TEXT C Had enough elevator music
Make way for elevator advertising; and, for that matter, advertising in mall
food courts, offices, hotel lobbies and at grocery store checkout
counters: A growing number of marketers are using digital
technology to push their advertising messages on high-definition video screens
in venues where consumers gather. One pundit has dubbed the
growing business of reaching consumers when they’re outside of the home as the
"outernet". These advertising networks typically blend commercial messages with
news, sports, and weather feeds supplied by major media companies.
The flurry of out-of-home advertising is spreading to convenience stores,
grocery store checkout counters and elevators in office buildings.
The outernet industry is pitching itself to advertisers that are
frustrated with the high cost of traditional media and the never-ending search
for advertising outlets that work. "It’s a very chaotic
advertising market right how, and that chaos tends to work for us," said Charlie
Nooney, chief executive of San Francisco-based Premier Retail Networks Inc,
which sends advertising into shops operated by Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Best Buy
Inc. Wireless technology can push advertising "anywhere you
want, in trains or in cable cars at ski resorts," said Nancy Jackson, a vice
president with Westford, Massachusetts-based Captivate Network Inc in the
US. The screen ads account for a tiny sliver of the US$5.3
billion outdoor advertising industry. But as the cost of digital technology
drops, screens that show television-like commercials are expected to make
inroads in the category. The industry operates on a simple
principle: Find out where consumers are gathering and put a screen in their
faces. Industry players want your free time, whether it’s a 20-second
elevator ride at work or a two-minute wait to pay for your groceries. Messages
are tailored to fit into the available window; some of the advertising pitches
run 10 seconds or less. "If you are standing in line waiting for
a Big Mac and fries, you’ve got nothing else to do," said Tracy Crocker,
president of Next Generation Network, which is installing advertising screens in
7-Elevens. "And you’re going to remember those commercials more than the ones
you see sitting around at home watching your favourite TV show because there are
no distractions." Although the sector often is lumped in with
billboards and other out-of-home advertising options, industry players say their
screens are a close cousin of cable television because the systems promise to
deliver specific demographics rather than the broad audience a well-placed
billboard attracts. Captivate Network, for example, focuses on
elevators and lobbies of high-rise office buildings that are home to high income
executives. Technology advances that continue to cut the costs
of installing screens and transmit ting content and advertising are at the core
of the new advertising medium. Captivate Network uses wireless local-area
networks in elevator shafts to send content and advertising onto flat-panel
screens mounted in elevators. In the late 1990s, the system required complicated
wiring for each car, an expensive and time-consuming process.
The new technologies remove barriers that have kept advertisers from
reaching, say, commuter train passengers, said Captivate Network executive
Jackson. Initial market research suggests that consumers are
more apt to see the electronic displays than traditional, static advertising.
Premier Retail Networks last year unveiled a Nielsen Media Research study
suggesting that customer recall for outernet advertising shown on screens inside
Wal-Mart locations surpasses rate for similar advertising shown on
television. Which of the following about the outernet is NOT true
A.It refers to such outdoor advertising as elevator advertising and billboards. B.It is now less expensive and time-consuming than the traditional media. C.It benefits a lot from technology advances. D.It will become more and more popular as an advertising outlet.