Archive for June, 2011

Taco Bell and indoorDirect Create Largest Restaurant Network to Reach 48 Million Monthly Viewers

Taco Bell Restaurant Entertainment Network

indoorDIRECT announced it is installing the largest in-store restaurant entertainment network in the country in all 5,600 Taco Bell locations by 2015. Advertisers will have the opportunity to reach 48 million Taco Bell customers each month on indoorDIRECT’s Point of Sale Network (no audio) and Dining Room Network (42 inch tv screens with audio). The company is also supporting free Wi-Fi in the restaurants.

Big news for the digital place-based advertising industry. Expect to see more quick-serve and fast casual restaurant chains falling in line to install digital place-based signage to create engaging experiences for customers, drive sales and tap into national advertising budgets.

See more for the official press release:

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DOOH InfoGraphic: It’s All Around Us

I’m loving this DOOH InfoGraphic by Digital Signage Today. I printed one out and put it on my wall at work!

This infographic shows how strategically placed Digital Place-based Advertising Screens and Digital Out of Home Signage can be used to target the consumer in the various venues she visits throughout the day – while in transit, at work, shopping, running errands or socializing.

The growth of the Digital Place-based advertising medium is projected to grow rapidly this year at 16.7% (revenue) and its time agencies and advertisers embrace the medium in the same way they have done with online and now interactive mobile advertising.

Digital Signage: It's all around us   [Infographic]
Digital Signage: It’s all around us [Infographic] compliments of DigitalSignageToday.com

How can you advertise on Digital Place-based networks in these venues?
Use DOfind, the digital place-based industry’s most powerful search tool, to search by venue, media category, audience demographics and geographic proximity to pinpoint media sellers and screens in your area.


Integrate Social Media and OOH to Let Customers Tell Your Story

LocaModa

Image Provided by LocaModa


Both local and national advertisers are discovering how effective out-of-home (OOH) advertising can be to engage customers and give them the power to tell your story. However, with so many options available to integrate customer endorsements and comments into an out-of-home campaign, it can be overwhelming. Advertisers have many options available including text messaging (SMS), social media, micro-sites, and QR Codes – which can direct customers to custom deals and initiate a conversation.

Using Facebook or Twitter in a digital media campaign can be a ‘€˜real-time’ content call-to-action for consumers. Facebook is powerful because just about everyone already has an account. About half of Facebook’s 500 million people log into the site in any given day, spending over 700 billion minutes per month interacting with pages, groups, friends, and products. What is even more exciting is that there are more than 250 million active users currently accessing the social networking powerhouse through mobile devices, and these users are twice as active than non-mobile users (see more Facebook statistics). Twitter has over 200 million users, 26 million of those active on mobile devices, and averages over 1 billion tweets per week. These social sites provide the ability to measure OOH campaigns through online and social media metrics ‘€“ giving advertisers the more power to leverage OOH media as part of an overall advertising strategy. Social media can also unveil the transparent side of a brand, and consumers tend to support companies that don’t mind exposing themselves.

Social media billboard campaigns can create press-worthy buzz and attract a lot of attention from commuters. One great example of a billboard campaign integrating Facebook was from a local accounting firm in Buffalo, NT – Freed, Maxick & Battaglia. The firm launched a community-based initiative to raise awareness of a local charitable organization. They received quite a lot of PR and drove commuters to a dedicated Facebook page to interact and become ‘€˜friends’ with the company and charity. Many national advertisers are discovering the options available to them as well. Calvin Klein just replaced some racy billboards with a QR Code directing consumers to a video, and Chobani, Greek yogurt used consumer comments from social media in their static billboard designs.

Lamar Advertising came to the public’s rescue when NBC replaced Conan with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, and legally prohibited Conan from appearing on television. Lamar gave Conan a place to highlight his tweets and entertain the public until the dilemma was over. Digital billboards and a micro-site were used to create a platform for Conan’s tweets. The billboards featured his tweets on digital inventory available in various markets across the country. Within one hour of posting on Facebook, over 1800 users ‘€œliked’€ the page and over 200 commented. Within five (5) days, the website, aplaceforconan.com, had 78,714 total hits, and was mentioned in over 70 online blogs.

