Have you seen Sony Pictures ad campaign for the upcoming release of District-9?  This incredibly creative set of advertisements imply we be on the lookout for a species other than our own at bus stops, restrooms and other places designated for “Humans Only”  They even provide you with a phone number to call, should you encounter a “Non-Human” in your local neighborhood.

My hat goes off to Marc Weinstock, Sony’s co-president of worldwide theatrical marketing who has definitely come up with something outside the box that instantly grabbed my attention.

According to Wikipedia, Viral Marketing is defined as: techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes.  It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.

As for the “viral effectiveness” of this campaign?  Sony’s president of digital marketing, Dwight Caines, said: “In two weeks, there have been 33,000 phone calls. Two thousand five hundred people left voice messages about alien sightings. And 92% of those calls come from cell phones, indicating that people are opting in, on the spot, in the streets.  But, the beachhead for its high-minded, meta-narrative promo push is the movie’s website, listed on bus benches, bus shelters and billboards.

D-9.com not only streams the movie’s trailer (viewed over 21M times), but also serves as a primer to the self-contained world of “District 9,” detailing security guidelines for humans and “non-humans” which can be shared with friends.”

Oh yeah and let’s not forget that others (and now myself) have also blogged about this whole thing as well, adding to the “spread” of awareness

Will all this translate into the record breaking opening weekend Sony is hoping for?  Only time will tell, but one thing is certain-my own alertness to this film has definitely been increased thanks to this amazing ad campaign.

-Matthew Olivieri

Our CEO was recently given the opportunity to speak with Vator.TV about AdSemble.com and the digital out-of-home advertising industry, as well as make a special announcement.  You can now view this interview on our YouTube channel.

-Karan Shah

Thank you all for emailing us and letting us know how we could improve the Ad Specification description line in our search results.  Our mission is to make AdSemble YOUR digital advertising marketplace.  We can’t do that without the “YOUR” feedback part (kinda makes sense, right?)

Therefore, this last week’s scheduled maintenance saw us deploy a  system wide update to the Ad Specification description of every venue in our database, (whew! ) based off your ideas on how we could make it easier for you to know precisely how to build an ad for each venue you want to advertise in.

Login to your account to check it out (or just click the image below to take a sneak peak) :

-Matthew Olivieri

A clear, concise way to gauge ROI for digital signage ads seems to be one of the reasons why many advertisers have still not yet adopted the medium.  A recent survey conducted by Bill Gerba showed that “explaining the value overall” is, in fact,  the biggest challenge facing digital signage right now.

It should be noted that the survey was primarily responded to by individuals focused on the selling of the screens themselves (as well as other hardware such as mounting brackets, etc.),  software that controls what is on the screens and consultants who explain how you put it all together.

But, of the 13.7% respondents representing advertising/marketing agencies, I have to believe that many (if not all) also agreed that ROI is a key barrier preventing them from spending more ad dollars.

As more and more advertisers continue to be spoiled by only having to pay when someone does something, like click on their ad, the old axiom of “above the line” advertising is going to be washed away from the lexicons of agencies and individual marketers alike.

Okay, so if that is hand our industry is being dealt, how do we play it?

Should we advocate that every advertiser always place a “Text the word ______ to ______ and to get more information” in their ad?

Perhaps a unique phone number or special landing page that can’t be found anywhere else, except on their digital signage? One could then easily track which ads were more effective than others.

What ideas for metrics do you think we should be using?

-Matthew Olivieri

Over the weekend, I had a chance to grab some coffee at one of my favorite local cafes.  It is one of those vintage looking places reminiscent of any given account of small town Americana.  Ironically, despite the old stained hardwood floors and brick walls, this “Mom & Pop” decided to install a new 15″ digital signage screen directly over the cash register where all customers pay for their coffee.

I have no qualms over the placement of the screen or its size relative to the surrounding fixtures.  In fact, from all the way in the back corner of the cafe, one can still clearly see the content playing on the screen.

It is the content itself which was frustrating.  The operator of this screen elected to play back-to-back-to-back realtor ads in between other community announcements and misc. content.  Why did this bother me?  Because I watched several people waiting in line to pay for their coffee take note of the screen initially only to be turned off (and look away) upon seeing the repetitive real estate ads.

As an emerging industry, we need to continue to preach content/play list best practices, so screen operators can learn how to present a compelling array of news, images and information.  This is critical as the final decision as to what appears on the screen(s) will lie in the hands of the screen operator (in conjunction with any contractual agreements made with the owner of the location(s) where the screens are installed in, of course).

An obvious “quick fix” here would be to at least space out the realtor ads so they don’t play back-to-back. Deeper still, I would recommend this screen operator include more up-to-date content be integrated, such as “The current weather conditions in the 5 closest cities are X (possibly 3 day forecast)”  or “Baseball scores from last night.”

Give me, as someone waiting in line to pay for my coffee, a reason to stay fixated on the screen (maybe even get upset when I have to stop watching because it’s my turn to pay? )

What ideas do you have for play list orders and content best practices?

-Matthew Olivieri

We are pleased to announce that you can now filter for digital out-of-home advertising venues using specific age range and average income filters (see below).  This was a feature that many of you asked for, so we are happy to make it available to you.

What other kinds of filters do you think are important when searching for DOOH advertising venues?

-Matthew Olivieri