Recently, the world's second-largest food company, Kraft has signed a marketing alliance with National CineMedia, which will bring Kraft brands such as Oscar Mayer Lunchables, Stride gum and Ritz crackers to movie cinemas. This could be the first time a food brand has created long-form branded content for the big screen.

Kraft's campaign will include two-minute-and-thirty-second original entertainment segments, along with some traditional shorter spots, in NCM's FirstLook pre-feature program running on its digital network of 15,400 screens."This new cinema campaign perfectly fits with our strategy to reach audiences in more engaging ways and drive a deeper connection with our brands," said Mark Stewart, VP of global media services at Kraft.

Although cinema advertising is not a new category, packaged-goods firms have been reluctant to embrace this medium. Kraft seems to have prepared well before embarking on this new type of communication. The Kraft deal could be a "game changer" for cinema, creating the unique personal brand contacts and relationships with consumers through branded entertainment segments, according to Cliff Marks, president of sales and marketing at NCM.

Spending a large amount of money to display your brand in a movie theater may be considered too expensive for many packaged-goods companies. However, instead of just showing a quick ad, Kraft chooses to deeply participate in the theater experience by telling entertaining branded stories to enhance relationships with consumers. Kraft will also embed some of its subbrands within the movies themselves. Investing in a good movie and providing in-cinema commercial content could be an effective approach for Kraft to reach their target audience. Reactions to the Kraft mini-movies have been positive thus far.

It's likely more companies will follow Kraft's lead. NCM, which holds more than half of the cinema ad market, grew ad revenue from $330.3 million in 2008 to $335.1 million in 2009.