• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 24, 2007

In a sign that the office media marketplace is expanding and growing more competitive, Gannett Co.'s Captivate Network this morning unveiled plans to expand its digital video screens beyond its core base of elevators in high-rise office buildings in major markets to also include low-rise buildings and office parks in important suburban areas. Unlike the high-rise buildings, provide a significant amount of programming and advertising "dwell time" to workers riding elevators, the new Captivate Suburban Network will feature digital video screens in lobby areas, or in the blank wall spaces situated between elevator banks. The announcement comes one day after Captivate's main competitor, The Wall Street Journal's office network, coincidentally announced a plan to expand beyond the lobbies of office buildings into elevators.

The moves of both companies recognize the value of reaching the highly desirable office marketplace beyond the traditional B-to-B and consumer media they are ordinarily exposed to, as well as the explosive market for digital out-of-home networks.

Mike DiFranza, the founder and general manager of Captivate Network, said the expansion was one of several the 10-year-old company plans to announce shortly, including new channels that would be aimed at other locations and other markets beyond its core office worker base. While he declined to disclose what venues Captivate is considering, he said the new outlets would have the same proximity-based logic that Captivate currently offers marketers trying to reach people at work.

DiFranza said Captivate simultaneously is overhauling its digital technology and will begin installing new, larger format digital screens in the lobbies of its suburban networks, as well as in the lobbies of some office towers. Captivate will also begin installing new screen in its high-rise elevator banks that integrate the elevator's floor numbering system directly into the video panel. The panel, in effect, will become more like a multi-component digital screen akin to what someone might see on a computer or an enhance television system, featuring video programming, advertising, building floor numbers, and a "local" window for the building's owner and/or operator. Additionally, the new screens will have the ability to incorporate a tenant directory, announcing businesses located on each floor the elevators stop at.