News and insights from Admedia

Talking Posters on MSA's

2007-09-20T16:18:00.000+01:00

Admedia roll out ‘talking’ posters on the UK’s motorways

Admedia has extended its network of movement-activated ‘talking’ washroom posters across Motorway Services nationally, as a result of increased demand from key advertiser categories.

‘Talking’ Posters have been proven to further heighten audience receptiveness to washroom campaigns and feature an ‘audio logo’, soundtrack or voiceover on a motion-activated thirty-second sound chip. A TV or Radio creative is generally utilised and has been proven to increase brand saliency and stimulate conversation within venues.

Brands using talking frames over the last few months include Die Hard 4, Max Factor, Nivea for Men, Rocky Balboa and Wonderbra.

Talking Posters have previously only been available across Admedia’s Bar, Pub & Club network of 1000 venues - designed to capture the attention of 18-34 socialisers. The new motorway location is expected to attract increased spend from film and motoring categories among others.

Admedia provides coverage of every one of the 131 Motorway Services in the UK reaching 24 million visitors every 2 weeks with washroom and 6 sheet media. Today’s Motorway Services cater for demands of the modern consumer with a range of branded retail and food retailers including WH Smith, Starbucks and M&S Simply Food. Operators include Moto, Road Chef and Welcome Break.

Die Hard 4.0 brings the action to washrooms

2007-07-12T11:05:00.000+01:00

Twentieth Century Fox launched a nationwide campaign in Admedia’s bar network to promote the release of Die Hard 4.0.

The campaign features Male washroom posters across 400 bars and 300 talking posters. 500,000 beer mats and ‘Die hard rulebooks’ are being distributed in the bar environment.

Listen to the talking poster

Beer mats front & back:

Die Hard booklet excerpt:

The campaign will reach an estimated 1.7 million males.

Die hard 4.0 sees Bruce Willis reprising his role as John McClane. He teams up with Justin Long, who plays a young hacker. The two men face off a gang of virtual terrorists.

Raymond Snoddy on media

2007-07-05T14:58:00.000+01:00

Raymond Snoddy described washroom advertising as one of the greatest mediums of the past 20 years, in a recent article in Marketing magazine. He invisages washroom posters as having a vibrant future in the age of engagement.

Read his article.

Wonderbra plunge into top UK clubs

2007-05-21T14:51:00.000+01:00

Wonderbra has launched a national indoor advertising campaign for its ‘Multi Plunge’ bra across the UK’s biggest nightclubs and style bars. 75 Luminar venues including 10 Oceana mega-clubs will host the activity, which runs through May and June and is estimated to reach 500,000 female clubbers. The Luminar Group is the UK's leading operator of late night venues.

The activity marks the first time the brand has ventured in to the late-night venue environment. The campaign, coordinated by Admedia, has been planned by MPG with creative by Publicis. Using washroom posters with a tear-off response mechanism, branded tissue coaster, mirror and door stickers and branded bar-staff t-shirts the campaign will feature the strap line “BANISH VBS (Visible Bra Straps)”.

The Wonderbra activity follows increased investment in washroom and late-night venue media as a way of reaching young, fashionable female socialisers. Other female-focused brands recently using washrooms include Nivea, Pretty Polly, Unilever Personal Care, Max Factor and Sloggi.
Admedia launched a new integrated campaign package in January 2007 specifically for cosmetics, toiletries and fashion brands and has invested over £100k in research to assure advertisers of the effectiveness and relevance of the washroom format, which reaches over 3.3 million females in 4 weeks at Admedia-controlled venues.

Philip Vecht's response in Mediaweek

2007-05-09T17:50:00.000+01:00

Philip Vecht, CEO of Admedia, recently responded to MediaWeek's article on succesful niche players:

"May I congratulate you on the Outdoor feature highlighting the importance of 'niche' players. At a time when the buzz seems to be almost exclusively focussed on the emergence of digital opportunities, these engaging and highly relevant niche media platforms are still very much responsible for driving innovation in the sector - delivering a level of audience penetration that digital cannot yet achieve.