McDonald's Angus Burger Billboard
When McDonalds decided to unveil their Angus Third-Pounder in Kansas City, it exclusively dominated all 13 digital billboards in the market for 24 hours. On that day, the Heart of America McDonald’s Co-op held an Angus Activation event featuring consumer endorsements submitted online. The campaign made a big PR splash; the local press – radio, TV and newspaper – covered the campaign extensively, and it made the cover of Nation’s Restaurant News!

The campaign, Angus Honor, received 1.9MM impressions across web, mobile and banners with an interaction rate of 7.31% and an average interaction time of 24 seconds – both almost double the industry standard! The campaign also netted over 5,000 submissions within 20 days. The Honor Angus campaign saw incredible sales results as well – outpacing the rest of the region during the run of the campaign and continuing through post-promotion sustained sales.

As great as these campaigns have been, there are some points of caution to consider before implementing a social media content OOH campaign. First, remember the company is opening up its Facebook page, website, etc. for general consumers to see, and people – even ‘€˜friends’ – don’t always make favorable comments. Next, proactively set up robust filters to stop any comments that may not be suitable for the general public. Third, be sure the company has some existing activity on its Facebook page. Lastly, when the campaign first goes up, the comments should be from connected friends or consumers and not employees pretending to be consumers.

Finding a company who specializes in these technologies can be difficult and overwhelming, but DOmedia can help. We have experienced companies in the DOmedia Marketplace who provide the technology needed to implement a consumer-driven content campaign. DOmedia also has media companies who have implemented these types of campaigns and would be happy to share their experiences with you. Begin your search using DOfind, the industry’s most comprehensive media search tool, or contact our Client Services Team and we will point you in the right direction.

Sources: Outdoor Advertising Association of America; Raman Media Network; Facebook.com


McDonald’s Executes Interactive Digital Billboard Campaign

This is a simple yet impactful way to execute an interactive digital billboard campaign. McDonald’s launched a campaign called Pick n’ Play that lets viewers play Pong, the classic video game, on a large digital screen in Stockholm, Sweden. Players who last at least 30 seconds are rewarded with free food at a nearby McDonald’s restaurant.

What’s interesting about this execution is its simplicity and the fact that users do not need to download an application. Smart phone users can simply go to the site’s URL and confirm that they are within the playing area using the phone’s geolocation technology.

The campaign has also been bouncing around the blogosphere and even picked up in Mashable.

Simple. Rewarding. Classic – like the Big Mac.


Lexus Takes Over Hollywood with Pearl Media


3D Projection Mapping – Lexus CT200h – Hollywood CA from Pearl Media

If you were on Hollywood Boulevard on the night of Earth Day, you may have noticed the Roosevelt Hotel coming to life to celebrate the launch of the Lexus CT200h. Pearl Media, the out-of-home media company specializing in converting real estate assets into unique, interactive experiences, developed the state of the art 3D projection that transformed the building into part race track, part stage for the highly anticipated hybrid luxury vehicle. The event caught major media attention and created a larger than life experience for viewers of the launch.

The 8,000 sq ft projection towered over Hollywood Blvd using more than 15 projectors complete with advanced 3D technology, lighting, sound, shadows and animation mapped to the contours of the building that worked together to make images pop out from the walls and windows of the hotel. Pearl Media’s proprietary HD-3D technology displayed a breathtaking display of entertainment in HD theater quality. The show was approximately 4.5 minutes in length – far longer than a traditional broadcast advertising spot. The length and dynamic content presented a challenge for the worthy creative departments. They were charged with producing content that maintained a focus on brand messaging while avoiding the pitfall of becoming a novelty due to format.

The event generated a significant amount of buzz and was featured both on Extra TV and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

According to Paul Whitney, Chief Operating Officer of Pearl Media, the creative process typically takes approximately 2.5 months for a campaign of this magnitude. The Roosevelt Hotel was first put through a sophisticated measurement process which gathered geometrical specifications about the building’s dimensions, down to each brick and window, used to render CAT drawings to create a template for the show. Each animated asset is then created by Pearl Media’s in house animators. The company also has expertise with attaining special permits and setup for events. The creative agencies for this event were Zenith Optimedia and Team 1.

Josh Cohen, President of Pearl Media, has hinted at similar campaigns to be launched this year in the US. For clips of the Lexus Earth Night show and other industry leading projection technology campaigns see Pearl Media‘s company profile in the DOmedia Marketplace.

For more information about Pearl Media, please contact:
Paul Whitney | Chief Operating Officer | 973.492.2300 ext 13 | pwhitney@pearlmediaus.com | www.pearlmediaus.com