Gas Station Advertising

One of the fastest growing ways to advertise is through digital mediums, whether that be television, movies, or video games.  Digital advertising is particularly potent because of its ability to reach so many people.  Unlike print advertising which in general requires proximity to the advertisement, digital advertising can reach consumers in all locations throughout the world.  Digital advertising techniques are mostly based around product placement or subliminal advertising; for example, you might see a hip character drinking a Pepsi in a film, or hear an advertisement for Domino’s pizza on a radio station like Chatterbox from the Grand Theft Auto video game series. 

Digital advertising is the new age; it’s cheaper and more efficient than print advertising, and can build off the success of one product in order to market another (see the success of Domino’s Gotham pizza promotion during the release of Batman: The Dark Knight).

In a world where many people find themselves burdened with multiple jobs and to-do lists, it’s hard to find time to read the billboards and flip through the ads in a newspaper. To effectively get your message out, you need to be creative in your ad campaign. Eye-catching designs, striking pictures and texts, and humor will often grab the attention of people. But even more arresting is where you place those ads. A person might expect to see an add fall out of their newspaper, and not pay it another mind. But not as many people would expect to find that same ad written in the sky, or posted in the bathroom. If you hope to draw consumers in, non-traditional advertising is a must.
Some mediums for non-traditional advertising techniques:

• Door hangers and door knockers
• Coasters
• Sidewalk art
• Washers and dryers at a laundry-mat
• In bathrooms

A major result of online advertising is information and content that is not limited by geography or time. The emerging area of interactive advertising presents fresh challenges for advertisers who have hitherto adopted an interruptive strategy, leading to effective campaigns such as viral advertising.

Online video directories for brands are a good example of interactive advertising. These directories complement television advertising and allow the viewer to view the commercials of a number of brands. If the advertiser has opted for a response feature, the viewer may then choose to visit the brand’s website, or interact with the advertiser through other touch points such as email, chat or phone. Response to brand communication is instantaneous, and conversion to business is very high. This is because in contrast to conventional forms of interruptive advertising, the viewer has actually chosen to see the commercial.

Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of ancient Arabia. Egyptians used papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters, while lost-and-found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America.

The tradition of wall painting can be traced back to Indian rock-art paintings that date back to 4000 B.C. As printing developed in the 15th and 16th century, advertising expanded to include handbills. 17th century advertising started to appear in weekly newspapers in England. These early print advertisements were used mainly to promote: books and newspapers, which became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press; and medicines, which were increasingly sought after as disease ravaged Europe. However, false advertising and so-called “quack” advertisements became a problem, which ushered in the regulation of advertising content.

Just the other day I was driving behind some strip malls and I kept seeing these cool dumpsterswrapped with anti-smoking messages.  They were green and even had the kind of rusty patches that are typically found on garbage dumpsters.  I was in the city of Yakima but I understand they were also in several cities across Washington state.The ad was a featherless turkey smoking up against the garbage dumpster.  It made the turkey and smoking look gross and also placing them in a very negative environment.  I actually saw some smokers on break standing within view of the dumpster.  Great way to target closet smokers!!

I was at a great bar and grill they other day and again I came across a very unique idea in a coaster that was placed under my drink.  It was for the Lottery and it had a cartoon of a guy with a hairy chest from back in the 70’s.  The chest hair said scratch and sniff and the tag line was “Its scratch time baby.” 

The colors were kinda disco and the smell from the scratch and sniff was some kind of cheap cologne like English leather or aqua velvet.  The coaster was square and was really a great conversation starter for all of the people around the bar.

One of the great Non traditional items executed by Pacific Media is Chalk Art.  Placing chalk art in targeted areas offers unlimited advertising opportunities.  Chalk Art grabs the attention of people on the street in the exact area your looking to hit.  The creative placed can be real simple stencils or highly crafted full color 10′x10′ artwork. When placing the chalk art you have the ability to get permission from the sites you wish to use or simply going out and tagging the sidewalk with non-permanent chalk.  We stress the non-permanent for those of you against graffiti.  Tagging is done quickly usually art must be simplified to allow completion in less then 1 hour.  On the other hand if you get permission there is usually a higher cost but much more detail can be used.

One tactic referred to as stealth marketing causes an interaction with the target audience and product without them even knowing they are the target of a marketing campaign. Such a tactic has even included paid actors requesting that a group of people take their picture or even video games with gadgets ‘made’ by a particular company. Some controversy has been caused but this type of non-traditional advertising because certain ways of implementing this type of marketing has said to make the intended audience feel insulted because of the way their marketing ploy was implemented.

But not all non-traditional advertising is created the same. Even with a majority of intended viewers ignoring straight forward advertising there are ways of grabbing consumers attention and the most effective ways of advertising have been geared towards connecting with the intended demographic. Creativity is a huge part of capturing attention but also exposure time, with limited distractions. So where do people spend a significant amount of time that will allow for this type of exposure? Full-color poster bathroom advertising has certainly shown this type of potential with 1 to 3 minute exposure time and the potential for a viewers undivided attention. After all there is not much else to stare at other then then straight in front of you.