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Press Room Media folks are up on alternative media By Louisa Ada Seltzer By and large, media buyers and planners go out of their way to include alternative media elements on media plans they present to clients, and they also think spending on alternative media will be up this year over last. That's the outcome of a survey Media Life posted over recent days asking readers what sort of coverage of alternative media they'd most like to see in the pages of Media Life. For the purposes of the survey, alternative media was defined as "all forms of out-of-home advertising beyond traditional billboards, ranging from digital signage to street teams handing out product samples to skywriting to advertising on beach umbrellas." The survey was targeted to media planners and buyers and marketers either directly involved in recommending alternative media or having a voice in decisions regarding alternative media. Readers who did not qualify were excluded from the survey. Among qualifying respondents, roughly two thirds were directly involved in recommending alternative media. A key question was whether media planners and buyers expected to see spending on alternative media increase or decreased in 2009. More than two thirds, 69 percent, thought spending would increase, versus 31 percent who thought spending would decline. Another key question was how often those readers included an alternative media element on a media plan. More than half made a point of doing so. Some 44 percent agreed with the statement: "We try to do so whenever we can," while 18 percent agreed with this statement: "Much of the time if there's the budget for it." More than 36 percent agreed with this statement: "Sometimes but only if something really grabs our interest." Just 2 percent said almost never, and no one said never. Media Life then asked readers to describe their attitude and the attitude of their supervisors toward alternative media. The response was pretty upbeat. Nearly 36 percent agreed with this statement: "Very positive. It's a terrific way to set a media plan apart,” while 27 percent agreed with the statement: "Generally positive." Just under a third, 33 percent, were more neutral, agreeing with this statement: "Neither positive nor negative. It's case by case." Just 3 percent said their attitude was not positive, and 2 percent were very negative, agreeing with this statement: "Few experiences and those were bad." Next Media Life wanted to get a sense of how clients reacted to alternative media options. The question: When you are presenting to clients, how do they generally respond to alternative media elements in a plan? It turns out very few are as positive as the media people presenting those options. Just 6 percent agreed with this statement: "Very positive. They pick up on how the element ties into the brand in a creative way." By far the largest share, 72 percent, agreed with this statement: "Mostly favorably but it will depend largely on what it is." Just over 9 percent agreed with this statement: "Little response. They're much more interested in the bigger-picture, bigger-budget elements." In the rest of the cases, 13 percent, clients didn't get the alternative media element (8 percent) or thought it was a waste of money (5 percent). In some cases, though not all by any means, adding an alternative media element to a plan may mean cutting from some other media. But which one? Media Life asked that question of readers, and newspaper came out on top at 30 percent. But not far behind was television at 26 percent. Radio was next at 15 percent, and magazines followed at 10 percent. Internet was last at just 3 percent. Most buyers think clients are more open to alternative media these days, but with reservations. They're not so inclined to spend more on alternative elements. The question: Do you sense that clients are more or less willing to spend money on alternative media than say two years ago? Just 14 percent gave an unqualified yes, agreeing with this statement: "Far more willing to spend and far more willing to spend more dollars." The largest share, 60 percent, agreed with this statement: "More open to alternative media but reluctant to increase the spend." Just 21 percent said clients’ attitudes had not changed one way or the other, and just 5 percent saw alternative media as the first thing to be cut from a plan. What has changed to make alternative media that much more attractive to clients? Quite a few things, in the view of media people. Asked to choose one or more responses, they picked the rising clutter found with other media, such as TV, at 62 percent. But second, at 60 percent, was "the ability to deliver highly targeted messages." Third, at 40 percent, was "the increasing number of smart options out there." Other choices were opportunities to reach across a number of markets with one buy through digital networks, 19 percent; the increasing sophistication of sellers in making their case for alternative media, also 19 percent; better, more sophisticated tracking of results, 24 percent; better execution of campaigns on the part of media sellers, with fewer glitches, 19 percent; feedback from friends and business associates about campaigns they've approved in the past, 27 percent: cost efficiency, 29 percent; and comparatively low cost, 32 percent. But there is a negative to alternative media as well, actually a few in the minds of media planners and buyers, and topping that list is the inability to put numbers to how well it performs. The question: When considering alternative media options for inclusion in a media plan, what are the negatives you and your team members are most likely to consider? Readers were asked to choose one or more responses. Way out ahead, at 67 percent, was: "Lack of means for quantifying performance for many alternative media." Second, at 45 percent, was lack of research, and third was "the amount of work that must go into executing an alternative media element," at 39 percent. "Risk that it will fizzle or malfunction, embarrassing the client" came in a 34 percent, and last, at 33 percent, was "poor cost-versus-impact ratio." © 2009 Media Life Magazine
NO STALLING: ‘INDOOR’ MARKETING CATCHES ON TAMPA — There is a way for Tampa Bay businesses to reach consumers that has been deemed surprisingly cost-effective and easy. An advertiser can target by age, gender, lifestyle and income, and its message is guaranteed to receive a set amount of captive attention. That’s because this type of advertising — known in the industry as indoor billboards or indoor advertising — takes place in restroom stalls. Simone Amaral, who runs the urban dance studio Simone Salsa, has been advertising in restrooms for more than five years. When customers register at her locations in Tampa and Brandon, she asks them how they heard about the studio. Other than word-of-mouth, indoor advertising draws the most customers, more even than advertising on Google, she said. Advertising in restrooms works for Amaral because many of her customers don’t know how to dance and consider taking lessons a very personal decision. This article is Copyright © 2008, Tampabay.bizjornals.com
