Taxicab exterior advertising

Go to New York City and you will be surrounded by taxis, naturally advertisers have used these as an advertising medium.  Taxicab exterior advertising normally consists of an two-sided poster sign that is placed on the roof of the taxi and then illuminated.  These are normally bought for periods of 30 days.  Pictured below is an effective taxicab exterior advertisement from Ray-Ban.  The advertisement features a unique color-scheme in order to catch ones attention and then reads "Never Hide".  This ad implies that when a person wheres Ray-Bans they will be the center of attention.

Pros and Cons

Taxicab exterior advertising is a unique form of transit advertising.  Advertisers use it because:

• It is extremely cost-effective.  For 30 days the average cost is only $100 to $200 with prices raising to $400 in New York City.
• Taxicabs are mobile.  An ad can have extraordinary reach because it will be at different parts of town throughout the day.  Chances are it will end up in the busiest parts of town.
• Viewers may remember the taxi they rode in by the ad on top of it.  This will help with customers remembering your ad.

Advertisers don't use taxicab exterior advertising because:

• Not all places have heavy taxicab usage.  Even if a town has a few taxis that travel by appointment only, ads will not be seen as often as they could be in other venues.  It does not make sense to pay for an ad on a taxi that does not go to the city where an advertisers product is sold.
• In large cities like New York City there are thousands of taxis.  This creates clutter.  Most signs are very similar.  An advertiser must be very creative to make their advertisement stand out.

Interesting Facts

• Advertising space on taxi hubcaps are now being sold as an alternative to traditional taxicab exterior advertising.
• According to New York's transportation Web site, there are well over 10,000 taxis that service New York City.

E-mail Advertising

E-mail advertising is a hybrid advertising.  It is a combination of Internet advertising and direct-mail advertising.  It is a form of Internet advertising for the obvious reason that it is accessed using the Internet.  It has many similarities to direct-mail advertising.  People checking their e-mail often get frustrated with spam, the electronic version of junk mail.  For this reason most advertisers only send e-mail to those who have requested it.  Like direct mail, E-mail normally tells a reader where to go to make a purchase, but readers can not purchase directly through e-mail.  E-mail advertising usually contains a link to the advertised sale, product, or simply the advertisers Web site.  Direct-mail advertisements commonly list several store locations along with a Web address for those that wish to shop online.  Amazon.com is a big believer in E-mail advertising.  Amazon.com sends out E-mail suggestions for recent customers daily.   One such E-mail advertising their Cyber Monday deals in TV, video, and audio is pictured below.

Pros and Cons

E-mail advertising is favored because:

• Direct-mail advertising has always been an extremely effective medium; however, in the past it was also very costly.  E-mail, on the other hand, is very cheap but still effective like direct-mail advertising.
• E-mail marketing can turn into viral marketing, the Internet version of word of mouth.  This further lowers the cost of advertising, gives E-mail a massive reach, and can improve its effectiveness.
• If an individual has purchased from your site, or even viewed items on your site, you can target their interest through E-mail advertising.  Some sites will even send reminder E-mails if a potential customer leaves an item in their online shopping cart.

The problems with E-mail advertising include:

• Sometimes E-mail, even when requested, will be sent straight to a recipients spam folder.  If it does then it may never be seen.  
• It is difficult to find the right balance of E-mail.  If a recipient receives E-mail from a company too often they will get annoyed and unsubscribe; however, if a recipient hardly receives E-mail they may not know about promotions that they would have been interested in.

Interesting Facts

• Approximately 50% of advertisers use animated gifs in their E-mail campaigns.  This is considered rich mail.  Rich mail allows graphics, video, and audio to be included in E-mail.
• For every dollar that is spent on E-mail advertising, on average, $44.25 is the return on the investment. 
• There are currently 3.6 billion E-mail accounts and this number is rising.  