I'd like to agree with your view that most 'niche' outdoor media performs most effectively in situations where it can truly engage with audiences at a moment when they are static and looking for some visual stimulation.

Although we can now hardly call ourselves a 'niche' player with over 25,000 washroom displays across over 2,000 leading leisure and entertainment environments (Shopping Centres, Bars and Clubs, Motorway Service Areas and Private Health Clubs) when we established the then 'ambient' washroom format the premise and the attraction to advertisers was that invaluable engagement factor.

10 years on we continue to see new advertisers coming onto washroom format seeking a greater level of message engagement, penetration of specific audiences and being 'in the right place at the right time'.
For example we have already seen a 500% increase in film advertising this year to date now that films distributors have wised up to the fact the cinemagoers also love going to bars and night clubs. Additionally our ‘talking posters’ have given some releases massive PR value. Similarly cosmetics and toiletries brands targeting young fashionable females now feature in washrooms on a continuous basis. We now attract repeat investment across all major advertising categories.

Our mission is to get brands seen 'in the right place at the right time' and in the process of doing so we reach over 40 million consumers with our medium on a monthly basis - as well as offering many other ways of engaging with distinct consumer audiences.

We have proven that, with time and an appropriate and consistent investment in audience and effectiveness research, successful niche players have the opportunity to be regarded as a standard format with great potential to attract new advertisers to the outdoor sector."

Philip Vecht
Joint Chief Executive
Admedia

Wild Hogs goes nationwide

2007-03-29T10:54:00.000+01:00

(scroll down to see the trailer, a movie highlight and some bloopers on set.)

BVI has booked a nationwide campaign with Admedia promoting the release of their latest feature film: Wild Hogs. The film will be advertised on Admedia 6-sheets and A3 washroom panels from the 26 of March till the 8th of April, and will be seen by approximately 27,625,000 individuals. The campaign was booked through Carat and Posterscope.

Wild Hogs film summary:

Wild Hogs follows the lives of Woody Stevens (John Travolta), Doug Madsen (Tim Allen), Bobby Davis (Martin Lawrence) and Dudley Frank (William H. Macy). They are four successful middle-aged suburban men who find themselves frustrated with the pace of life, and have recently come to experience a crisis.
Woody finds his marriage ending and subsequently goes bankrupt. Doug is a dentist who cannot connect with his son. Bobby is a plumber who’s under his wife’s thumb.

The four men’s collective hobby as younger men was to ride their motorbikes around the city. They even had leather jackets with their biker names: “Wild Hogs”, stitched on it.

Woody persuades his friends to embark on a cross-country road trip, and soon the men wind up from one embarrassing adventure into another, knocking some sense back into the men.

Film highlight 01:

The four men decide to seize life by… going skinny dipping. Their moment of ‘young boys’ glory soon gets interrupted by a family who joins them in the pond. When the family discover the four men are naked, they get uncomfortable and leave immediately. To compound their predicament, a gay policeman (John C McGinley) decides to strip and join the four men, showing sexual interest in the ‘daredevils.’

Trailer

Film highlight 02:

Bloopers

Stark naked warning

2007-03-13T12:13:00.000Z

Bikers who fail to wear protective clothing are warned today that they might as well ride naked. Last year, 44 riders of motorbikes, mopeds and scooters were killed and 801 were seriously injured in London. Experts say many would have suffered less severe injuries if they had been properly dressed.

The Right Gear campaign is currently advertising this and other posters in Admedia's pubs, clubs and shopping centres. The campaign is accompanied by talking posters. Click here for the audio-creative.

The campaign was booked though The Dynamic Advertising Group for a joint initiative from London local councils.

Download the creative: rightgear.pdf

visit rightgearlondon.com

Lucozade gets its edge back

2007-03-06T14:34:00.000Z

Lucozade Energy is launching an 8.25m marketing campaign to help ‘Britons get their edge back’.

The campaign will include TV ads and a roadshow that will visit workplaces and Admedia’s motorway service stations, where a targeted campaign will run on both 6-sheets and washrooms.

