Getting your message before folks on the go

This is an ad,
not a reflection

'They
look like a Coke can. When we did our market research, people thought they were a telephone booth or ATM machine.
We know more about portable toilets than we care to.'

Getting your message
before folks on the go

A line at a rent-a-john defines 'captive audience'

By Kathy Prentice

   The fans arrive early, sometimes as much as four hours before the gates open, pop open the cooler, and settle in for a little tailgate refreshment.
    With athletic events and concerts drawing crowds of tens of thousands, a stadium parking lot can become a temporary metropolis. And after a few hours of drinking soda or beer, the population starts to form a new line-- to the temporary restrooms.
    And that’s where advertisers are starting to place full-color, full-size branding messages. They’re wrapping the restrooms, and in some cases, entire banks of restrooms, in ads.
    To find out about reaching this captive audience, read on.
    This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear on Mondays.

Fast Facts:

What:
Advertising on portable restrooms.

Who:
AdCans, a creation of Adrenaline Productions based in Emeryville, Calif.

How it works:
    There are two basic AdCan designs.
    The Wrap is a graphic that covers the entire exterior surface of a portable toilet.
    The Can utilizes a cylindrical sleeve to shape the restroom (for example, like a beer or soda can) and to provide a smooth surface for the graphics. "They look like a Coke can," says Adrenaline manager Brian Hebert. "When we did our market research, people thought they were a telephone booth or ATM machine."
    Another option is grouping several toilets together, side by side, creating a billboard. An aluminum frame encloses the bank of units and the printed vinyl is stretched over the entire unit. These generally are eight-feet tall and extend the width of four to 10 units.
   A six-unit bank provides about 500 square feet of ad space. Doors are incorporated into the ad.
    "We know more about portable toilets than we care to," Hebert says.
    Creative is a joint production of the advertiser and AdCans. Illustrations are picture quality.
    Local, regional and national buys are available.
    Markets can be event-specific.
    Opportunities are seasonal in four-season climates but can be displayed year-round in regions that host outdoor events throughout the year.

Markets:
    Central markets include Denver (Colorado National Speedway and Mile High Stadium) and Houston (Astrodome).
    Great Lakes markets include Chicago (Soldier Field), Cincinnati (Cynergy Field), Green Bay (Lambeau Field), Indianapolis (Raceway Park and RCA Dome), Minneapolis (Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome) and Brooklyn, Mich. (Michigan Speedway).
    Mid-Atlantic markets include Baltimore (PSINet Stadium) and Pittsburgh (Three Rivers Stadium).
    Northeast markets include E. Rutherford, N.Y. (Giants Stadium), Orchard Park, N.Y. (Rich Stadium), Boston (Foxboro Stadium) and Allentown, Pa. (Nazareth Speedway).
    Pacific markets include Seattle (Seattle International Raceway and The Kingdome), Los Angeles (Los Angeles Coliseum and Los Angeles Galaxy), Oakland (Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum), Portland (Portland Speedway), San Diego (Qualcomm Stadium), San Jose (San Jose State University), Sonoma (Sears Point International Raceway) and Stanford, Calif. (Stanford University).
    Southern markets include Clemson, S.C. (Clemson University), Darlington, S.C. (Darlington Raceway), Concord, N.C. (Charlotte Motor Speedway), Jacksonville, Fla. (Jacksonville Municipal Stadium), Miami (Pro Player Stadium), New Orleans (Louisiana Superdome) and Richmond, Va. (Richmond International Raceway).
    There’s no plan to expand into the construction site porta-potty market. It’s not a feasible way to corner their target demographic, Hebert says.
    Bill Carol, executive director of the Portable Sanitation Association International in Bloomington, Minn., agrees. "Nobody would put up ads for construction workers. They already tear the hell out of the toilets with graffiti."

Numbers:
How measured? Measurement is determined by event attendance, Hebert says.
"Stadiums like the Oakland Coliseum with the Raiders have 70,000 fans every game. If you want to buy the whole NFL season you’re looking at 1.4 million exposures."

Research:
What product categories do well? Beverage companies dominate, but telecommunications, packaged and paper goods, cigarettes and other products are also suitable. "A year ago it was dot.coms," Hebert says.

Demographics:
Stadium and football audiences are generally 60 percent male, between the ages of 25 and 54, well-educated and active outdoor enthusiasts, Hebert says.
Demographics shift with the event with sports running the gamut from football to NASCAR racing. Concerts provide a diverse demographic.

Making the buy:
    Factors that affect pricing include volume and location.
    There’s one production fee, regardless of the number of locations in which the restroom is used during the course of the campaign. The fee covers production, installation, maintenance and removal. Venues create additional charges. For instance, there’s a flat rate per stadium for showings.
    Production costs decrease with volume with an average billboard in the four-figure range.
    Space at a stadium runs in the $4,000 to $5,000 range for an entire month. Costs are $40,000 to $80,000 a year plus production.
    Contracts run at least a month with a year preferred.
    Lead time is 60 to 90 days.
    Comparing AdCan advertising to more costly scoreboard opportunities inside the stadiums and arenas, Hebert says, "This provides a pretty unique way to get in the stadium area. These are the first and last impressions coming to and leaving."

What’s unique:
Once a billboard is produced and applied to a portable restroom, it can be displayed at several locations under one contract. "It might be transported from an NFL game on Sunday afternoon to a concert in the park the next Wednesday," Hebert says.

Who’s already on AdCans?
AdCans recently broke into the market with a campaign for Miller Beer.

What they’re saying:
"I go to 25 major events a year, from the race track to the Super Bowl, and everything I see is branded, including the trash cans. The first time I saw AdCans at the World Series in San Diego I thought ‘this really grabs people’s attention.’ This is going to be one of the marketing solutions that moves forward." -- James Saunders, a San Francisco-based sports marketing manager

Web site info:
Adrenaline Productions at www.adprod.com

-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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