In-Store Digital Signage Is Used The Wrong Way

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.

Bar Television in Canada Begins To Attract Advertisers

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.

The Bar Channel is the brain child of Blast Media. Running on a closed circuit network the Bar Channel runs content mixed with advertisements as well as a ticker bar which displays time, and other news updates. This content can be strategically placed in geographical locations or can be broadcast to all networks at the same time. This also allows for advertisers to pick and choose the bars they want based on share gain and or demographics. Imagine if television advertisers were able to pick and choose the exact homes they wanted to be in?

Although cable advertising can zone specific regions, there are still over 250 channels or more to choose from. With the Bar Channel, there is one channel, all the time, at the point of sale.

"We've seen share gains in the bars where we've used it," said Terry Rudiak, who manages national sales for Molson-Coors in Canada. "So we're pretty excited about where this can go."

This is the kind of feedback that these out of home digital networks needs to continue to hear in order to be successful. Hopefully investors around the world will begin to listen and take note.

Click here to read the article at AdAge.com

CBS Buys In-Store Media Company SignStorey

The owners of in-store digital networks should all be thrilled to hear this news today that CBS has purchased SignStorey for over $75 million. Click here to read the article.

Simpson's Marketing Experiment Turns To Ebay

Fans came out in droves to see the 7-11's turned Kwik-E-Mart's but now the memorbilia can be found on Ebay after what I call the most successful "out-of-the-box" marketing experiment. Click here to read the article on New York Times and go to Ebay to see if you can win some Buzz Cola or a copy of Radioactive Man.

Happy Butts Not Allowed In Times Square

What sounds like something that should end up on Page Six in the New York Post, ended up on Advertising Age.com when Toto Washlet was slapped with an injunction. Last week, Toto Washlet had to do a quick change on their creative for their high-tech toilets campaign which is running in Times Square. The reason, well of course, someone had to complain that it was offensive. Rev. Neil Rhodes of the Times Square Church apparently found butts to be offensive since they were pointed at his church so all of a sudden a eye catching and original advertising campaign has to be changed. The campaign is in line with their home page, click here to see their web site.

To see the full article and the outdoor advertisement that caused a stir, click here.

Out-Of-Home Video Advertising Bureau Forms Advisory Board

Place based Out of home media was a $6.8 billion industry last year and one group of professionals is hoping to measure the industry further. OOH digital media, which still does not get the recognition it deserves, had the first steps taken last year when the OVAB was formed. I had the good fortune of attending this meeting and meeting several of the individuals who are behind the organization and I can't thank them enough. As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge believer in this industry and see it exploding in the next few years. As the media landscape changes, OOH opportunities are going to continue to open up and advertisers need to take note now.

Check out the article at Adage.com. Also see the OVAB's web site here.

Simpsons Movie Takes Out-of-Home Marketing To A Whole New Level

The Simpsons movie will be well anticipated this summer when it releases on July 27th, but the marketing team behind the Simpsons is doing an extroidinary job of promoting this film. Advertising Age is reporting today that 7-11 stores will re-design and essentially re-brand themselves for a few weeks to promote the movie. What will they brand themselves as? Kwik-E-Mart's of course. The picture seen at the left is a mock design.

I have one word for this idea; brilliant. Why nobody has taken advantage of this idea in the past is beyond me? All parties win in this situation. 7-11 is receiving, and going to receive weeks of publicity. The Simpsons movie, which already is well anticipated, is going to position themselves even better for an opening weekend. And marketers all around can now scramble to come up with ideas to top this one.

The only thing these stores will be missing is Apu, the lovable owner of Kwik-E-Mart's. Click here to read the article.

Billboards: The Ad Medium You Can't Fast Forward

Click here to read the article from the Los Angeles Times.

Startup Offers Low Budget Ad Options-In Low Traffic Areas

Click here to read the article. More on this later tonight.

MSN Should Capitalize on Out-of-Home Media Opportunities

If you've been following my blogs since I began a few weeks ago then you know my feelings about Out-of-Home Media (OOH). I see it as a growing medium that has tremendous potential and it's only a matter of time until advertisers begin to take note. With that said, there is always one hard to find component for OOH network owners; content.

