A moviegoer settling into his seat to watch Chicken Little last fall, may have been surprised to find a coupon for a free dessert at a local McDonald's tucked into his drink-cup holder. A McDonald's franchisee began testing movie theater cup holders as promotion vehicles for its 20 Los Angeles McDonald's restaurants, seeding 7,500 cards in two 500-seat theaters at Pacific Theaters last November.

The promotions offered Chicken Little moviegoers coupons for a free dessert. In the second wave, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire attendees got coupons for a free salad or combo meal with a Happy Meal purchase.

“It's a completely new medium that gets into the personal space of [consumers],” says Matt Faulkner, president of ArmsLength Promotions and inventor of the Stand-In. “It's so intimate, you have to touch it.”

Stand-Ins are made out of card-stock and stand upright in cup holders to advertise the brand's message and can include a coupon or promotional offer. The Stand-In helps brands “tell a story” with its message card and offers consumers a chance at immediate redemption, McDonald's franchisee Mike Pernecky says.

In the first few weeks of the promotion, Pernecky reported a 25% redemption rate of the Stand-In coupons. Typically, QSRs are lucky to see 1% to 2% of coupons redeemed, he says.

ArmsLength Promotions, which is based in Burbank, CA, is trying to broker deals with other clients for the patented product, Faulkner says, including rental car companies, the National Football League, National Baseball Association and the Arena Football League.