(See related pages)
|
|
|
| Media that reach prospects outside their homes are called out-of home media. They include outdoor advertising, transit advertising, and exotica like electronic signs and parking meters. Of the major advertising media, outdoor advertising is the least expensive per message delivered. It also offers other attractive features: instant broad coverage (reach), very high frequency, great flexibility, and high impact. Drawbacks include the limits of brief messages, long lead times, high initial preparation costs, and the difficulty of physically inspecting each billboard. The standardized outdoor advertising industry consists of about 3,000 local and regional plant operators. National advertising makes up the bulk of outdoor business. The three most common forms of outdoor advertising structures are the 30-sheet poster, the eight-sheet poster, and the bulletin. A form of outdoor available in some cities is the spectacular, an expensive electronic display. The basic unit of sale for outdoor advertising is the 100 showing, or 100 GRPs, which means the message will appear on enough panels to provide a daily exposure equal to the market's total population. Transit advertising includes transit shelters; station, platform, and terminal posters; inside cards and outside posters on buses; and taxi exteriors. This medium offers high reach, frequency, exposure, and attention values at very low cost. It gives long exposure to the advertiser's message and offers repetitive value and geographic flexibility. In addition, advertisers have a wide choice in the size of space used. But transit advertising does not cover some segments of society. Also, it reaches a nonselective audience, it lacks prestige, and copy is still somewhat limited. Other out-of-home media include mobile billboards, electronic signs and display panels, parking meters, and public phones. Exhibitive media include product packaging and trade-show booths and exhibits. These media are designed to help bring consumers or business customers eyeball to eyeball with the product, often at the point of sale or close to it. Supplementary media include specialty advertising, Yellow Pages directories, and emerging media like DVDs, movie theaters, product placements, and ATMs. Product placement includes films, videos, computer games, and the Internet. The advantage of film is that it creates brand association with top movies and actors. ATMs provide several means of exposure, from printed ads on receipts to full-motion video to promotionals like ATM-card cash giveaways. Because most Americans today use ATMs, they offer a high frequency of exposure. |