Innovation puts outdoor media back on the map

Outdoor media is shedding its daggy reputation as it evolves from the humble billboard to a new marketing phenomenon labelled “place-based” media, NewYorkTimes.com reports.

Outdoor media is shedding its daggy reputation as it evolves from the humble billboard to a new marketing phenomenon labelled “place-based” media, NewYorkTimes.com reports.

The main change has been in the proliferation of locations external advertising can be placed. Once limited to traffic heavy walls and overpasses, space in airports, offices, malls, schools and health clubs is increasingly being exploited to better target consumers.

Another emerging place-based advertising platform are the security scanners pedestals that stand at the entry way to many stores. The goal is to engage consumers “during the course of their daily lives in places they go on a frequent basis,” according to Rick Sirvaitis, president of StoreBoard Media, a New York company that specialises in the ads.

Another clever outdoor media promotion being run in the US involves playing on the coming presidential election. General Growth Properties, which owns shopping centres in the US, plans to set up mock polling places where kids aged 13 to 17 can cast their own pretend vote for Obama or McCain.

The novelty value has attracted a range of advertisers who want to get in front of the eyeballs of Gen-Y/Z kids in the apparel, snack food and publishing sectors.