A website – http://www.lucozade.com/energy/ – will feature people who have ‘lost’ their edge.
Shoppers that send in their stories could win £10000 and a role in a Lucozade Energy advert.

Tesco go national with direct response

2007-03-05T16:43:00.000Z

Tesco has launched a national direct response advertising campaign for its car insurance product targeted at 2+ cars per home motorists - using every Motorway Service Area across the UK.

Using 6-sheets at entrances and exits coupled with washroom displays featuring 'Direct Response Tear-Offs' Admedia estimates that 14 million potential customers will be exposed to the Tesco campaign during March.

In addition 120,000 post-it note size cards featuring the response mechanism will taken away by motorists over the period an are expected to generate a considerable increase in enquiries both online and by phone.

Admedia's direct response media has been used for a wide range of direct response activities including Admiral Insurance, 192.com and QXL.com with comprehensively proven success.

Click for the OAA follow up article

The Hills Have Eyes talking poster

2007-02-26T11:05:00.000Z

GEN has launched a talking poster campaign for ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2' across Admedia’s bar network. On entering the washroom the visitors are greeted with a chilling scream followed by the hissing of a cannibalistic mutant. The talking posters are sure to become a conversation topic nationwide.

The Hills Have Eyes 2 features the slow demise of a group of soldiers acting upon a distress signal sent from the same hills the Carter family found their cruel end. Soon they fall prey to the cannibalistic mutants, but this time there is another, far more sinister force occupying the hills that seeks the platoon’s destruction.

The Talking poster campaign will run from the 26 th of Feb until the 25 th of March and is projected to send a chill through the bones of 750.000 18-34 year old males, with the overall washroom campaign is estimated to deliver 8.75 million impacts.

download the poster pdf
download the audio creative as a ringtone

Film distributors choose washrooms.

2007-02-20T17:57:00.000Z

We've been saying it for years: washroom posters are the ideal medium for film releases. Now, the film industry is starting to really reap the benefits of this very sociable and relevant media choice. Gender targeted and reaching the core cinema going audience of 18-34’s, they offer extensive national coverage but most importantly exposure in the right environment.

The most interactive media about

Washroom posters offer a highly cost-effective way to get the word out, with many add-ons, such as talking posters (with a sound clip up to 30 seconds); the ability to download clips and interactive materials to your mobile phone and sticker-creatives that tell a story. The campaign can be further extended into the bar environment where your audience can interact with beer glass creatives, beer mats and competitions carried out through scratch card or DJ participation. Admedia’s Direct Response tear-offs can then further invite your audience to interact with your release online.

So, who’s hot?
After the recent successes of the Rocky and Borat washroom posters, other releases have joined the ranks:

Notes on a scandal sprouts the controversial story of a female teacher at a London comprehensive school who begins an affair with one of her underage pupils. The campaign was booked through GEN for Twentieth Century Fox.

In The number 23 Jim Carrey is reading a book that seems to be based on his past and future life. His obsession with the number 23 leads to paranoia as his life slowly drifts into a horror story. The campaign was booked through agency Mediacom and Specialist Kinetic for EFD.

Goal 2 features the second instalment in the trilogy. After gaining experience at the English club Newcastle United, Santiago Muñez (Kuno Becker), and Gavin Harris (Alessandro Nivola) head off to Spain to join Real Madrid. Nick Cannon will also appear in the film competing against the "Galácticos" of Real Madrid, playing alongside legends David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Raúl, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo. Booked through Carat and Posterscope for BVI.

Some creative ideas for your next campaign:

Achieve standout by being different:

Beermats that provoke conversation and interaction
Films intrigue us because they usually discuss topics relevant to our life. Whether they tap into our fears and superstitions, our sexuality, our hopes and dreams, films are the bigger than life portrayal of basic concepts we deal with every day.Invite discussions on the topics of your film through beer mats. Does your film touch on the subject of sexuality, create a set of beer mats that conduct a purity test. Your audience can ask each other the questions, and compare their scores.

Promoting a Mafia film? Teach your audience to talk Mafiosi. You can print 32 different creatives for the same price, so it is easy to print the entire Alphabet and then some. Let your audience interact with your film through quizzes, interesting facts or games.

