Your client
at the dry cleaners
They're a good place to reach an affluent audience
By Diego Vasquez
Oct 11, 2011
Advertisers are always eager to reach an affluent audience, and they will certainly find it at the dry cleaners, where customers have an average annual household income of $100,000 or more.
The clientele is mostly businesspeople getting their suits cleaned on a weekly or monthly basis, and there are a variety of ways for advertisers to reach them.
They may use simple signage on the walls or pass out branded hangers or disposable garment bags. They can even hand out samples.
To find out how to get your client at the dry cleaners, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Advertising at dry cleaners.
Who
Any out-of-home or guerrilla agency can handle ad campaigns at dry cleaners. There are also a small number of vendors that specialize in creating custom dry cleaner hangers.
How it works
The most common advertising is posters placed in unobtrusive locations on the walls. These are typically 11-by-17 inches, though some businesses will allow bigger ones.
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Branded disposable clothes hangers are also a popular option. These are supplied to the business for free by the advertiser and distributed to customers when they pick up their clothes.
The ads live on beyond the dry cleaners when people reuse the hangers at home.
Ads can also be placed on the disposable plastic garment bags that protect the cleaned clothes or the paper cover sheets used by some cleaners to cover customers' clothes.
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Small samples of a fragrance, toothpaste or shampoo can also be attached to hangers or stapled to the garment bags when they are returned. The same can be done with coupons.
Markets
Dry cleaner campaigns can be executed in any market.
Numbers
In 2010, the most recent numbers available, there were 33,250 dry cleaners in the United States, according to industry market research firm IBISWorld.
How it is measured
Advertisers can track how many customers visit the business and also how many hangers, garment bags, samples or coupons are distributed.
What product categories work well
Recent or current dry cleaner advertisers include entertainment, local businesses, fast food, armed services, telecommunications, consumer packaged goods and retail.
Demographics
Among adults who have used dry cleaning services in the past three months, 55 percent are women and 45 percent men, according to Scarborough Research.
Twenty-three percent are ages 18-34, while 58 percent are 25-54 and 35 percent are 55 or older.
The average households income for those who have used dry cleaners in the past three months is $102,366.
Making the buy
Lead time is typically three to four weeks, which includes production.
Pricing varies depending on the elements used in the campaign, but cost starts at around $3,500 per month for 100 posters and can vary greatly according to what materials are used for the garment bags or hangers.
Who’s already been at dry cleaners
Recent brands that have advertised at dry cleaners include ABC, CBS, McDonald's, U.S. Army, metroPCS and Wrigley's.
What they’re saying
"So many people go into Laundromats, and it's all age groups from college kids to older people. You could really reach all ages and demographics, so it could work for any advertiser. It reaches a very large audience and there's a lot of traffic all day, especially evenings and weekends." – Sasha Engel, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at GoGorilla Media
Web site info
Hanger Network
http://www.hangernetwork.com
GoGorilla Media
http://gogorillaadvertising.com
Sniper Marketing
http://www.snipermarketing.net
Mango Moose Media
http://www.mangomoose.ca
Encompass Media
http://www.encompassoutdoor.com
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