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.

Transit Shelter Advertising

When I first began looking for transit shelter advertisements, advertisements on bus shelters and the back of bus stop seats, I could only find what looks like small billboards on the back to benches.  Though there were some that were more creative than others, none really caught my eye.  Thanks to the World Wide Web, however, I found tons of innovative transit shelter advertisements that are bound to catch  anyone's eye. For example this Coca Cola ad, meant to promote the new Coca-Cola Grip Bottle, is made out of Velcro so it can literally grip people.

Likewise, this advertisement for the Christopher and Dana Reeves Foundation, a foundation devoted to finding treatments and cures for paralysis, makes it look like the people waiting on a bus are sitting in a wheel chair, healing, and walking away.  

Pros and Cons

Transit shelter ads are great choices because:

• Nearly everyone can see them including auto passengers, bicyclist, pedestrians, bus riders and more
• It is a relatively cheap and permanent medium compared to other mediums
• These are environmentally friendly.  They are making an ad out of something that already exists

However some advertisers are reluctant to use them because:

• Some people see them as an eye-sore.  This can give the viewers an "ugly" view of ones company
• These reach a non selective audience
• It is hard to create an ad that really sticks out.  As I mentioned, a lot just look the same.

Personal Selling

When you think of door-to-door salesmen or telemarketers you probably picture them as the supreme evil.  Its true, direct marketing in general used to be very sells orient instead of people-oriented which caused them to come off as pushy, annoying, and at times straight up rude.  But this is not necessarily true anymore.  Companies realize that even one bad salesperson can leave a bad taste in many peoples mouths and companies train salespeople to do better.  They train salespeople to listen more than they talk and try to meet the customers needs.

Personal selling is the interpersonal communication process by which a seller ascertains and then satisfies the needs of a buyer, to the mutual, long-term benefit of both parties.  This means that a salesperson must strive to create a relationship, not just a one-time sell.  While he may not be much of a listener Kenny Brooks, shown below, is quite an entertainer while selling his product.  Even when he asks his customers a question, he does not wait for their answer.  While this still may give Kenny Brooks a one-time sell almost every time, Mr. Brooks learns nothing about his customer and therefore cannot make a better offer for them; however, if you have not seen this video, it is worth a watch.

Pros and Cons

There are reasons companies didn't give up on personal selling when the bad views of salesmen and telemarketers arose including:

• Personal communication is more persuasive than any other medium.  Salespeople can find what potential customers really want and need and offer them a product to help them.  No other medium can do that.
• Feedback is instant.  Personal selling is extremely easy to measure.  It can help a company create a database quicker than any other medium can.
• Once a relationship is established the lifetime value of that customer is locked in.  A customer is more likely to buy a slightly more expensive product from someone that they feel wants to help them and cares about them than off a rack at a store.

So why use any other advertising? Because:

• Personal selling is a costly and time consuming medium.  A trained salesperson must be paid and not all visit or calls are quick.  If they are quick a sell was probably not made.  A relationship cannot be built in 60 seconds.
• Even when given different titles, salespeople are still viewed negatively by many people.

Interesting Facts 

• Everybody sells something in their lifetime.  Rather it is lemonade, a fundraiser, or an actual job, everybody has been or will be a salesperson.
• For many people, salespeople are the face of the company, or even ARE the company.

Magazine Cover Advertisement

The most desirable position for advertising in a magazine is a cover position.  There are actually four different cover positions: the front, the inside front, the inside back, and the back cover. Most magazines do not sell the front cover for advertisement as it is usually where the magazine name and what is in that issue is shown.  With the front cover ruled out the back cover is the most valuable.  It is seen by anyone that picks up the magazine, even if they are just flipping through it.  It usually takes up the entire cover and so there are nothing else competing for attention while looking at this ad.  The ad shown below is advertising Plan B skateboards.  It is shown on the back cover of an issue of The Skateboard Mag and plays on the term "focusing a skateboard" which normally means breaking the board.

Pros and Cons

Magazines are read, or at least flipped through, by a large amount of people.  Advertising in magazines has the following advantages:

• Magazines are in color which give the reader visual pleasure.  The cover is also normally a thicker material with more possibilities.
• Magazines stay around for a lot longer than newspapers.  Even if it is just sitting on a shelf, the back cover can be seen.  This means cover ads may be seen by more than just those who look through a particular magazine.  
• There are a variety of magazine types.  One can really focus in on their industry by region and interest by using magazines.