Pint glasses – allow your audience to further absorb the message
Odd, isn’t it? Advertising on a pint glass? That is exactly what your audience will think, and thus the pint glass and your brand become a topic of conversation. Work those brain cells to create a hard hitting message.

Use stickers to tell a synopsis of the film
Show a visual synopsis of your film by putting sticker creatives where your audience least expect it. In the featured example, it seems as if Daniel Craig and Eva Green are sitting in a dramatic pose against the washroom wall. Upon closer observation, it is merely a sticker enacting one of the most powerful scenes in Casino Royale, the much acclaimed British Bond film. This sticker would lead to much surprise and would surely be a topic of conversation. Stickers are a good way to smuggle your film-plot into your audience’s direct environment, peaking interest and intrigue.

Conclusion
Admedia washroom posters are a highly memorable and effective Media platform, and should be part of any film promotion marketing mix. Innovations such as the talking poster, bluetooth technology and a vast expansion of media formats have made washroom advertising highly interactive and a must in your ad planning.

Wrigley’s Extra on the road

2007-02-15T17:34:00.000Z

Wrigley UK have launched the new 60 piece Wrigley's Extra tub - on sale in Motorway Services nationally - with a point of sale 6-sheet campaign at store entrances. The campaign is specifically targeting on the go users with the 'Live lots, Travel lots, Work lots' poster creative.

The current activity follows previous successful Wrigley activity, which had provided an Epos accredited 23.2% uplift. This is very significant bearing in mind Wrigley's currently have 95% of UK gum market.

Convenience store presence on motorways has recently been strengthened with the opening of WH Smith travel format convenience stores across the national Moto estate. 46 Moto sites will be converted by Summer 2007.
Source: Moto.

A total brand count of 53 confectionary drink and snacking brands (Including Nestle, Cadbury, Coca Cola, Red Bull) has used the point of sale media in the last 12 months. According to independently supplied EPOS data all brands received sales uplifts attributed to the activity.

Motorway Services receive the highest level of convenience store throughput and average in-store spend per head at £5.00 compared to £3.66 at branded high street stores.

It is expected that more brands will be attracted to the Motorway audiences with the introduction of the WH Smith stores, continuing to enhance the retail offering and the continued modernization of MSAs by the major operating groups.

More information to be found via the oaa.

St.Ivel spread across Health Clubs

2007-02-12T09:57:00.000Z

St.Ivel took their low fat spread to Private Health Clubs this January to reach a health-conscious female audience in the most relevant environment.
Health Club displays, located in the changing room environment reach an active ABC1 audience with 100% gender targeting – a highly effective medium for health-related products.

St.Ivel’s intriguing creative was a massive hit with its female target audience delivering 67.3% spontaneous awareness.

Female Health Club visitors are a highly valuable audience for the brand with 98.7% of female members visiting the club at least once a week and actively buying low-fat products when at the supermarket.

Calpol first in Baby Change

2007-01-19T15:36:00.000Z

Calpol, the manufacturer of childrens medicine, has identified Admedia's Baby Change network in shopping centres and motorway services as a unique way to reach mothers of babies and toddlers during the winter period.

Baby Change provides a powerful one to one communication vehicle in a captive environment - providing visibility and readability where it counts.

Philip Vecht, CEO of Admedia, says: "Admedia's baby change network provides a highly targeted way to reach this very specific audience. Advertisers benefit from zero competition and coverage close to the point of sale - something that press or television cannot offer.."

Rocky Balboa Talking Posters

2007-01-19T12:24:00.000Z

20th Century Fox has used Admedia's bar network to promote the return of the Rocky film franchise, 'Rocky Balboa', which is winning rave reviews for star Sylvester Stallone.

The campaign runs on Admedia's washroom panels, supported by Talking Posters - frames fitted with an infra-red detector, launching the iconic Rocky theme tune when there is movement in the washroom - grabbing attention and creating a topic of conversation.

The promotion, booked through outdoor specialist Gen, will continue until January 28th, with the film released in the UK today.

