Fast Facts

What
   Ads placed on the exterior of public pay phones that are located near street ball courts and other venues.

Who
   Prime Point Media, headquartered in Norcross, Georgia.

How it works
   Ads are placed on phone kiosks located near streetball courts in schoolyards, playgrounds, parks and other urban locations.
   “You’re reaching younger males when they’re out on the courts, not watching TV,” says Prime Point CEO Karen Robinson.
   Ads are placed at eye level on individual phone kiosks or on banks of phones. Banks are typically two to three phones but can be made up of as many as five to six.
    An ad can span the entire bank or each unit can display a separate ad.
    Creative is provided by the advertiser and often ties into the basketball or streetball theme and typically displays the product logo as well as an action shot.
   Branding is the creative goal. Posters sometimes include contact information as well.
   “It’s edgy looking,” Robinson says. “It’s typically an urban-type ad using a player who is well known in urban areas as opposed to a traditional TV type ad.”
   For example, a recent Converse ad featured Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat.
   Poster size is 12 inches by 44 inches with a live area of 8 1/2 inches by 26 inches. Different creative can be used in different markets.
   Pay phone signage can stand alone but is more commonly used as an element in a media mix. Signage on kiosks is a year-round program.

Markets
   Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Miami, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago and South Beach are current markets for streetball advertising. Markets in any state can be added.
   Courts include locations on city streets, in some cases on beaches, and what Prime Point refers to as the ultimate streetball court in Madison Square Garden.
   There is a higher concentration of streetball locations in urban markets.

Numbers
   Prime Point estimates that 1,500 of its 800,000 locations are less than a block from a streetball court.
   The 800,000 locations are from a base of 1.1 million pay phones in operation in the U.S.

How measured
   Pedestrian traffic measurements are used to estimate impressions. The average DEC is 4,320 and is higher in select markets.

What product categories do well
   Products specific to basketball are sports drinks, bottled water and snack foods in addition to athletic shoes.
   Other products that appeal to a broad sports audience include health clubs, fashion, beverages and sports entertainment, says Scott Cohen, Prime Point’s director of marketing. “Anything relating to sports. Male oriented. Male targeted.”
   Ads for alcohol would not be acceptable in courts and parks that minors frequent, Robinson says.

Demographics
   Urban teenagers and young adults is the primary demographic targeted in streetball campaigns. A younger audience is also often targeted using basketball courts as well as other athletic parks and locations.
   Advertisers seeking a broader audience will often use a mix that includes streetball locations, Cohen says.
   “For example, WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) was targeting sports and entertainment types as potential WrestleMania viewers. We placed a number of their ads near basketball courts, baseball diamonds, sports clubs and parks in general reaching that demographic, the general sports enthusiasts, the active lifestyle people.”
   A campaign for the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) targets locations near the sites that will host the volleyball matches, including a beach basketball court in Florida.
   Census data is used to determine locations based on income, household characteristics and ethnicity.

Making the buy
   Lead time is 30 days. Campaigns typically range from one to three months. Factors that affect pricing are availability, size of buy and length of agreement. The cost is $250 to $350 per location for a bank of phones. Production is extra.

Who’s already on streetball tickets
   Converse and Nike have campaigns focused on streetball locations. World Wrestling Entertainment has some streetball locations as part of a broader sports fan target.

What they’re saying
   “Wrestling fans are sports and entertainment junkies. We were targeting sports fans and entertainment fans, primarily males from 12 through 34. Based on an understanding of sports and lifestyle, Prime Point used demographic targeting to deliver our message about WrestleMania and it definitely got noticed. The feedback from people inside and outside the industry is that it definitely cut through the clutter.” – Dan Levi, vice president of marketing for Connecticut-based World Wrestling Entertainment

Web site info
   Prime Point Media at www.primepointmedia.com

Etc.
    The network also includes kiosks at or near bars, nightclubs, restaurants, shopping malls, boutiques, high school and college campuses, beaches and stadiums.