Lately, it seems that digital signage is steadily becoming as a greater factor in a company’s integrated marketing strategy.  The most interesting and effective forms of digital signage I have come across are in-store interactive displays that provide as much a service to the consumer as a tool for advertisers.

Integrated marketing is a current industry buzzword whose definition always seems to be a little foggy. For the sake of this blog, let us define integrated marketing as a holistic approach to marketing that enables a company to create a consistent image of themselves through cohesive advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and direct marketing approaches.

One of the most innovative examples of digital signage in integrated marketing comes from Digital Aisle, an Illinois based company who is truly at the bleeding edge of the industry.  They are in the business of creating digital screens mounted on display kiosks that not only advertise their client’s products, but actively engage the customer walking past them in the grocery store to use their bartending, cooking, or even skin care expertise to make their purchase decisions.  The experience the customer has with this kiosk is thoroughly and elegantly branded with the company image.  It is a realization of every packaging, website, ad, and radio spot the consumer has seen made interactive.

My personal favorite is the Virtual Bartender.  This kiosk, loaded with Diageo Brand drinks [including Seagrams, Captain Morgan, and Bailey’s].  From the touch of a screen, customers can “learn how to make drinks, plan a party, get brand education, and more” (via DigitalAisle.com).  In an added stroke of genius, Digital Aisle equipped displays with the ability to print shopping lists, email recopies to themselves, and even calculate how much of each drink they will need for a party of any given size.

Check out their demo video for look at the display and what it can do.

Much to the appreciation of the staff, the same motion sensors installed to actively engage audience and bring them towards the screens are used to identify low/non traffic times and reduce the volume when possible.

The fact is that consumer attention span is getting progressively shorter, and this technology not only helps them make their purchasing decisions, but is a fun, interactive, and memorable way to market products to consumers.

By Denisse Cobian, Communications Specialist

Imagine yourself sitting at your local AMC theatres… your Diet Coke and Cinnabon juggled in one hand as you turn your Blackberry Storm to silent and put your brand new Steve Madden pumps up on the seat in front of you… Sounds nice doesn’t it?

Did you like my product placement?

It seems that every time we tune in to our favorite show or go watch the next installment of our favorite blockbuster series, there is some kind of product placement to be witnessed.  Whether 30 Rock does an episode entirely devoted to the McFlurry® or Twilight’s Edward Cullen drives a Volvo, it is evident that advertising has branched out past the commercials/previews and into the features themselves.  One of the best and worst examples of product placement is Michael Bay’s 2007 blockbuster hit Transformers.

We all noticed Bumble Bee was a Chevy Camaro and Mountain Dew® vending machines are occasionally Decepticons, but odds are you didn’t notice every product placement Michael Bay worked in.  Watch this video brought to us by vdrinker08 who argues “Michael bay should be ashamed of himself”.  We as advertisers have to admire his gusto and willingness to allow advertisers to use his blockbuster to become an ad medium.  Is this instance of product placement tastefully done? Let’s watch…

Personally, I didn’t feel most product placements were overly distracting while watching the movie.  Sure, the giant Mountain Dew® vending machine and XBox bursting into a Decepticons were over the top, but most of the product placement was done so that the advertised objects and logos were in places we as consumers would see them in our every day lives.  The iPod the soldier holds in the opening scene of this video is held naturally, as most of us would hold our own music player every day. The bottle of Pepto-Bismol on the interrogation table is probably just where we would have left it.

In fact, I found the use of Porsche to be especially fitting in the case.  Why should Michael Bay have to invent a fake luxury car for the father to tease poor Shia LaBeouf with when there was an existing brand willing to pay for the opportunity.  The use of Porsche brings with it the brand’s image as a highly desirable, fast, and sexy car any seventeen year old boy would want to buy.  In my opinion, so called “product placement” such as this brings a relatable and believable aspect to the movie that a non-brand could never bring without a cumbersome and unnecessary explanation added to the script.

