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of the animated poster
Adding motion and sound to your client's message
By Kathy Prentice
Just about anywhere that ad signage appears, from billboards to movie theaters and malls, is a potential venue for a new technology with features that would have been unimaginable even a decade ago.
It is called plasma screen technology, and its features include moving images and sound that can be delivered in real time.
The technology has arrived and what’s been missing is a turnkey service for getting the ads up and running in major markets.
One media company plans to change that when it rolls out its new plasma screens in movie theater lobbies this month. From there, Coolsign plans to expand to a wide range of traditional out-of-home venues.
To find out how to get your client in one of the first waves of coast-to-coast plasma screen advertising, 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 flat-panel plasma screens in theater lobbies and other venues.
Who
Coolsign, a division of AdSpace Networks, headquartered in Las Vegas.
How it works
Ads and promotions are delivered in real time on flat-panel gas plasma screens in concession and ticket areas of theater lobbies. The technology allows for full-motion video, animation, graphics and sound.
Ads are looped with sports, weather and stock updates and with movie trailers and promotions.
Loop content, including ads, is ordered randomly, though advertisers can request positioning.
Locations will have multiple screens, each with unique loop content, rather than being run in sync.
Ads are typically 7.5 to 15 seconds long and play 12 times per display per hour, says Barbara Lym, national sales manager for Coolsign. Loops are typically three to five minutes and run continuously during theaters’ operating hours, which are typically 11 a.m. until 11 p.m.
Audio is available, but an advertising message shouldn’t rely entirely on it because of theater lobby noise, Grasso says.
Print or video assets for developing creative content are provided by the advertiser. Advertisers can also build their own content.
“This is not television,” says Mitch Grasso, Coolsign's chief creative officer. “A lot of people look at a moving sign and think TV commercial, but it’s not.”
Content that is bright and bold, with messages that convey information at a glance, is the ideal, Grasso says.
“In a transitory environment people keep moving past so there’s no time for a beginning, middle and end. Think animated poster.”
Ideally ads are designed with a macro and micro view in mind, Grasso says.
“When people who are far away glance at an ad, they see it as a big, moving poster. It catches the eye and they get information. Those closer up see more detail.”
Messages can change as frequently as an advertiser wants, using a Coolsign web site and the advertiser's desktop computer.
Prices and availability of products and events can be regularly updated.
One company can advertise multiple products at different times of the day. For example, a confection company could advertise doughnuts in the morning and ice cream later in the day.
Print copy is most easily converted for 7.5- to 15-second spots.
Messages are delivered through high-speed networks using standard formats like jpeg, mpeg, and avi; and software such as Quicktime, Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator.
Most screens are 50 inches diagonally, although some 42-inch models are used when the space warrants a smaller presentation.
Five signs are placed in each theater, Grasso says.
“They’re in the highest traffic locations, with one or two in the lobby near ticketing, one in the concession area and the others near the bathrooms or theater entrance.”
Screens are placed at eye level and are wall- or kiosk-mounted. Kiosks are often double-sided. Escalator areas are also prime spots.
Ads are usually part of a media mix, in combination with print and broadcast.
National and regional advertisers will fill the majority of slots.
Sports, weather and other information segments can be sponsored, and exclusivity can be negotiated.
Markets
Coolsigns are currently available at Loews Cineplex theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, with Boston, Dallas and Washington, D.C. available soon.
Other public venues are expected to be added within the year, Grasso says.
Numbers
How measured? Next Century Media will conduct research during the charter advertising period, Lym says.
Loews' ticket sales also provide an estimated measurement.
“An average one million people, per theatre per year, visit Loews,” Lym says, with the average moviegoer spending 20 minutes in the lobby and concession areas.
What product categories do well?
Entertainment, especially movie tie-ins, Lym says. Also sports equipment, events and clothing, cosmetics, and electronics and clothing.
Product categories that represent companies under contract with theaters are excluded.
Demographics
Annual theater attendance by age breaks down into three segments, with 40 percent of the audience in the 12- to 24-year-old range, 28 percent in the 25- to 39-year-range and 32 percent forty and older. Audiences are equally divided by gender.
Average household income of theater audiences is $60,000-plus.
Nearly a quarter, 23 percent, of theatergoers have annual incomes greater than $100,000.
Seventy-three percent of audiences have attended college.
Movie admissions are steadily increasing, and currently 70 percent of moviegoers go out to the theater at least twice monthly, according to ACNielsen EDI: Motion Picture Association of America.
Making the buy
Lead time is eliminated with creative in hand, Grasso says. Two weeks should be allotted to develop creative.
Rates are calculated on a monthly basis, per theater, per 15-second spot.
Advertisers can cherry-pick markets but not theaters within those markets.
Advertisers can target audiences by requesting days and times for their ads to run. For example, a product appealing to families or children can be scheduled to run during weekend matinee times.
Factors that affect pricing include contract length and number of markets.
Rates for 10 or fewer theaters vary with contract length, with four weeks costing $2,250, 12 weeks for $2,000, 24 weeks for $1,750 and one year for $1,500. For 20 or fewer theaters, prices run $2,000 for four weeks, $1,750 for 12 weeks and $1,600 for 24 weeks. And for 20-plus theaters rates run $1,750 for four weeks, $1,600 for 12 weeks and $1,500 for 24 weeks. Prices on year-long runs for both under-20 and 20-plus programs are negotiable.
Charter advertisers will receive support for development of creative, placement in the initial 50 Loews Cineplex theaters and additional exposure as the Coolsign network expands. There will also be an opportunity for inclusion in research.
What they’re saying
“The initial step in taking Coolsigns to public spaces is to penetrate the movie industry. But we plan to be everywhere. Wherever you go—convention centers, stadiums, malls, airports—once you see them you’ll know they’re Coolsigns,” says Lym of Coolsign.
Who’s already on Coolsigns?
HotJobs.
Web site info
CoolSign Theater Network at www.coolsign.com
Etc.
For other theater venues check out “Put Your Client up on the Silver Screen.”
September 4, 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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