Magazines, however, also have the following disadvantages:

• Magazine ads aren't likely to follow current events.  This is because they have a long lead time.  They cannot have the immediacy of newspaper or radio.
• Many magazines actually have more ads then content.  While being on a cover helps an advertiser stick out from the competition, there is still a lot of competition in every issue.
• Magazine circulation is declining.  Any reach limitations will be amplified by this decline

Interesting Facts

• The advertisement to ever appear in a magazine was in Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine in the year 1742.
• In an experiment, front cover ads averaged a 78% recall score, far better than any other position.  The back cover average a 69% recall score.

Newspaper Preprinted Inserts

The Sunday papers are famous for them.  They're bright, colorful, and sure to grab your attention. I'm not talking about the Sunday comics.  I'm talking about the plethora or preprinted inserts that come in every Sunday paper around the world, or so it seems.  Preprinted inserts are simply advertisements that the advertiser prints and delivers to the newspaper.  The newspaper then inserts the ads into a specific edition and viewers receive them.  Preprinted inserts include catalogs, brochures, mail-back devices, and perforated coupons.  In the week leading to Black Friday nearly every major retailer will send out a preprinted insert.  Best Buy is especially known for great Black Friday deals and preprinted inserts, like the one shown below, are an excellent medium for showing what deals they have this year.

This years Black Friday preprinted insert ad from Best Buy

Pros and Cons

Preprinted inserts are great for more than just Black Friday because:

• They can be used to target potential customers close to the business.  They can do this because many newspapers allow advertisers to limit their inserts to specific circulation zones.  
• It is generally more cost efficient than direct mail.
• Newspapers are the third-largest medium and over half of adults read the Sunday paper.  This means your ad is likely to be seen by a large number of people. 

Of course there are shortcomings too such as:

• While one can limit their ads to only those close to their business, they can not target by socioeconomic groups.  Newspapers are delivered to a variety of people, unlike magazines newspapers generally try to appeal to everyone.
• If people receive a daily newspaper, chances are they through out yesterdays paper as soon as today's come in.  This means a preprinted inserts life may be extremely short.
• Some people receive multiple newspapers in one day.  Advertisers may be paying to show the same person the same advertisement twice.

Interesting Facts

• Small stickers on the front page of newspapers are becoming a popular way to advertise.  These stickers usually double as coupons and cost about $50 per thousand applied. 
• While newspapers are still one of the top ranked mediums, newspaper advertising is falling and online newspaper advertising is increasing

Classified Ad Web Sites

When shopping for a used car to looking for a new dog it would seem crazy not to check popular classified ad Web sites such as Craigslist or SuperAds. Many classified ad Web sites offer free advertising for businesses and individuals.  While their format is very similar to what can be found in a newspaper, these Web sites can offer more.  Because many are free, users can include many pictures and as much or as little information as they wish.  Any and everything can be advertised on these sites.  The Jonesboro Craiglist site, shown below, has people selling everything from RVs and boats to toys that are selling for $10.  These sites are even being used as alternatives to online dating websites.  Craigslist also has a discussion forum section were individuals can ask for advice, question others, or simply look for a good joke.

Pros and Cons

Craigslist and similar sites have many benefits including:

• Anything and anyone can post an ad on a classified as Web site.  These pages are easy to create and easy to navigate
• Those who find your ad will already be looking for such a product so there is a high number of sales compared to impressions
• One can find products in there area easily
• Many are free to create a listing

However there are also cons to advertising on such a site:

• There is no way to prove one is who they say they are without meeting with a costumer.  This causes skepticism on particularly good deals or listings that aren't well made
• With others listing their products for free, ones ad can be buried and lost
• It is hard to reach those who are not already searching for a product like yours

Banner Internet Advertisements

While internet advertising is still young, it is hard to get online without noticing at least a couple ads.  One of the main ways advertisers reach potential costumers online is through the use of banner advertisements.  These ads look like a billboard at the top or bottom of the Web page.  When a banner ad is clicked on it will usually take you to the advertisers website.

YouTube is always a great site to check if you are looking for a banner ad.  YouTube has a new banner ad nearly every day and that ad will stay there the entire day.  For example, on YouTube's homepage today, shown above, they ran an ad for a 2014 Chevrolet Traverse.  The ad can be more than just words and pictures, YouTube commonly has movement in the ad along with a video (that is hosted by YouTube) that viewers can click on and get sound to play with their ad.  In this and other ways YouTube ads are commonly very interactive.  In today's banner ad, one can scan over a "friend" to see them wave.  Once a friend is clicked on an ad showing off one of the vehicles features will play.  Some of these ads have further interactivity such as picking the music that is playing.  