One instance of absolutely gaudy and blatant product placement in this film, however, was Panasonic’s memory card.  Not only do the actors shamelessly hold the memory card up the camera TWICE, but the logo is a horrific holographic billboard for Panasonic.  I could deal with the enlarged ebay and Hewlett-Packard insignias on the laptops, but this was just too much.

The irony in this is that we only have ourselves to blame. Well, technically, we have our DVR’s to blame.  We all know the trick… Your favorite show starts at 8pm, so you set the DVR.  You dilly-dally for 15 minutes, press play and with the ease of a button, viola! You can now fast forward through the commercials.

Advertisers are forced to infiltrate programming and feature films because of our thievery.  In fact, Nicholas Johnson said “A viewer who skips the advertising is the moral equivalent of a shoplifter”.  TV is NOT FREE.  Broadcast companies pay for the air time, the show’s production [including those over-paid stars] and network maintenance with ad revenues! How can we not expect them to then sell space on the actual programming when all we do is skip commercials?

In conclusion, not all product placement is bad.  Product placement has become an unavoidable part of our entertainment media and we only have ourselves to blame.   So the next time you go to the local AMC’s, sit back, relax, put those Steve Madden Pumps [or loafers] up, and get ready for the most commercialized ride of your life.  If it’s done well, you may note even notice it.

How the digital out of home industry’s too-fast growth calls for a comprehensive ad buying platform that only the most talented and innovative entrepreneurs will be able to provide.

“Great minds have purposes, little minds have wishes”

~Irving Washington

____Many people spend their lives looking for the meaning of life… the purpose of our existence.  I believe we are here to make each other’s days a little bit brighter- our troubles a little bit easier.  In this blog, I will apply this ideology to the business world and illustrate how entrepreneurs are trying to help DOOH rise to its full potential.

DOOH’s Biggest Problem- The DOOH industry, every day growing larger, struggles because the protocol for buying ad space has yet to be normalized. Why?

1. Too many different networks make it difficult for advertisers to understand the “who, what, when, where, how, and why” of DOOH advertising
2. Too many points of contact to make an ad buy, even on the smallest scales.
3. No place for advertisers to conveniently identify locations at which they can advertise.
4. No way to buy ad space across multiple venue types and/or networks
5. No way to serve ads to certain demographics or geographic locations.

What caused it? With the advertising industry’s move away from traditional media [like tv and printed newspapers and magazines which the internet is quickly eliminating], advertisers are forced to try new non-traditional advertising media that consumers can’t ignore, can’t turn down, and can’t skip- their salvation has come in the form of digital signage. This, combined with vast advances in technology usable by advertisers, has created a large network of advertising possibilities that has yet to be reined in by a unified purchasing system.

____From this,  a need for an ad buying platform that spans across various networks within the digital out of home industry is born.  In short, new technology grows too fast for ad sale platforms to keep up, creating voids in industry services that only the most innovative entrepreneurs are courageous enough to fill.

How are people currently trying to solve it? And why is this failing? Advertisers have to go directly through the companies who own the screens in order to have their name and message appear in their networks. This creates a barrier for smaller businesses that may not have the funds to hire a media buyer.  Larger businesses that do have media buyers are forced to contact the companies of each network they want to advertise with.

How can this problem be solved? The industry is calling for an ad buying platform that is comprehensive enough to suit the needs of larger companies with more complicated ad strategies, while having an intuitive interface that allows even small business owners with little or no advertising experience to create an effective and creative advertising campaign.

So, who is trying to fix this? - There are a brave few who have taken on the task of unifying the DOOH industry- and  those who have are truly this industry’s shining star entrepreneurs.  These emerging companies have each taken different standpoints, depending on what services they feel the industry needs most.  PlayMyAd, Inc. based in Irvine, CA, sees accessibility as the industry’s biggest problem and has set out to rectify it through their web services at PlayMyAd.com.

