MEDIA CRUSADERS: (l-r): Jason Brown, Bob Martin, Christina Radigan, Jim Spaeth, Doug Pulick. Photo/Kris Earley
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“Tradigital.” “Gridigital.” Wha? You may not have heard of these phrases yet, but considering the developments in digital out-of-home advertising they may soon enter the media lexicon. I first got wind of the terms from Bob Martin, who in January started Bob Martin Media Consulting after spending 12 years with media agency Universal McCann, where he predominantly worked on the Microsoft account.
Martin gave me the lowdown on the terms just before he took part in a recent panel discussion, sponsored by The ADVERTISING Club, on how marketers can incorporate video for out-of-home advertising.
“Tradigital” is a traditional out-of-home advertisement (read: just text) that’s digitized (and is starting to take off), Martin said. “Gridigital” is the more challenging of the two applications: an-out-of-home message that delivered via a grid, or a panel of video screens. In theory, “gridigital” is designed to aggregate niche audiences. Call it monetizing what marketers refer to as “dwell time,” which is a highfalutin term for, well, waiting on line for something (or spacing out).
But while these two trends are accelerating it’s going to take some time for brand marketers to get comfortable with them. For starters, the ad industry needs to wrap some standards around digital out-of-home advertising (not to mention measurement tools). There are also creative challenges in crafting these kinds of campaigns (compared to, say, an online advertising campaign).
For now, local and regional advertisers are driving the train. But as digital out-of-home advertising gets more sophisticated big brands should come around (along with their ad budgets). Spending on digital out-of-home advertising is expected to grow to $1.7 billion in 2011, from $615 million this year, according to eMarketer. “A big brand has to do it for its own sake, and do it right,” Martin said.
In addition to Martin I also spoke with Doug Pulick, Senior VP-Research and Analysis for National CineMedia, about advertising in movie theaters; Jim Spaeth, Co-Founder of media consultancy Sequent Partners, about the benefits of advertising in movie theaters and Jason Brown, President, Sales and Marketing at IdeaCast, a digital out-of-home TV advertising network that can be seen in hotels, airplanes and theme parks.
The panel discussion took place before a screening of “The Dark Knight.” At the risk of committing heresy, I was bored after about 45 minutes, as the storyline — The Joker terrorizes Gotham, Batman comes to the rescue (temporarily), and then Batdude broods about being a vigilante — seemed to start to repeat itself fairly quickly. All of the pyrotechnics left me numb, and the film is utterly humorless.
Then again, I’m hardly the demo Hollywood is targeting with The Dark Knight. I’m aging myself but I much prefer the campy “Batman” TV series from the mid-1960s (which is currently syndicated on AmericanLife TV Network). Give me Adam West performing the ‘Bat-Watusi’ any day over Christian Bale whispering for nearly three hours.
