Billboards and posters are one of worlds oldest forms of advertising. Now, some marketers and start-ups say wireless technology could revamp outdoor advertising by bringing interactivity and pay-for-performance models.
Over the last few months, Google Inc., Nokia Corp. and France Telecom SAs Orange have run pilot advertising campaigns that let a person interact with posters in bus stops, phone booths, train stations and airports in cites including New York and London.
So far, companies are using the posters as a way to distribute wireless applications or ringtones for smartphones. But outdoor advertisers and marketers say the ads could also be used to distribute games, video ads, coupons and even as a way to sell physical or digital goods and services.
“You have to wait here. You dont have to be bored,” read the poster for a Google campaign, which ran in Boston-area bus stops. The poster let a person download Googles mobile app through a free Wi-Fi router installed in the location.
“Its an old-school media that has been around for hundreds of years but weve dressed it up and made it fresh,” said Zohar Levkovitz, chief executive and co-founder of Amobee, Inc., a start-up based in Redwood City, Calif., that has developed the technology and begun selling it to advertisers.The billboard also gives users free Internet access at the bus stop. People can download the advertised app through their cellular connection as well, but Amobee says using the Wi-Fi connection allows people to avoid any data charges.
Interactive outdoor advertising is still unproven on a large scale and the business model is in an early stage of development, but Amobee says it is in discussions with other large multinational companies to roll out new campaigns.
Continues at: Billboards Go Interactive With Help of WiFi – WSJ.com.
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