____PlayMyAd’s features- PMA specializes in giving both small and large companies all the tools they need to be successful.  One of the most unique features PMA boasts of is giving businesses the ability to easily make custom campaigns.  Companies choose the ad type, ad length, and campaign length that best suits their needs.  Venue selection is also highly customizable.  Businesses have the ability to make purchases based on location, traffic, demographics, and even average income.  By being able to so accurately select an ad’s audience, advertisers are able to directly communicate with their consumers. PMA also offers full creative services. Companies may recruit PMA Creative Group to create a custom campaign that will effectively deliver any company’s message to their target audience.  This will help smaller businesses who do not have their own creative team, and cannot afford to recruit an ad agency.  With PMA, anyone can advertise successfully.

____PlayMyAd’s goals- PlayMyAd’s mission is to bring digital out of home networks together onto one comprehensive and user-friendly media buying platform.  PMA strives to empower advertisers by providing the right tools to easily plan, purchase, and manage cost-effective advertising campaigns.

____Future of PlayMyAd- PMA is quickly growing and working on expanding its services by bringing together networks in various areas of digital out of home.  Advertisers can now advertise at gas stations, and will soon be able to do so in elevators, at the airport, at the mall, and even above urinals! PMA is the tool all cutting-edge advertisers have been waiting for.

____These services are not just a welcome convenience.  They are necessary to the industry’s success.  If DOOH continues to expand in the magnificent way it has, purchasing ad space from multiple networks will become time consuming.  By uniting the industry’s networks on a single platform, networks and advertisers alike will benefit.  PMA is here to help unite the industry, facilitate ad purchasing, and provide help for companies big and small with their digital out of home advertising needs.

A Closer Look at the Purging Powers of a Recession in the Advertising Industry.

By Denisse Cobian, Communications Specialist

As the old cliché goes, there truly is a silver lining to every sadistic and depressing rain cloud.  It may sound like a cruel joke for those of you suffering from the newly announced 9.5% unemployment rate, but this economic slump will actually provide a much needed purging of many obsolete business practices.  The new economy that emerges will be stronger and more capable of keeping up with the 21^st century’s vast advances.  How am I so confident of this, you ask? Well, dear reader, the fact is that business, like history, repeats itself.

Consider the economic downturn of the 70’s that so much resembles today’s. A study of the 1974-75 recession revealed that companies who did not cut their advertising budgets went on to increase their sales by more than 200% only two years later!  On the other hand, sales from those companies who did cut their advertising budgets had gone up by only 50% in that same time (Warschawski, MediaWeek, August 2008).   This may seem a drastic contrast, but it actually makes perfect sense.

During a recession, while many businesses cut spending, the usual marketing clutter and noise from competitors is minimized.  The resulting market setting leaves those businesses who do continue to advertise with a greater share of voice and a more captive audience.  What many businesses forget is that recession or no recession, consumer behavior is still the same- consumers will continue make purchasing decisions based on brand preferences heavily rooted in advertising.

Advertising is necessary to remind consumers of a brand’s presence in the market, and losing share of mind will drastically affect sales in every industry.  The end result of haphazardly cutting ad spending is losing even more customers than a recession alone would have lost.  Furthermore, once the recession is over, these already faltering companies will be faced with having to spend more time and money in an attempt to regain the consumers they lost.

Flash forward to today.  In an attempt to reduce costs, over 3000 car dealerships have stopped advertising all together- a move which is invariably to their detriment.  I see the same sad and predictable story unfold itself on my drive to work down the 405 every day when I pass 3 empty lots where car dealerships used to be.  Yes, a recession means businesses and advertisers have to tighten their proverbial belts and spend less, but they must also learn to spend smarter to get the same (or better!) results at lower costs.

In this new and fast-evolving 21st century world heralded by the development of technology like the iPhone and Twitter®, advertisers must adapt their budgets and tactics to the shifting expectations of both businesses and consumers.  Savvy marketers are beginning to appreciate the value of highly personal marketing. Now easily accessible through the web of social media networks, more and more companies are lurking in the micro-blogosphere, waiting, listening, and making direct contact with individual consumers.

