Winning in New York

Just ran across this commentary posted in Media Daily News today with tips on buying outdoor media in New York City. While the author, Van Wagner Communications Eastern Division President Robert Fauser, admittedly focuses specifically on New Yorkers — their lifestyles, media consumption habits — and how to reach them, a lot of the information applies to other markets. I especially liked the following quote:

“Consider outdoor as a primary medium…People listen to their iPods or satellite radio while commuting. They watch their TiVos when they get home, and fewer are reading the newspaper or magazines. And yet as New Yorkers move about their day, outdoor advertising is right in their face. It’s unmistakable. They can’t zap it; they can’t avoid it.”

Drop in any other city for “New Yorkers” in that quote and it’s no surprise that out-of-home advertising is the second fastest growing advertising medium out there.


Paying for your attention in NYC

Great video on the cost to advertisers for your attention in NYC…


Now Smell This…The Future of Outdoor

They say smell is one of our strongest senses and is most closely tied to our memories and emotions. Walking by a bakery pulling out a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies can conjure up a whole host of mental snapshots. Now, turn that bakery into a digital billboard for, say, a “famous” cookie company, and you have the type of thing marketers’ dreams are made of.

Think this possibility lives in the distant future? Think again. According to mediaplannerbuyer.com, Tokyo-based NTT Communications began testing this technology yesterday in front of Kirin City Beer Hall in Tokyo’s Yaesu Shopping Mall. The aroma-enhanced digital signage (called Kaoru Digital Signage) will be in place through December and will emit lemon and orange scents (typically associated with beer). The company hopes to gauge the sign’s effectiveness in attracting the attention of mall shoppers.

It will be interesting to see the impact this technology has both on results and general popular opinion. If it takes off, just think of all the possibilities here in the States…and you thought walking through a department store perfume section was rough…


Voyeurism meets Lingerie in NYC

I ran across a posting on The Ad Mad! blog today that I have to share. As part of the Elle MacPherson Intimates branding campaign, they incorporated an interactive storefront that ran during Fashion Week in NYC.

The technology incorporates a very cool tool called the Human Locator, which tracks passers’-by movement in real time. For this application, it recognizes motion outside the window to reveal and then conceal intriguing video of a lingerie clad model. Check out the video on YouTube to see the execution (click the screen shot to view the video):

interactive-storefront-2.png

Now, I have to say that I find it interesting that it’s mostly women who stop to check out the window…either brilliant targeting by the marketing team or a male aversion to having a video camera catch them in the act. Either way, kudos to everyone involved in the execution!

Client: Elle MacPherson Intimates
Agency: Mindshare / Destination Media Group
Media Partner: Inwindow Outdoor
Technology: Human Locator


Outdoor Advertising: Societal Nemesis or Environmental Enhancer?

Maybe I’m just more aware given my current employment. Or maybe the debate has gotten louder. Either way, I’ve been hearing and reading a lot lately about the “advertising invasion” into our daily lives. Without a doubt, out-of-home advertising has been on a major upswing since 2001, making it the second-fastest growing media channel behind the Internet. (In fact, out-of-home advertising revenue has increased at least 20% each year since 2001…meanwhile traditional TV, print and radio outlets have all been struggling.) As marketers have increasingly looked to non-traditional avenues to reach their audiences, it seems there is a growing movement to fight this “ad creep.” Here’s my question: is advertising necessarily evil? Continue reading →