Borat talking poster

2007-01-04T10:47:00.000Z

Twentieth Century Fox is running a talking poster campaign in Admedia's bar networks for its release of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The outrageous poster features Borat in skimpy swim wear, strutting his stuff. The talking poster greets washroom visitors upon entrance and is bound to become a conversation piece.

In the film Kazakhstani TV personality Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the "greatest country in the world." With a documentary crew in tow, Borat becomes more interested in locating and marrying Pamela Anderson than on his assignment.

Borat interacts with non-actors under the ruse of being a foreign television reporter. Like both Ali G and Bruno, Borat is characterized as lacking refined manners and given to gratuitous, though unintended, insults.

Help The Aged SMS campaign

2006-11-30T17:32:00.000Z

Help The Aged has launched a mobile campaign encouraging pub-goers to support isolated older people via mobile phone donations, part of the charity's 'One is the Saddest Number' Christmas campaign.

From this week a select number of bars and restaurants across England will feature beer mats that combine a colourful approach with stories about older-age isolation and a mobile call to action, to encourage drinkers to text to a shortcode on each mat and give £3 to the charity.

"The younger audience is traditionally the hardest for charities to reach, so we're keen to utilise new techniques to get our message to these people," said Mike Foster, spokesman for Help The Aged.

Help The Aged's research has found that around 1m older people spend Christmas Day alone. It's targeting young people and families using mobile as part of a wider interactive campaign for the charity.

Mobile marketing specialist Que Pasa and integrated marketing agency Joshua G2 have worked in partnership on the campaign. Que Pasa handled the planning and delivery of the mobile response elements, while the creative and the wider campaign was produced by design agency Joshua G2. The beer mat element of the campaign was coordinated by Admedia.

Outdoor campaign for Chrysler

2006-11-28T10:37:00.000Z

Car company DaimlerChrysler, is launching a new outdoor press campaign to promote its new Dodge Caliber model.

Activity will run over Christmas and will highlight the Caliber’s bold styling and affordability.

For the new outdoor campaign, Kinetic has selected long-haul truck routs covering the main UK motorways as well as 6-sheet billboards at 130 motorway service stations.

Planning and buying was done through BJK&E. Advertising on the trucks was designed by RoadAds with 6-sheet activity booked through Admedia.Last week, Chrysler announced a strategy shift towards more fuel-efficient models in an effort to staunch mounting losses that hit £780 million in the third quarter.

Admedia launches 'Baby 'Change'

2006-11-27T17:38:00.000Z

Admedia 'Baby Change' provides exclusive 1-on-1 communication time with parents and their babies & toddlers.

Offering the highest level of targeting, our eye-level displays give your message maximum visibility and readability where it counts, - in the most relevant environment and close to the UK's top mother & baby related stores.

From standard A3-display campaigns to Baby Change facility sponsorship, our proven media solutions provide a highly effective, 100% relevant and fully national campaign for your baby-related product.

Baby Change campaigns are:

at or close to the point of sale (supermarkets, pharmacies, clothing retailers, health stores, Mothercare, Mamas & Papas, etc.

Unrivalled impact on parents

Exclusivity - no ad competition

100% parent audience targeted

Intimate communication in a captive environment

5 minutes average dwell time in baby change facility

Accountability - Direct Response tear-offs for offers, information, education, web addresses, etc.

Cow & Gate Frutapura baby food

2006-11-20T09:23:00.000Z

Cow & Gate’s recent baby change campaign in shopping centres proved the value of destination targeting with:

a massive 89% of mothers stating they’d recently seen the poster*
rising to 97% when prompted with a copy of the ad.*
*source: MBA independent research

Admedia’s baby change campaign represents one of the most highly effective media options for baby-related products - with 100% relevance and zero media wastage. We offer full baby-change branding including

personalised washroom displays
changing baby-mats
mirror stickers
door stickers

Admedia's baby change panels across 320 venues deliver 4.7 "parent" impacts per 4 weeks in Shopping Centres and Motorway Service Stations.

For more information on the Baby Change buying route contact the Admedia team on 020 7580 3633.

