Today I noticed an article on Adage.com that Unilever, who recently completed a major study with Nielsen and other companies (and overpaid for the data I'm sure) is concluding that posters and in-store coupons is a more effective medium for moving product than digital technology. Recently you may have noticed at your local supermarket that more and more televisions are popping up in the produce, deli, and possibly bakery aisles. The television are typically either placed up and above the shoppers heads so they are unseen or they are right in the shoppers faces with sound so they are overly intrusive.
The point is that in-store technology including digital signage has the capability to work. There is no reason that the internet + tv model can't be fused into the supermarket to work effectively. The problem is nobody has perfected it yet. Just sticking a television in an aisle and placing ads for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream isn't going to inrease lift. I couldn't think of a bigger waste of money.
But what if there was digital signage technology out there that had the capability of giving product information along with serving advertisements. What if this digital signage had the ability to give a store map to show you where the condiments and dishwasher soap was located? How about a machine that printed coupons for weekly specials and if you scanned your rewards card it automatically gave you discounts on products you frequently purchased? What if it was fully interactive combining the internet + television model together?
The truth is the technology isn't the problem it's the way we've attempted to integrate the technology with the user. I've written on here several times over the past year that Out-of-Home Digital Signage is the wave of the future but we have to figure out how to entice the user. We have to come up with solutions on how to make the user want to use the product.
The odds aren't high that I'm going to be going down the produce aisle and notice an ad on the screen standing eleven feet over head for a new juice drink. If I see the ad then will that make me automatically buy the drink? Probably not.
However imagine this scenario. I walk to the wine aisle and pick up a bottle that looks appealing. I scan the SKU on the digital machine and then pops up four different types of cheeses and crackers as well as a recipe that I can print with the wine.
Now we are moving product through the store.
Wake up marketers. You need to push for this type of capability. You need to be the ones who create the demand. Otherwise we will continue to see end caps and and posters and nothing new to enhance the environment or move more of your product.
The full article on Unilevers waste of money research is
here at
Adage.com
Check out a
company that is trying to do something different in-store.
Less than an hour after I posted about the death of the newspaper, the Seattle Times Company announced layoffs of more than 100. The Seattle PI is breaking the news and I'm sure the Times will have something to say later in the day. The story is still developing.
This is a question that these days we are all asking. I personally believe that Print has another 7-10 years before we see major newspapers (USA Today, NY Times, LA Times, etc.) start to crumble.
Google announced Tuesday that they have signed a partnership agreement with NBC Universal to begin selling ad space on their cable networks. The deal will give Google another foot in the door on the television ad sales race that they began around 17 months ago. Google will be able to sell space on the Sci-Fi channel as well as other lower rated cable channels.
The outlook continues to dwindle for newspaper companies including Gannett and A.H. Belo Corporation. While Gannett announced today that their total revenue fell 8.4%, Belo gave a warning that their announcement will be "substantially below" the original forecast.
If not then you're truly missing out. Go there now.
Many analysts believe that is the smartest thing they could do after a dismal Q1 earnings release yesterday. The real question though is how much is NBC worth?
Despite parent company General Electric's bleak earnings in Q1, NBCU has posted solid earnings in most all divisions with Cable revenue higher than expected.
CBS has recently developed a new ad sales division to speak directly to agencies about content and advertising integration. The division will work closely with ad agencies to speak their language and give more opportunities on the client side.
It's no secret that Katie Couric's tenure at CBS has been rocky. She was signed to a large contract to pull the CBS Evening News from the bottom of the ratings pile but unfortunately she has yet to do so.
CBS announced today that they will move forward with job cuts of about 1% of the company, or 1,200 total employees mostly in news operations at their owned and operated network stations in major markets such as San Francisco, Boston, and New York. The cuts are partly blamed to a declining stock in Q4 as well as declining revenues across all stations after a weak Q1.
McDonalds will give away free McSkillet burritos this Friday and Saturday with the purchase of a medium or large drink. The fast food chain pulled this same stunt a few months ago with free coffee Mondays in order to allow the public to sample their new brew.
If you want to see Pacifico's fancy marketing then you will need to visit their web site. Pacifico is choosing to spend all of their marketing money online at http://www.mexicoviapacifico.com/. The web site features videos about living the beach life as well as drinking their beer. The site features everything from thirty-second videos to three minute spots.
ABC may have generated an average of $1.8 million per :30 spot on Sunday evening, but unfortunately it was the lowest rated Oscars in the last 30 years. Which means they may be owing their clients a small amount of Under Delivery Weight. Jon Stewart did a marginal job of hosting but don't blame him, it was mainly due to a "weak" year on the big screen.
I've been discussing out-of-home video networks for almost a year now and I'm still amazed at the amount of people who don't understand the industry. It is new media for television advertisers. All those clients who complain that their commercials are being skipped on television have the opportunity to reach their customers at the point of sale. Finally some large clients are putting their Canadian ad dollars to use in OOH Networks.
According to commercial value the Oscar's are the second largest television event each year, second only to the Super Bowl. With the recent writers strike, the event was close to being cancelled. Which meant that ABC would have needed to refund the $1.8 million per :30 spot they sold back in November. That's a lot of cash to come off the books in first quarter. Thankfully the strike is over and as they say in Hollywood, "The Show Must Go On."
Just a few weeks ago NBC was discussing cancelling UpFront. Now it seems the event will be larger than ever before. You can't blame their negative thinking in early January; the writers strike was going strong and Prime Time was on it's way to becoming Reality Time.
If you want to work in the media world then you had better find your niche, and find it quickly. According to a study the Ad Age Data Center, 1 in 4 media jobs has disappeared since 2000. 
