A new network offers ad space interspersed with content from The Wall Street Journal delivered simultaneously to consumers on screens in the lobbies and elevators of upscale office properties.

To find out how to get your client’s message in front of a business audience while they catch the news, read on.

This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts

What
Ads displayed on corresponding screens in building lobbies and elevators.

Who
Office Media Network in Chicago.

How it works
Ads are delivered via LCD screens in common areas and elevators of office buildings.

The ads are displayed on a loop with updated content from The Wall Street Journal.

The program is called The Wall Street Journal Office Network.

Advertisers have two options. They can buy space within the news pages, sharing the screen space with editorial, as if it were a print news page. Ads take up 30 percent of the screen. The second option is full-screen ads that appear between news pages as they come up on the screen.

“The way the network is structured the loop goes through the four sections of the Journal for 15 seconds each, constantly updating those stories,” says Mark Mitchell, executive vice president, marketing and sales. “After the rotation of the four sections, there’s 15 seconds for a message from the property owner and then a full screen ad for 15 seconds for a total of 90 seconds before it starts again. Nobody is going to see the same story over and over.”

Advertisers can run different messages in different buildings and can also run ads by dayparts to target different audiences.

Creative is usually provided by the advertiser, but Office Media can assist in coming up with creative if needed.

TV ad copy can be used, but advertisers are encouraged to develop messages that are focused on providing a visual impact, since the screens have no audio.

Ads can be full-motion, animation or still images.

The lobby screens measure 37 by 47 inches and the elevator screens are 14 inches wide.

Product exclusivity is available. The Network's general hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. but can be extended, Mitchell says.

Advertisers can add on on-site events or sampling.

Markets
The program is available in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

Numbers
There are 400 locations in the network, which has a total reach of 500,000 people daily, Mitchell says.

How it is measured
“The Arbitron study provides the basis to determine the percentage of the building population watching the network,” Mitchell says. That formula is used with the daily audience determined by the size of the building to estimate the number of impressions.

Research
According to a June 2007 study conducted for The Wall Street Journal Network by Arbitron:
-A typical viewer is exposed to the network an average of five times daily, with a cumulative viewing time of 3.3 minutes.
-Of those exposed to the network, 93 percent report that they recall seeing the screens.
-More than 75 percent of those who noticed the network report that what they saw affected some level of corporate spending in the last 12 months.

What product categories do well
Automobiles, financial services, jewelry, apparel and business-to-business services are top categories.

Demographics
Traffic in the buildings displaying the screens is affluent, with an average household income of $159,000, according to the recent Arbitron study.

Additionally, 54 percent of those exposed to the network are executives, managers or professionals.

Making the buy
Lead time is 10 days. Advertisers can buy a DMA, but most buy the network, Mitchell says. Cost is driven by the number of impressions generated with a standard CPM of $15.

Campaigns typically run between one and three months, but there is no fixed guideline about when campaigns begin and end. “The network is highly flexible,” Mitchell says. A campaign can start in the middle of the month and run for any number of weeks.

Who’s already on screens in lobbies and elevators
Recent lobby screen advertisers include General Motors and Verizon. The coordinated elevator screens are a new program.

Web site info
Office Media Network at http://www.officemedia.com

Office Media Network is part of the recently formed Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau at http://www.ovab.org.