Maxfactor goes clubbing

2006-11-17T10:48:00.000Z

watch our videoblog for more info

Max Factor Lipfinity & Unilever Sunsilk are the latest advertisers to take advantage of Admedia washroom media with integrated campaigns designed to reach an audience of young sociable females in style bars and night clubs.

Max Factor’s highly creative campaign utilise

branded wine glasses
mirror stickers
and of course washroom displays – both standard and movement-activated ‘talking’ displays to create an engaging message and launch its new long-lasting lipstick.

On target for the booziest summer

2006-08-01T15:14:00.000+01:00

Thirsty pub goers have downed 815 million pints of beer in just
6 weeks, it emerged last night. And 2006 is on target to become the booziest
summer ever - thanks to the football World Cup and the heatwave, industry
insiders said.

Owners of Britain's 60,000 pubs have taken £180 million
more than usual at this time of year. They have served 59 million more pints
than during the same six weeks last year, an increase of 7.8 per cent. Mark
Hastings, of the British Beer and Pub Association whose members own half the
country's pubs, said: 'A hot summer and the World Cup are a big boost to the
trade. Long hot summers are good for people who sell long cold drinks and beer
is the classic long cold drink.'

- Metro Monday 31st July

Shopping around for the next big thing

2006-07-03T11:57:00.000+01:00

Tesco trolleys, Asda car parks and shopping mall cubicle doors may not have the wow factor of a banner-wrapped seven-storey building. But as the key locations for reaching shoppers at point-of-purchase, these spaces are being fought over by a growing number of outdoor advertising companies.

Supermarkets and shopping malls are perhaps the most desirable retail media territories. Some 20 million people a week visit supermarkets. Malls also have a healthy footfall, with 10 million people spending at least an hour and a half there each week.

Titan and Clear Channel UK dominate in mall six-sheets and, along with JCDecaux, dominate the supermarket poster business. Yet, the established players are being challenged by smaller operators with niche offers.

Redbus Outdoor has turned trolley and shopping basket advertising into a reliable - and lucrative - medium. Sales Activation Solutions does trolleys and offers floor stickers and sampling. Admedia runs washroom poster sites in malls and service stations. Streetbroadcast is signing up a string of retail parks. Screen FX is creating a network of screens in malls, as is Avanti Screenmedia, which has just hired Julie France, former group managing director of Clear Channel UK, to help it expand into, among other things, retail six-sheets.

For Nigel Cowlin, head of media and communication planning at Unilever UK & Ireland, the beauty of retail media is its proximity to point-of-purchase.

"The gap between being exposed to the message and taking the product off the shelf is at a minimum. In terms of how you use the medium, we can think about conveying a more detailed message at point-of-purchase than you might do at the roadside. If it's in car parks, people are moving more slowly and potentially you can be more detailed."

Shopping Malls poach shoppers.

2006-06-30T10:51:00.000+01:00

The West End has become a congested, overcrowded, stressful and baffling place to shop, with many people who live in the suburbs avoiding it all together in favour of out-of-town shopping malls.

A major report today paints a gloomy picture of the capital's traditional retail heartland and has prompted calls for major changes. According to research from the New West End Company, which represents traders in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, the number of out-of-towners who never trek into central London has risen from 28 per cent to 36 per cent.

Interviews with 1,000 shoppers also revealed that "many find the density of road traffic oppressive, leading to noise and general pollution and making it difficult and dangerous". Major Ken Livingstone, also acknowledges that "suburban shopping centres such as Kingston have clearly raised the bar". The report goes on to say that West End stores cannot hope to win back shoppers lost to malls such as Lakeside with huge improvements.

Just one in 10 shoppers said they could happily browse for four hours or more. One respondent commented: I find spending too long in London gives me a headache. Lack of washroom facilities, the difficulty of finding your way around unpleasant public transport congestion also comes under fire.

What shoppers cannot stand about the West End:

73 per cent of shoppers feel overwhelmed and exhausted after a visit to the West End
63 per cent say they have been jostled on the pavement
63 per cent find it difficult to locate a safe, clean washrooms
58 per cent are very hassled by hawkers