OLDEST AD MEDIUM BECOMES NEW AGAIN You can't avoid it. There's no Tivo or ad-blocking software to protect you. You can't just turn the page to make it go away. It's everywhere. And that's its advantage. It's not a new invention from Google. On the contrary, it's antithesis of new media: In polite company it's called "out-of-home advertising" -- but to you and me it billboards, posters, and ads slapped on everything like phone boots, bus benches, and streetside trash cans. The industry got together last week in New York City as part of the fifth annual Advertising Week and showed off all places ads can go: eye-level above urinals and on the back doors of stalls in women's rooms; on the front of Segways; on pizza boxes; on stairways; on banners in the sky; in the bins used to hold your dirty shoes at airport checkpoints; on paychecks; on lunch trucks; on gas pumps; on sidewalks; and even on 360-degree L.E.D. screens. Ubiquity is the medium's biggest advantage over print, broadcast, or the Web. "It's the only advertising medium that's immune to customer avoidance," says Paul Meyer, global president and chief operating officer of Clear Channel Outdoor. He means that as a good thing. Most of the media world doesn't have this luxury. TV, radio, and Internet ads can be dodged with the press of a button. Fewer people are reading newspapers and magazines, and then the ads are as easy to avoid as the flip of the page. To get consumers' attention, advertisers in the larger marketplace now have to do more than catch your eye. They are trying to create a relationship with you. "We have to stop thinking about media as bridges that we march messages over into people's mouths and mind," Andrew Robertson, president and C.E.O. of advertising agency network BBDO Worldwide, said, "and start thinking about creating experiences that change behavior and providing access to those experiences in the most relevant places." The out-of-home industry may have the places part down. No matter how you see an ad, as friend or foe, the industry is making sure you're going to see one -- and almost everywhere you look. This article is Copyright © 2008, Portfolio.com
MARKETERS CHASE CONSUMERS INTO THE BATHROOM NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Once almost universally respected as rare islands of personal privacy, public bathrooms have now become a major target of mainstream marketers and their advertising media buyers. In the old days, the only "commercial" text normally found in toilet stalls and on urinal walls were those placed by anti-social cranks and hookers of various sexual orientations. Often using ballpoint pens as chisels, they scrawled phone numbers and crude taglines like "For a good time in Dallas, call..." The venue offers an audience that is captive to its biological needs, said David Turner, president of the Indoor Billboard Advertising Association, founded in 1998. "In a restaurant, 75% of the patrons use the restrooms. In a bar or a nightclub, the average patron uses a restroom almost three times per stay." Though relatively small in size -- the Indoor Billboard Advertising Association estimates its North American revenues will reach $50 million this year, compared with the $5.5 billion spent on outdoor advertising -- advertising in restrooms in bars, restaurants, airports and shopping centers is on the rise, up 14% from 2003, which rose 12% over the year before. The group's members are 30 independent companies that sell space on "boards" in 200 markets in the U.S. and Canada. Marketers with the greatest increase year to date are women's apparel (48%). Marketers also like restrooms for cost and the ability to target consumers. But in recent years, marketers like Sony Music, Unilever and Nintendo along with major liquor companies and TV networks have been systematically elbowing aside the hookers and cranks to get their own commercial messages in front of a demographic with its pants lowered and its zipper undone. Deodorant brands, recording artists, video games and automakers are routinely buying space on the doors of toilet stalls or urinal walls. Meanwhile, other assorted "guerilla" media vendors offer condom packaging and urinal mats as relatively inexpensive messaging surfaces. Aimed at 18- to 25-year-old men, Axe is a brand that "is about helping a guy attract women," said David Rubin, senior brand development manager. "It is a social brand in that respect, and there's no place like a bar for guys to meet women." Axe's creative features "Pit Man," a visual oddity created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty in New York. The creature is composed of a hairy armpit and a foot. "In a bar, he's much closer to our brand promise," Mr. Rubin said. "He's thinking about meeting someone, he's in the right mindset." The right demographics This article is Copyright © 2004, AdAge.com
YOUR CLIENT SINGING IN THE REST ROOM By Kathy Prentice Over the past decade posters placed in restrooms next to mirrors, in stalls and above urinals have become commonplace in bars and restaurants in major markets. Now the same posters can speak and sing, emit fragrances and dispense samples. To find out how to get your client's message to the eyes, ears and noses of a captive restroom audience, read on. This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly. Fast Facts What Who How it works Markets Zoom is available in 2,000 venues in the following markets: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Durham, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San José, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, Washington D.C. and Orange County, Calif. How measured? Research What product categories do well? Demographics * Accessed the internet at home or work, at 67 percent Also 26 percent of respondents visit a bar or nightclub twice a week, 24 percent once a week, 20 percent three times a week, and 13 percent four times a week. Daily visits were reported by 3 percent. Groups can be tightly targeted. For instance, Hispanics, African Americans, gays, sports fans and ravers can be singled out. "The most interesting thing about restroom advertising is micro-targeting," Roche says. "There's a highly targeted delivery of demographics and psychographics." Making the buy InSite Advertising: "Entertainment typically runs one month before a show airs. Consumer products average three months," Miller says. Creative can be changed monthly at no extra charge. Advertisers supply creative and sometimes provide posters or InSite can print them for an additional charge. Zoom Media Who's already in the restrooms? What they're saying Web site info Zoom Media at www.zoommedia.us Etc. Professional sports venues can be targeted through AdCommunity, headquartered in Chicago. According to president Woodrow Levin, his company places signage in Major League baseball parks and National Football League stadiums. For more information, try www.adcommunity.com. For Media Life's previous coverage of restroom advertising, see "Psst! Before you flush have you considered.?" from May 22, 2000.
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