Advertisers have been waiting a long time to have direct exposure to consumers enjoying a restaurant meal on their way to shop or see a movie. Aside from the obvious billboards, and more recently ads showing in mall food courts, restaurant dining rooms have been impenetrable.
    Not so any more. Now diners waiting in line for a table might be asked if they’d like a hand-held, wireless screen with video games and movie trailers to look at while they’re waiting. And, of course, ads.
    To find out how to get your advertiser’s message into all those hungry hands, read on.
    This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts:

What: 
    FunPad is a hand-held, tablet-size interactive entertainment device equipped with menus, games, movie trailers and interactive advertising that customers can view and play while waiting in a restaurant for a table or for their order to arrive.

Who: 
    Entertainment Systems Technology, headquarted in Huntington Beach, California.

How it works:
    Restaurant customers are handed a FunPad while waiting for a table or at their table. "The surrender point is when their entrees arrive," says Stephen Armstrong, vice president of marketing for Entertainment Systems Technology.
    Customers view ads around the border of the menu, on game and movie trailer screens and on screen (alone) as programs change.
    "At successful restaurants you have to wait for a table and wait for your meal," Armstrong says. "And that can be perceived as a negative. So entertainment is the appeal up front. But beyond that, this is an upselling tool."
    The ad logos are always on the screen. Customers can surf web-style pages. When they click through to an advertiser’s content, the main image will be that advertiser’s information surrounded by other advertiser channels and links to the main page and other areas. In these circumstances, ad content is 90 percent of the page.
    Restaurants can feature menu specials and coupons.
    Customers can enter their email address if they want to receive updates on future promotions from advertisers. (This isn’t an option for children under 12.)
    The advertiser’s logo is the entry point to the interactive content. Independent banners aren’t for sale.
    Advertisers’ logos can be incorporated into games. Games are geared to appeal to adults and children. Cartoons and puzzles are available for small children, and casino-style and trivia games for adults.
    Coke Concentration, MasterCard Game and Blockbuster Zone are three examples. "What we find is that viewers start calling games by advertisers," Armstrong says. "Like ‘I played Coke Concentration or MasterCard Game.’ The brand becomes associated with the content."
    Advertisers can use creative developed for television or their web site or they can create new content.
    Ideal creative is "entertaining and fun," Armstrong says. "Broadcast spots work wonderfully."
    The technical stuff: FunPad’s screen is an 8.4 by 11 inch color LCD display, driven by an Intel Pentium processor with a Microsoft Windows operating system and 16-bit audio system. It’s powered by rechargeable batteries.
    A color high-resolution miniature video camera and microphone are built in for video conferencing or to capture a guest’s image for a game.
    A printer spits out receipts, game prizes, web site data, scannable coupons and other advertiser-generated information.
    A card reader can be used for credit card purchases.
    Full-motion video and high-quality audio can be used, as well as animation.
    Movie trailers are also a programming option with advertisers signing on from studios and video chains.
    Customers can be summoned through the device when their tables are ready.
    The technology is in place for customers to order and pay for their meals through the device.
    Input is provided by touching the screen, four buttons and a joystick.
    Both advertising and programming are delivered through a master server at FunPad’s corporate headquarters.
    Customers can be targeted by date bar. "The message can be run only at breakfast or dinner time," Armstrong says.
    "By day we see families, parents and kids playing together. Late at night it’s kids playing trivia. And seniors, the smallest group, are in afternoons."
    Ads can be changed during the course of a campaign. Some advertisers change coupons to target different groups of consumers during a flight.
    Advertisers are primarily national brands.
    Web surfing is not offered even though FunPad is internet-enabled. "We want to make sure the content is always family-friendly," Armstrong says. "We also want to make sure the impact is not diluted by advertising on web sites. Customers can link to advertisers’ web sites, but there’s no web surfing."
    Participating restaurant chains include Denny’s, TGI Friday’s, Bill Knapp’s and National Sports Grill.

Markets:
    Current markets include Rancho Santa Margarita, Brea, Mission Viejo and Oceanside, Calif. Also San Antonio and Houston, Tex., Spartanburg, S. C. and other sites throughout the Southwest.
    Additional markets opening up are Pennsylvania, Northern California (Sacramento), Illinois and North Carolina.
    FunPad was field tested in Michigan.

Numbers:
    How measured? The number of impressions, viewing time of impressions, click-through rate, viewing time per click-through, and coupon distribution can all be accurately measured and reported.
    Users typically spend two to four minutes at an advertising channel.
    Click-through rate is 50 percent or higher, Armstrong says.
    When asked, a third of users responded that after their restaurant meal they were going shopping. An additional 10 to 15 percent answered that they were going to a movie theater or to rent or buy a video.

Research:
    What product categories do well? Restaurant brands which can plug into the advantage of point-of-purchase advertising and on-site couponing. This doesn’t only include food products Armstrong says. Credit card brands and any other in-restaurant opportunities can partner with the restaurant to appear on the menu and/or on other FunPad channels.
    Retail brands, especially those available in nearby stores. "Locations can be patterned to match brand distribution at nearby supermarkets and other stores," Armstrong says. Coupons, directions to a nearby outlet or other information can be printed at the customer’s request.
    Technology brands, especially video and audio, that can be sampled through FunPad.

Demographics:
    Network users are 45 percent male and 55 percent female.
    Children under 12-years-old make up 33 percent of users, 32 percent are teens, 31 percent adults and four percent seniors.
    Restaurant-chain-specific user profiles are available to advertisers.
    "Demographics can be targeted using restaurant data," Armstrong says. "They can buy site by site or all the restaurants in a certain DMA or zip code, up to say, all the Dennys across the country."

Making the buy:
    Ads can be bought on a network or spot basis.
    Spot buys may be made on a market, restaurant chain or site basis.
    Contract length is flexible, with a one-month minimum. Ninety days is ideal, Armstrong says.
    Lead time, with creative in hand, is ten days.
    Pricing is based on cost per click at 20 cents per click.
    Cost per click includes creative development if it is a simple integration of the advertiser’s logo. Also included, at this time, are coupon production and printing and activity reports.

Who’s already on FunPad?
    Advertisers include MasterCard, Blockbuster Video, Minute Maid, Jack Daniels and Chevrolet.

What they’re saying:
    "In a restaurant you just don’t expect an electronic diversion. It’s so common to have coloring placemats, but our customers are sophisticated. They’re way past that and ready for electronic games. This is the high-tech generation." – Susan Schneider, Director of Promotions and Community Relations for Denny’s Restaurants.

Web site info:
    www.funpad.com

April 2, 2001 © 2001 Media Life

-Kathy Prentice writes about out-of-home advertising  for Media Life, penning her stories from the resort town of Traverse City, in the upper reaches of Michigan.

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