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.