A new airport advertising program brands the plastic bags that convenience stores and newsstands use for consumers’ purchases. Samples can also be placed in the bags or delivered directly into customers’ hands.

To find out how to get your client’s message into the hands of travelers while they’re browsing airport stores, 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 placed on bags used to package consumers’ purchases at airport convenience stores.

Who
Encompass Outdoor, headquartered in New York.

How it works
Ads are placed on bags distributed to consumers through Hudson News airport convenience stores.

The ads appear on both sides of the bag.

Creative is provided by the advertiser. Graphics as well as text are used.

"Some advertisers take their magazine ad and put it on the bag,” says partner Adam Pierce. “Generally the fewer words the better.”

Ad space measures 7.75 inches wide by 11.5 inches high. Hudson places their logo on 25 percent of the viewing area.

Samples can also be placed in branded bags with merchandise.

Markets
Top markets include New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.

In addition to airports, the bag program is also available at transportation terminals including Grand Central, Penn and Union stations and the Port Authority terminals in New York.

Numbers
The program is available at Hudson News’ 550-plus outlets in 69 airports and transportation hubs.

How it is measured
A base number of impressions is calculated using the number of bags distributed. However, each bag is seen by additional airport patrons, Pierce says.

Advertisers can place a call to action on the bag to gather further measurement and demographic data.

One in four customers who makes a purchase receives a bag with that purchase, according to data provided by Hudson, Pierce says.

What product categories do well
Travel and tourism, luggage, electronics and other luxury items do well. Consumer goods and other point of purchase items also work well.

Demographics
A profile of airport convenience store customers, provided by Hudson News, reports that customers:

-Are evenly divided, male and female.
-Have an annual average income of $103,000.
-Are predominately in the 25-54 age group.
-Are college graduates in more than 80 percent of the cases.

Additionally, an Arbitron Airport Advertising Study found that:

-Airline travelers are more likely to buy designer clothes, luxury cars and cutting-edge personal digital devices.
-Forty-six percent are spending more time at airports.
- Sixty four percent of airline travelers make a purchase at an airport store or restaurant .

Making the buy
Lead time is five weeks. Cost ranges from 11 cents to 16 cents per bag or per sample. The cost of a campaign varies with volume.

Advertisers can buy the network, a region, a market or an airport.

Who’s already on airport convenience store bags
SOYJOY, CNN, The Wall Street Journal and the Mexico Tourism Board are recent advertisers.

What they’re saying
“For us this program was about getting SOYJOY into people’s hands, and the airport was perfect for that. Our primary demographic was women 34 to 45 and secondary men 34 to 45, all busy professionals. People could interact with the brand and use our customer service line to ask questions.” – Jon Ellis, director of national sales for SOYJOY in Northridge, Calif.

Web site info
Encompass Outdoor at http://www.encompassmediagroup.com