Catalogs

Want to know everything a store has without going to the store? Want to order an item offline but want to be able to circle and compare products easily?  Get a catalog! Catalogs are reference books that list, describe, and often picture the products sold by a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer.  Catalogs can be ordered or may be delivered to recent customers.  Around 13 billion catalogs are mailed each year.  This number is actually falling do to rising postage prices.  CCS is a company that sells skateboard and snowboard goods along with clothing.  CCS sends out a monthly catalog to subscribers.  Like many advertisers, CCS recently added editorial content such as interviews with professional skateboarders and snowboarders along with pictures of skateboard and snowboard tricks.

Pros and Cons

Despite rising postage costs, advertisers keep sending catalogs because:

• People like to look and circle products they like.  Normally they can then order by mail, the internet, or by phone.
• Catalogs include much more information than any other for of direct-mail advertising.
• There are no competing ads when direct-mail advertising is used.

However there are more problems with catalogs then the rising cost including:

• The postal service has no delivery commitments on third class mail.  Up to 10 percent of mail goes undelivered because people move addresses.  
• Some people see all direct-mail advertising as junk mail and immediately through it away. 
• Many people want to touch or try on products before they buy them.  Catalogs can only be visual.

Interesting Facts

• Some catalogs are being converted to DVD format.  These are environmentally friendly and reduce printing and mailing costs; however, it takes away the possibility of individuals to circle and compare products like they can with traditional catalogs.
• According to MediaMark, 49 percent of Americans order from catalogs.

Newspaper Display Advertising

Newspaper ads are more than preprinted inserts.  The most common kind of ads, display ads, are printed in part of every newspaper section.  Display advertising consists of copy, photos, illustrations, coupons, headlines, and other visual content.  The Wall Street Market is heavy on display advertisements from watch companies, designer brands, and financial institutions.  This particular issue of WSJ had an ad for the Kindle Paper in the "Review" section.  It is wisely places directly about a list of best-selling books.

Pros and Cons

Advertisers commonly use display advertising because:

• Because newspaper cover a lot of subjects, a lot of people read newspapers.  This increases the reach of an ad.
• Newspaper is an active medium.  They may clip and save or circle ads they like.
• Generally provide geographic selectivity.

But some advertisers shy away from display advertising because:

• They have low production quality.  Even preprinted inserts can be much higher quality.
• Advertisers normally cannot control where an ad is placed without paying an additional fee.
• Newspapers cover one day of news.  After that day they are usually thrown away.

Outdoor Advertising

When most people think of outdoor advertise, they only think of billboards.  Billboards are a very important medium, but they are not the only form of outdoor advertising.  Outdoor advertising includes billboards, spectaculars, posters on buildings, and basically anything that has a companies name on it and is outdoors. McDonald's has a creative breakfast advertisement at one of their locations.  This location is simply and egg during the day and at night; however, during the hours when McDonald's sells breakfast the mechanical egg breaks open and the yolk reads "Fresh Eggs Daily".  Not only does this let people know that McDonald's is serving breakfast at that time, it reminds them that it will be fresh.

Pros and Cons

There are reasons that billboards decorate the highway, especially around large cities.  These include:

• The reach of outdoor advertising is one of the highest at 86 percent.
• Outdoor advertisements can be places nearly anywhere giving them great geographic flexibility.
• Since people going one way must normally return the same way, or will be going that way the soon again, outdoor advertising has a high frequency.

The problems with outdoor advertising include:

• Customers pass by quickly.  A message must be short or it will not all be read.
• They are influenced by the environment.  If a billboard is in a rundown part of town, it may not be as effective as one around nice, new buildings.
• Some people do not like outdoor advertising in general and will think negatively about advertisers who use such a medium.  

Interesting Facts

• Mobile phone carriers seem to value outdoor advertising.  In 2009 both Verizon and AT&T were in the top 3 biggest spenders on outdoor advertisement, only seperated by McDonald's
• Billboards are sold using 100 gross rating points daily, or 100 showing.  One rating point equals one percent of the target market's population.

