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BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS
Digital PlacesWednesday, January 20, 2010 With the focus lately on how media companies will be or are moving into the digital space and make money selling ads and subscriptions, it is easy to overlook the fact that consumers young and old are making those choices faster than we can decide on what to offer. For many years, the talk among publishers and circulation directors has been about shelf and rack levels and checkout positions. Magazines also offered similar positions to advertisers as part of their merchandising offerings. One could see examples at airports and train stations in the form of the old Newsweek, Time and Forbes ads that integrated logos from their in-book advertisers. When I was selling ads at Omni magazine we also offered a similar program for packaged goods advertisers that sometimes helped to sell big schedules in the magazine. Of course everyone knows the value of shelf talkers and in-store signage, but the smart phone explosion has spawned a better mousetrap that has immeasurable implications for media companies. “LBA” is the 2010 (or 2009, really) version of place based ads. Location based ads allows retailers (or circulation directors) to reach consumers on their phones when they are in the proximity of one of their store locations. The consumer will receive a message telling them that “the Target store at the North End of Anymall USA has those shoes in stock that they have been looking for and they are on sale for 25% off.” Of course this would be based on a double opt-in process, etc., but the media company that acquires or employs one of these companies would have a great tool to bring to advertisers in this time of decisive change. A little digital reminder to pick up the latest copy of Vogue or Cosmo as you drive or walk up to your favorite mall could shore up newsstands across the globe or in a weak sales region of the country. Another revolutionary marriage of something we have seen in retail for years and we use everyday -- barcodes and cell phones -- is here and ready to roll. There is an explosion of companies such as Red Laser, Pic2Shop, Snap Tell and Barcode Reader that provide apps you can download (mostly free) to your iPhone and Droid (and soon Blackberry) that will allow you to scan barcodes. It works by reading the barcodes and transmitting the data to their databases. These companies will then transmit price comparisons and other information to the shopper. This weapon of mass consumption will arm shoppers with tools to make smarter shopping decisions in real time at the supermarket or auto parts stores. There are many other apps here or coming soon that take this to the next step. One that struck me as being poignant in this time of green and social change is Good Guide. Good Guide uses the aforementioned bar code scanning technology, but takes it a step further by allowing you to retrieve ratings information about products on your smart phone. They provide ratings in various categories on a scale of 1 to 10. The categories include health, social, environmental and others. The data is based on public and company provided information. If you want to zero in on health data, it would be able to tell you how Folger’s coffee rates with cancer or weight gain risks and also how Folger’s social programs rate. Imagine scanning a can of Castrol Motor Oil to see its carbon footprint rating? Soon the consumers of all of our major advertisers will be able to easily do all of the above and more. Can you imagine, the Health Category Scanner Category sponsored by Dole or Pfizer? In the late 1990s I remember meeting with the media director of one of the big three in Detroit. She told me that her company did not see any value in allocating budgets to the Internet and did not see it in the foreseeable future. Minsider columnist Paul DeBraccio is CEO of Interevco. If you have breaking news to share please contact Steve Smith at ssmith@accessintel.com
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