Consumers typically charge the cost of holiday shopping and partying to the plastic in their pockets. And now advertisers can reach their target audience at the point of purchase by branding the credit card receipts restaurants and retailers hand back to their customers.

To find out how to get your client’s message into the hands of holiday shoppers and revelers, 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 are placed on the back of credit card receipts.

Who
Receipt Media, headquartered in New York.

How it works
Ads are printed on the back of credit card receipt paper, which is distributed to targeted businesses.

“Locations are typically restaurants, night clubs, bars, clothing stores, day spas, liquor stores, dry cleaners, really any type of business that accept credit cards,” says CEO David Goldin.

Creative is provided by the advertiser. The focus can be on branding or a promotion.

“Creative typically includes a logo and graphics and can include a call to action,” Goldin says.

An advertiser’s existing creative can be used or copy can be developed that ties into the theme of shopping or receipts. Or it can tie into the location where the receipts are distributed or into a holiday or seasonal theme.

“One advertiser was trying to tie into headaches and drinking, so they used something about remembering what you had last night because here’s the bill,” Goldin says.

Product exclusivity is built in. There is one advertiser per location, and an advertiser’s message won’t appear on receipts of competing businesses. Advertisers can buy the network or cherry-pick locations. Merchants get the branded paper at no charge.

Markets
The program is available in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Boston is scheduled to be added to the network in a few weeks, Goldin says. Markets can also be added at a client's request.  

How it is measured
Impressions are measured using merchants’ reports on their transaction numbers.

Research
Holiday spending this year will reflect an anticipated 7.5 percent increase in sales of all goods except automobiles, according to a prediction by Visa U.S.A. reported in the Nov. 7 issue of American Banker.

Low-end dollar stores will be up 8 percent, high-end luxury merchants will be up 7.2 percent, and big department stores and specialty clothiers up 4 percent, according to an Oct. 30 article in Forbes.com.

What product categories do well
Financial services, including credit card companies and banks, are a top category overall. Alcohol is a top category for placement in bars and restaurants. Entertainment, especially movie and music releases, also do well. 

Ads for some products and services like adult entertainment are not accepted.

Demographics
Audiences are targeted by location and by type of business. For example, women with higher incomes are targeted at day spas and male sports fans are targeted in sports bars.

“The general demographic of card users is more affluent, with higher incomes and education,” Goldin says.

“We base targeting on business type. For example, say in a restaurant you can use the average ticket size and you can also tell something by the location.”

Making the buy
Lead time is two to three months, including printing and distribution.

Factors that affect cost include the number of distribution locations and where they’re located, the number of receipts or rolls of paper and the length of the campaign.

Additionally, there is a set-up cost for production. Advertisers can use multiple ads, with one creative per printing. Cherry-picking locations adds to the cost, Goldin says. A minimum buy is 25,000 pieces per advertiser.

What they’re saying
“People generally hold onto their receipts for two to four weeks. You’ll find that when most people open up their wallets and purses that there are receipts in them. It’s natural logic to wait for the credit card bill to come. And corporate expenses are typically submitted one to two times per month.” -- David Goldin, CEO of Receipt Media

Web site info
Receipt Media at www.getfreepaper.com

Etc.
For other holiday coverage, see “Your client sending a holiday message,” Nov. 6 in the Media Life archives.