Sure anyone can find content. You can download the latest top rated videos on YouTube and lace some advertisements in the middle and consider that content. You can simply subscribe to the Associated Press and play an ad between each news clip. You can even hire a graphics department to develop attractive and sleek pictures to catch peoples attention. This however, is not content.

Good content comes from knowing your audience and finding something relevant for them. Remember that in-home television, viewers choose the channel they want to watch. In the OOH model, the audience can not choose so it has to be relevant to them, in order to get them to watch. Good content is also a mix of relevant info about the viewers settings.

If the OOH network setting is a subway system in a busy metropolitan city then the content needs to mirror what those people specifically want. Not only does this increase the chance of your audience paying attention to your content, it also proves a better case to the advertisers. One example would be riders of the BART system in San Francisco. Proper content for these riders would not only include the typical info of weather and daily news, but also information about the traffic conditions surrounding the stations, airport delays for riders heading to Oakland and San Francisco airports, or interactive maps of tourist destinations, and especially up to the date information about Silicon Valley technology magnates.

The point is this content is hard to come by. The reason is because content is expensive to continually develop, find, and especially create. Content teams are an unnecessary cost to OOH media companies until they sell enough advertising to justify. (You see the chicken and egg thing here, right?)

So back to the original header for this blog. There are only a few companies who have the resources to become large OOH Media players. Right now several companies are dabbling in the opportunity, few have mastered the industry. Microsoft could be that company. There are two reasons.

MSN features more content than any site across the net. They feature information that targets both men, women, teens, and seniors. Their content ranges from autos to entertainment and health to sports. They feature breaking news, videos, pictures, and detailed city information. More importantly, they aggregate content from all sites online.

MSN is also one of the leaders in online advertising sales. To go along with their wide range of content, they have a wide range of advertisements to target each demographic. MSN does this extremely well.

I don't even have to begin to discuss the resources and technology barriers that most companies face. MSN would have no problem with the initial investments and upkeep.

As you can tell by now I'm a big proponent of OOH media and the industry is still seeking a dominant leader to come in and take over several vertical markets; retail, rail, airports, college campuses, restaurants, etc. MSN solves the problems that most OOH media companies face. Content and advertising.

The next time you see an OOH network, think of the possibilities for MSN.

Digital Signage Expo May 16-17th

The 2007 Digital Signage Expo will be held again this year in Chicago. The dates are May 16th & 17th. Here is the link to the Digital Signage Expo's web-site:http://www.digitalsignageexpo.net/

SignStorey Purchases Captive Audience; Gains 75 Million Viewers Per Year

SignStorey announced yesterday that they purchased Captive Audience for an undisclosed amount. Captive Audience, which has been rumored to be on the block for over a year now was valued at $2.3 million last year.

The full article can be found here at Aka.tv:http://www.aka.tv/articles/article.asp?articleid=1098

Captive Audience which is not known as a dominant player in the OOH Media game did have a large inventory of digital screens in delis and grocery stores across the Northeast region. Captive Audience also operates screens on a New York Ferry called SeaStreak. The Jacob Javits Center also features screens operated by Captive Audience.

The purchase will add to SignStorey's current inventory of digital screens operated in grocery stores. The other properties do not appear to line up with SignStorey's current grocery store strategy but they will be seen as added value or a bonus to this buy.

In-Store Sound Presents a Problem

Great article about in-store sound. This continues to be a hurdle for OOH media in grocery stores, retail outlets, and especially transportation hubs. Read on:
http://www.aka.tv/articles/article.asp?articleid=1078

PumpMedia to install gas station screens at Chevron's

Pumping gas becomes a little more entertaining now that Chevron has approved PumpMedia to become a vendor at a number of their Western U.S. locations. Here is the link to the full article at aka.tv: http://www.aka.tv/articles/article.asp?articleid=1087

This is not the first install of gas pump televisions we've seen. The past few years we've seen the growth of outdoor media in several sectors, this being one of them. Advertisers consistently want to reach people where they believe they have a captive attention. One of those places would definitely be the 3-5 minutes that we all spend standing next to our car while our gas bill rings up well over $50.

