibitors, is particularly attractive to us,” said Wanda Matandela, CEO, Ster-Kinekor Theatres. “We take our position as the leader in the African cinema market very seriously and appreciate that Vista is an expert at every facet of our operation. Innovation is at the core of our brand and providing a constantly improving and superlative experience for our guests is a corporate mandate. This partnership will support all our existing initiatives and help take our customer service and communication to an even higher level of performance.”
Movio maintains real-time, authoritative data on the loyalty activity and transactions for many of the world’s biggest cinema chains and captures the behaviour of over 34 million active cinema loyalty members worldwide. This deal enables Movio to collect moviegoer loyalty data for over 60 percent of the screens in South Africa. Ster-Kinekor is recognized as a digital marketing leader in the cinema space with comprehensive customer loyalty, social and mobile strategies.
Movio will integrate data from the SK Club Loyalty Programme utilising Movio Cinema, Movio’s analytics and targeted marketing Software-as-a-Service solution for cinema exhibitors. By capturing the behaviour of over 700,000 SK Club members, Movio Cinema will enhance the movie-going experience for Ster-Kinekor guests and increase customer engagement through targeted campaigns delivered across the moviegoer’s preferred communication channels.
According to Darren Hampton, general manager, loyalty, social and online at Ster-Kinekor Theatres, “At the heart of our business is the art of delivering a world class customer experience. A key enabler for us is the ability to gain real customer insights to better tailor our offering thus ensuring great moments at their greatest. We believe that the ability to accumulate data isn’t the main challenge for the cinema industry. Translating that data into meaningful insights and an actionable business strategy is the real goal. Movio’s state-of-the-art expertise in accruing and interpreting moviegoers’ behaviour will add immeasurably to our own methodology and innovation initiatives.”
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Ster-Kinekor as our premiere client in Africa,” said Sarah Lewthwaite, Movio’s strategic partnerships director for the EMEA Region. “Our two companies share a common vision in shaping the ultimate guest experience. Our immediate objective is to provide Ster-Kinekor with a better understanding of their SK Club members and enable targeted communications that hit the mark.”
Vista Group International www.vistagroup.co
Vista Entertainment www.vista.co
Movio http://www.movio.co
Ster-Kinekor Theatres www.sterkinekor.com