Pros and Cons

Banner ads are great attention-grabbers as they are large and can have movement.  They can be bought for a variety of prices depending on the number and type of visitor that the site regularly receives making them good buy for small as well as large advertisers.  According to Nielson banner ads are very effective, in fact they are 1.5x more effective at raising product awareness compared to direct mail. It is easy to track an ads effectiveness by watching the click-through rate.

However some banner ads come off as annoying.  As stated previously internet advertising is young, advertisers are trying to find the balance between an ad being noticeable and it being disruptive. If you are paying per impression, it may not be reliable.  Just because someone viewed a page does not mean they saw your ad.  It could not load or just be too far down the page that the viewer did not see it.  

Interesting Facts

• According to a Dynamic Logic MarketNorms study 75% of viewers remember a brand after viewing a banner ad. 
• The industry average click through rate is only .1% which is much lower than most people would expect.

TV Product Placement

Not all advertising on television is done during the commercial break, much is also done during the actual program.  In AMC's hit series The Walking Dead, a new Hyundai Tucson is often the vehicle of choice when leaving base to get supplies.  The camera often gives the vehicle a good look before the crew takes off in it.  Another great example of TV product placement occurs in NBC's The Office.  The office is often decorated with goods from Staples in early seasons.  In one episode Kevin, a large, slow working man, shows off a Staples Mailmate shredder.  He shows the power of this shredder to get the job done.  He even makes a "salad" with this shredder, as shown in the link below.

The Office Staples Mailmate Product Placement

AT&T was the brand with the most TV product placements in 2009 but many other brands were seen plenty such as Coca-cola who had 319 appearances and Ford who had 251 appearances.  Some shows are particularly willing to allow product placement.  The top shows with product placement include The Jay Leno Show with over 1,000 product placements in 2009, The Biggest Loser with 704, and American Idol with 553 occurrences.  It seems that reality-based shows are most likely to feature product placement.

Pros and Cons

TV product placement can be a very successful way of showing off a product without audiences feeling they are trying to be manipulated or feeling they are having a product shoved down their throats.  TV product placements are also good because:

• Less viewers are watching commercials.  Many with DVR's simply fast forward through commercials.  TV product placement at least ensures an advertisers product will be seen, even if the viewer does not see it as an advertisement.  
• Products can be linked to peoples favorite characters.  People may see a product in a store, remember their favorite character uses it, and decide to try it for themselves.  

Of course there are drawbacks to investing in TV product placement such as:

• The advertisement is limited to viewers who are watching that particular episode of that particular program and actually watching at that particular part of the program.
• It is hard to measure the return on investment in such advertisements.

Interesting Facts

• TV product placement, sometimes referred to as "product integration", is a quickly growing medium.  According to Nielsen TV product placement grew 39% in 2008, a rate much higher than that of growth for regular TV commercials.  
• Many advertisers use a combination of TV product placement and regular commercials, even during one program.

TV Commercials

When you ask someone what their favorite advertisement is, chances are they will first list off their favorite TV commercials.  TV commercials are a big deal to a lot of people.  Every year I hear people state that the only reason they watch the super bowl is for the commercials and advertisers realize this.  A 30-second advertisement to air during the Super Bowl costs $4 million, yet large companies are happy to pay this for their ad to be seen by the over 100 million viewers that the Super Bowl attracts.  Most years multiple commercials that air during the Super Bowl are remembered.  One of my favorites is the GoPro Dubstep Baby commercial that aired at Super Bowl XLVII (2013).  This commercial, shown below, shows off the GoPro cameras capabilities by attaching it to a baby who is thrown in the air creating quite an entertaining visual.  

Pros and Cons

Beside the mass coverage that TV commercials can reach there are a few perks of TV commercials

• They have a relatively low cost per exposure
• Advertisers can request when and with what programs they want their commercial to air and ,in this way, can target potential costumers more easily
• They have the potential to be as creative as one wants them to be
• They can have great impact.  No other medium can show and demonstrate how a product works and its uses like TV can

Of course TV commercials also have a few cons

• The initial production cost of the typical TV commercial is very high, sometimes costing over $1 million.
• A 30 second commercial is not always enough to make a consumer remember your product
• A lot goes on during one TV program including the show, credits, possible news interruptions, and others commercials.  It is heard for ones commercial to be heard with so much going on.
• Viewers using a DVR can simply fast forward over commercials.

Buying Television Time

When buying television time, companies typically look at the cost per rating point (calculated by dividing the cost by the rating) or the cost per thousand (calculated by dividing the cost by the amount of thousands of people).  Prices are normally negotiable.  One common way of getting a better price is taking advantage of a preemption rate.  A preemption rate simply states that if another advertiser pays a higher rate then the original advertiser will get bumped.  Other ways of negotiation include working out a package deal or accepting run-of-schedule positioning.