The new service isn't the end-all, be-all of the digital out-of-home marketplace, says Adcentricity President Rob Gorrie, but it will begin to provide a seamless infrastructure for integrating mobile applications that provide and interactive call-to-action, and return path data similar to the Internet.
"Mobile is not the clickthrough for digital out-of-home," he cautions, but it will enhance the ability of agencies and marketers to create interactive campaigns around digital out-of-home buys that will effectively add Web-like features to place-based campaigns, as well s the kinds of ROI measurement long associated with online advertising buys.
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Gorrie, however, says Adcentricity wants to go slow with the deployment and adoption of mobile tie-ins to avoid the advertising model progression that beset the Internet, which moved from a classic cost-per-thousand (CPM) model used for most traditional media, to a cost-per-click (CPC) model, and ultimately a cost-per-action (CPA) model that has made online media often analogous to direct response buys vs. traditional brand-based advertising. Gorrie says Adcentricity is being cautious, because he believes the online advertising marketplace leaves a lot of brand value on the table, and wants to avoid the same pitfall for digital out-off-home media.
That said, he believes there is tremendous upside to digital out-of-home campaigns that can activate a mobile component, and Adcentricity's new deal with Impact Mobile will begin to integrate campaigns across the two platforms in a seamless way that is consistent with Adcentricity's "one plan, one buy, one bill" ease-of-use approach.
The new service will enable advertisers and agencies to plan digital buys across Adcentricity's network reaching a diverse array of out-of-home locations - everything from grocery stores, retail outlets, bars and restaurants to office buildings, college campuses and ATM machines - with mobile applications that tie mobile applications that "hypertarget" consumers in those places.
Among the applications Adcentricity will offer, include:
* Call-to-action via SMS, votes, polls, sweepstakes, contests, promotions, coupons, call-back request, text4info,
surveys
* The ability to redeem mobile coupons (bar codes), unique PIN numbers (drive2web), ticketing
* Rich content, ringtones, wall papers, games, videos
* Mobile
applications such as mobile Internet sites (WAP)
* Smart phone applications