• by April 25, 2005

By Steve Farella & Audrey Siegel

Back when we were "oh so much younger than today," we experienced the first in a life-long series of aperture moments. Driving from New York to Florida (insert your experience here), alternating between sleeping and counting the cows along the side of the highway, there it was. On the side of the road a larger than life billboard read, "If you lived here, you'd be home by now." What a clear and simple point. How we wished we lived there! In today's media world we often trip over ourselves talking about high-speed Internet, custom-produced programming, product placement opportunities, and "cutting edge" ways to get our clients' messages across. Sometimes, the answer is as simple as the sign on the side of the road. Placing a message as close to a person's "point of receptivity" as possible can make all the difference in the world.

Outdoor or place-based media is a medium that actually moves with consumers, entering their world at moments of consideration and of action. As far as carrying messages that help communicate through the consumer's aperture, outdoor is stellar.

A few of our favorite examples: Just north of New York City's Yankee Stadium on the Major Deegan Expressway, you'll see a Nextel billboard that reads: "Reach your office from here in under a second." Perfect; that route is loaded with businesspeople traveling to work. Most likely, it's not their first trip of the week, and just as likely, they've spent a fair amount of time inching their way along the journey. Frustrated and time-starved, they all want to stay connected to their office. "Getting there" in less than a second through Nextel's technology, if not via the highway, is what these people want.

While riding a suburban train to and from the city, we again spied a Nextel board. This one leveraged the "reliability" of the train: "Delays just got more productive," encouraging riders to switch to Nextel and spend those minutes connected to the office. While without personal knowledge of how this campaign was developed, we suspect that the media agency had a strong hand in developing the message and the media placements.

Another notable example is from our client pom Wonderful. For its East Coast introduction, the campaign blended its unique brand essence with strategic media placements. Together they enter the consumer's view at the key moment of aperture. pom Wonderful says the juice delivers more powerful antioxidants than any other drink, helping people achieve good health and long life. Radio advertising espoused the same message, but to enter the consumer's aperture, the brand placed a very targeted message in health clubs, "Outlive your personal trainer." On-site sampling and branded postcards with purchase incentive took the communication further. pom Wonderful wanted to make sure that those health-minded consumers were not only exposed to the message, but that they "received" it in an environment and at a moment when the aperture was open.

In the New York City subway, we noticed an attention-grabbing ad for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: "Stand clear of the closing jaws." While everyone knows what the circus is, each year its arrival requires a new invitation to attend. Knowing that its audience tends to come from the suburbs and that the subway is often the transportation of choice for a trip to Madison Square Garden, the circus developed a campaign that grabbed riders' attention giving them a humorous treat as they traveled underground. It wasn't complicated or high-tech, but right in the center of the media aperture [Disclosure: TargetCast handles media planning for the circus].

"And the last shall be first" conveys equality among people, and in this case, media. As far as we can see, outdoor media is first among some, and last among too many, for carrying effective messages to the consumer through the media aperture.

Steve Farella, president-CEO, and Audrey Siegel, executive vice president and director of client services, are co-founders of TargetCast TCM. (steve-audrey@targetcast.com)