In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mostly on the run, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.
DVDs are still popular: a Montrealer is doing improbable business by selling many of these objects from another era thanks to an advertising campaign that is as retro and haystack as it is devilishly effective.
Several columns of boxes full of DVDs occupy half of the main corridor at Jean-François Hall, in Rosemont.
A stack of 10 Christmas DVDs is waiting for a customer to pick it up.
Near the door, a box contains 30 envelopes ready for the post office:
“There are about $150 worth of films in there,” confides the man wearing a “DVD Pro” cap.
Near the door, a box contains 30 envelopes ready for the post office.
Louis-Philippe Messier
His sweater is marked with the quote: “DVDs must not disappear!”
A minute after I arrived, his phone vibrated.
“I just sold one!” exclaims the man who calls himself the “DVD Pro”.
Mr. Hall is not the guy in his sixties that I expected when I saw his homemade promotional posters that you may have seen all over Montreal.
The 42-year-old young man, a professional cinema technician, keeps around 9,000 DVDs at home.
Approximately 6,500 of these DVDs have an active listing in eBay.
“Someone in British Columbia just bought me the movie Stonehenge Apocalypse for $12,” he explains to me.
During my visit, the Pro’s phone rang: someone in British Columbia had just bought this film from him.
Louis-Philippe Messier
The product description includes the mention D6… which is the box where the film is stored.
I remove said box from a column in the hallway and hand the DVD to Mr. Hall.
I had fun finding the film among the 9000 DVDs stored here.
Louis-Philippe Messier
He checks that the disc is impeccable and writes the buyer’s address on an envelope.
Mr. Hall is preparing to send the film to British Columbia.
Louis-Philippe Messier
But where does he get his DVDs? Donations from people who don’t know what to do with them or by buying back stocks from defunct video clubs, for example.
The demand is there
“Many films are impossible to find on online platforms and even if only 1% of the population listens to DVDs, as I sell across Canada, that’s a huge pool of customers,” explains Mr. Hall.
The genius idea that propelled the Pro’s business was its ultra-artisanal method of promotion: scraps of election signs where Mr. Hall scribbles his signs with markers.
“I told myself that people would find it special and that it would go viral on social networks,” remembers the Pro.
Indeed, it piqued the curiosity of thousands of potential customers.
The DVD Pro’s advertising doesn’t cost much to produce… and it can be seen almost everywhere in Montreal and in the cities where Mr. Hall travels.
Louis-Philippe Messier
When he hangs his posters on poles, people greet him.
Some people want to take a photo of themselves with this legendary “DVD Pro”.
“Police officers or blue-collar workers who see me doing it give me thumbs up and smile,” he rejoices.
“A marketing professor at Condordia stopped me in the street to tell me that my campaign seemed like a great success.”
No one has asked him for his autograph yet, but maybe he will!
“I didn’t expect this wonderful, encouraging reaction from the public,” confides Mr. Hall.
“A lot of people think I’ve been doing this for many years, but no: it’s only been two years!”
I left the “DVD Pro” with one of his signs in my bag… after promising to put it up near my house – promise kept.
While writing this column, I took a little break to hang this advertisement near my home in Hochelaga, as I had promised to do.
Louis-Philippe Messier
