• by February 12, 2001

By Adam Bernard

Trying to reach people on the street? Literally? Well, if your target customer owns a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), he can just point it at any Streetbeam kiosk in New York City and download your ad.

NYC-based Streetbeam is a privately held media and wireless technology company, which operates 100 interactive kiosks around Manhattan. For about $2,000 a month per kiosk, an advertiser's information is beamed to all compatible devices within range and anyone who points their PDA at the ad is asked to accept an information download.

Same goes for WAP-enabled cell phones - a user can go to Streetbeam's website and type in a particular kiosk's ID number. Once entered, the advertiser information is shown on the cell phone browser.

Streetbeam says ads may be designed in a variety of formats, including e-coupon offers.

In December, the company ran a month-long trial campaign with Banana Republic, which bough all 100 kiosks to beam holiday-related promo messages. Streetbeam's Jan Renner called the trial a "huge" success.

Banana Republic's Kim Sobel agreed. She said Streetbeam is "a fun service" and overall the campaign was a "great success, we were very happy." According to Sobel, the holidays are a busy time for Banana Republic customers, and "customers rely on technology."

Following the Banana Republic campaign, Streetbeam said used January and the beginning of February for self-promotion. Advertisers are coming back on February 21st.

- Adam Bernard may be reached at AdamBernard@mediapost.com