Radio Advertising

On average, 93% of the U.S. population listens to the radio at least once a week and 71% of the U.S. population listens to the radio daily.  This makes radio an extremely important medium for advertising.  Radio is everywhere.  It is used as peoples alarms, in the car, at the gym, even at work or while studying.  So how do advertisers make their ad catch listeners attention?  One successful way is to model radio commercials on TV commercials.  If an advertiser can get a listener to imagine or replay what they hear in their head, they are more likely to remember a commercial.  This is referred to as imagery transfer.  Advertisers target specific groups of people by advertising choosing the programming format, such as country, rock, contemporary listening, that they want their ad to be played with.  Typically you can narrow down the age of the listeners by looking at the programming format.  One of my favorite radio ads is the Jimmy John's "Fire" ad simply because it is clever and funny.  In this commercial a man calls Jimmy John's multiple times to help put out a fire and all Jimmy John's workers arrive before the fire department.  This ad comically advertises Jimmy John's "Freaky Fast Delivery".

Pros and Cons

Radio is important for more reasons than its large audience including:

• Cost efficiency
• Local relevance
• Most listeners here an ad multiple times.  This helps them remember an advertiser

The downside to radio inludes:

• Radio is only verbal.  Nothing can be seen, felt, or smelt when using radio advertising.
• Normally when the radio is on, it isn't the listeners primary focus.  Listeners may be focused on driving, working out, or work.  This makes it hard for advertisers to be heard.
• Radio stations normally play commercials in chunks.  This means clutter is created.  An advertiser must find a way to stick out from other ads.

Buying Radio Time

Rates for advertising are based on the time of the day as more listeners have the radio on during certain parts of the day, such as drive times.  Lower rates may be obtained by letting the radio station chose when to play ones ads (run-of-station) or by buying a package plan that guarantees good time (total audience plan).

Specialty Advertising

Free stuff?! Who doesn't love free stuff? Free stuff is exactly what specialty advertising is.  Advertising specialty is defined by the Promotional Product Association International as a promotional product, usually imprinted with an advertiser's name, message, or logo, that is distributed free as part of a marketing communications program.  This includes everything from ballpoint pens, to t-shirts (the most common specialty advertising product), to coffee mugs.  In fact there are over 15,000 different specialty items.  Really anything can be a specialty item as long as an advertiser identifies themselves with it and, of course, it is given away free.  At college the community fair is a great place to receive specialty items.  For example, this year I received a free cup from Gearhead Outfitters, pictured below, along with a few ballpoint pins, a bag, and a fan.

Pros and Cons

For most people receiving them, specialty items are their favorite form of advertising.  Companies like using specialty items because:

• They are effective at changing peoples perception of a business.
• They are likely to stay around giving them some permanence.  Much better than a one time ad in a newspaper that is quickly thrown away.
• They work! 90% of recipients can recall the name of a business that gave them a specialty item in the last 24 months.

Specialty advertising seems great, but no advertising medium is perfect.  The drawbacks of specialty advertising include:

• It is expensive.  Even ballpoint pens, while cheap individually, add up.  A specialty item such as a ballpoint pen is likely to only be seen by the recipient and very few others. T-shirts, however, may be seen by more people but also cost more to make.  
• It is time-consuming.  Someone must hand out every single specialty item.  They cannot just leave a box sitting somewhere and hope people pick up the item and have a positive response.  
• These items are normally given out at trade shows and similar events.  One must make their product standout.  If a person receives 20 ballpoint pens, chances are they will not think differently about any of the advertisers that gave them out.

Interesting Facts

• While wearables and writing utensils, as expected, are the most common specialty items, other contenders for most common items are calenders and desk accessories.
• Research has shown that the price of the specialty item does not have much an impact on if the recipient will buy from a business or not.  Most see free stuff as free stuff, regardless of its value.