NBC is involved in a similiar venture that began last year. Here is the link to that article:http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6325558.html?display=Breaking+News

I was fortunate to see a dummy version of the NBC pump last year at the Outdoor Advertising Association of America's trade show in New York. I don't know how PumpMedia's platform works but the NBC version will only start when the pump handle is lifted and gas begins. This way you are not just serving advertisement impressions all day without a verified eye ball. CPM's can be much higher when it is a proven 1 to 1 impression, just like the internet.

Many companies believe that advertisers will purchase space on these screens because they have a particular product inside the store. Maybe a new stick of gum, beverage, scratch ticket, or a candy bar. Will these advertisements get you in the store? The bigger question is, will you stand outside your car and watch or will you go right back into your vehicle like you've typically done in the past? I think it's a great idea but it's going to take a while for it to set in with consumers. We don't always adapt well to new technology and ideas and although it is non-obtrusive content that includes news, traffic and weather reports, it might take a while before this becomes a favorite among consumers.

The bigger question is will advertisers want to get in on this opportunity? How much value is it will depend on the overall cost, number of ads served on a daily basis, and the total volume of different products they sell inside that convenience store where the gas is being pumped. Advertisers have to embrace this opportunity though. If a goal is to increase sales then why wouldn't Wrigley's, Pepsi, Coke, etc. want to get involved in this. Advertisers spend millions of dollars on television advertising each year, which I'm all for, but the difference is that most of us don't live less than 25 feet away from the location where we can buy these products.

Look out for these small television screens at a gas station near you.

Congrats to the OVAB

Congratulations to the Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB) which finally got off the ground a few months ago. I'm a little late with this post but I do want to extend a congrats to them. You can check out their web site here:
http://www.ovab.org

I was fortunate to be at the first ever OVAB meeting in New York back in September 2006. I'm a big believer in Out-of-Home (OOH) media and I think that it is the future of advertising spending and media consumption. Many agences are placing their advertising dollars into the online space and pulling further and further away from print. While I have no problem with that, I do believe that more emphasis needs to be put on OOH media. Agencies have yet to really adopt OOH media. More on that point to come in a later post.

The OVAB was formed after years of advertising dollars being spent in other places. Now, the OVAB isn't going to change this on their own but it is a start for an industry that has consistently been passed over. For those of you who are involved in media already know about the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Cable Advertising Bureau (CAB), or the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB). These are all Bureaus which have been put in place to research, regulate, inform, and serve as an advocate for online advertising, as well as cable and broadcast advertising. So finally the OOH industry has something to stand behind them.

Although I do not know who is directly responsible for forming this organization I can say that two companies were behind it from the very beginning. Those companies are the Captivate Network and Premier Retail Networks (PRN). The Captivate Network is made up of hundreds of television monitors in high-rise building elevators. They feature news content mixed with advertising. Check it out here: http://www.captivate.com. PRN is famous for their networks inside big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Costco, and several others. You may not always recognize their networks because they are typically branded to that particular stores name. However PRN is a large name in the OOH industry. You can check out PRN here at http://www.prn.com.


The OVAB will be responsible for setting guidelines and regulations for OOH media going forward. They will be at the fore front of new standards and research that will hopefully lead to a gain in advertising sales and overall education about OOH networks and what they can do for advertisers, retailers, government transportation systems, and many other locations. OVAB has a lot of work to do though. Although you have seen networks popping up more and more in malls and grocery stores, this still doesn't mean the advertising sales are a success. I have no factual numbers or research to back up this claim but I can tell you from my background in the OOH industry, it's a tough sell, even to DR advertisers. (Which by the way, DR still is un-proven on these networks but we'll keep that our secret. Someday I'll go back to this point in a OOH post.)

Take the time to read the OVAB's mission and check back as they continue to update news on their site. They have put together a very strong team and I know they will make some way soon in the OOH industry.