Giant Screens, Shared Audio, Fresh Air:  Cooke Brothers Drive-In is Like You Remember

The giant screens and signs advertising family favorites, like hot dogs and cotton candy, stand in direct – but welcome – opposition to a world entranced by miniature, personal DVD players and rapidly downloaded video streams on smartphones.

Cooke Brothers Drive-In, a recent addition to the St. Joseph, Mo., entertainment scene, reminds us that the classics still hold power today. The double-feature, double-screen drive-in theater complex on the edge of town may completely blow the mind of teenagers and twenty-somethings who mainly know screens in miniature that you click with a pointer finger. Even better, the new business is built on a legacy of family-run operations in St. Joseph and designed for low-cost family fun – with an emphasis on family. Advertising messages about “bring a whole carload” are also a refreshing reminder that hanging out together is fun, and even hip.

Also hip is the way Cooke Brothers Drive-In is using real, live comments from Facebook fans on its website, such as “thanks Cooke Brothers for the memories my kids will have at your drive-in.” We encourage clients to use Facebook or Twitter posts as material for blogs and further posts as a piece of their overall content strategies, and in this case, Cooke Brothers is blending the old and the new in a very simple way.

Because Cooke Brothers’ team is experienced in this type of entertainment, they also bring an element of confidence and faith that the establishment will work in St. Joseph. They have a history in the carnival industry, and are running another drive-in theater in Montana that’s going well.

Two things teens and tweens will notice about Cooke Brothers Drive-In – the sound isn’t coming into their head from their own personal set of earbuds, but rather a shared FM radio (which for some, will be a new concept entirely). It’s also a video showing under the backdrop of an even greater show: the sparkling moon and stars. Cooke Brothers offers a discounted Thursday night show, for an even lesser-cost carload full, and is helping local organizations with special benefit nights.

For all the awesome and high-speed gadgets out there, many of which we use and enjoy, we salute this throw-back type of entertainment that brings people together. We celebrate fresh air, shared audio, and huge, community screens at Cooke Brothers with an atmosphere that helps our local community. Now that’s something to text about … after the family fun is over.