Twitter, for instance, is the reigning marketing buzz word.  Many businesses currently employ the search feature to look for those users already talking about their company.  The most proactive companies use these mentions (rants or raves) as opportunities to send coupons, free meal vouchers, or simply to thank consumers for their support.  Personal attention delivered to a businesses’  “Tweeps” (Twitter-People) usually results in the ever -coveted “retweet” (RT), AKA free word of mouth marketing.  Other networks, such as Facebook, Myspace, and the highly anticipated Google Wave are also excellent tools for businesses to make personal connections with their valued consumers.

… And herein lays the promised silver lining to our dark cloud.  Our gloomy recession will actually serve the advertising industry by eliminating outdated marketing strategies!  This purging will help reinvigorate the industry and make it collectively stronger once Uncle Sam finds his way out of this financial hole.  Marketing strategies are being put to the ultimate test in a climate where retention and effectiveness are now expected to be proven before a media planner is willing to invest.

Media such as newspapers and magazines that are on a steady decline find themselves pitted against newer nontraditional media like digital signage and especially the infamous internet (which most newspapers are realizing is no longer just a threat, but the Grim Reaper of their print existence).  This, however, is not a reaping of the industry as a whole; it is a weeding of the weak.  All platforms will have to evolve to prove their relevance in the market, or lose their presence in it.

In the calm after the storm, only the most proficient and well adapted marketing and business practices will be left standing.  The new marketplace will be one filled with innovators and free thinkers who will take the advertising industry to levels of creativity and efficiency it has never seen!  Survival of the fittest by any means necessary may seem a callous and borderline Machiavellian take on today’s business challenges, but we must admit that after the recession’s storm has passed, the advertising industry will emerge a stronger beast.

by Denisse Cobian, Communications Specialist

In an increasingly commercial world, it seems that every television station, billboard, bus bench, and newspaper is riddled with advertising claims of newer, bigger, and better everything. As we all know, however, the future is digital- and digital is here! Today, PlayMyAd, Inc. (PMA) has launched the most comprehensive and user-friendly media buying platform in the Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising industry.  In one monumental step, PMA is taking the advertising industry by storm by bringing this cutting-edge advertising medium to the doorstep of all business owners and advertisers.

Although advertising strategies evolve daily with the development of new technologies and networks, PlayMyAd® (PMA) has earned its rightful place as an expert in the biggest emerging trend: the Digital Out of Home medium.  DOOH is a network of high-def screens strategically positioned at consumer’s natural waiting points, and is quickly proving to be the next generation of advertising.

PlayMyAd, Inc. is claiming it’s stake as an industry expert by learning to anticipate the needs of businesses and consumers alike.  The PMA site is intuitive and provides advertisers with all the tools they need to create, manage, and monitor their campaigns nationwide.  Businesses of all trades and sizes can go to PMA’s user-friendly site and purchase ad space on digital screens that will catch consumers’ eyes and attention.

The high resolution digital screens are located at consumers’ daily waiting points including gas stations, where the average person will spend 5-6 minutes filling up their tank.  During these 5-6 minutes, banner and video advertisements are played to an engaged and captive audience.  Most customers actually welcome the ads as a form of entertainment during their wait.  This active willingness to listen is the key to DOOH’s efficiency.  In fact, DOOH advertising is proven to be immensely effective, currently boasting an unprecedented 76% retention rate* with audiences.

At PlayMyAd.com, businesses can easily make a custom campaign by choosing the ad type, ad length, and campaign length that best suits their needs.  Venue selection is also highly customizable, with businesses having the ability to purchase ad space based on location, traffic, demographics, and even average income.  By being able to so accurately select an ad’s audience,  advertisers are able to directly communicate with the most valuable prospective consumers.

With the launch of PMA’s new website, PlayMyAd.com, any businesses can now be a part of the DOOH scene.  Welcome to the new age of marketing, my friends… but bring your sunglasses, because this medium is a shining star sweeping the nation.

*Nielsen/Outcast Survey, 2009