• by Peter Bowen , May 5, 2009

People see digital video screens everywhere they go today: at gas stations, coffee shops, gyms, taxis, grocery stores and sports stadiums. If you're on the go, you'll almost certainly run into multiple digital video screens during your weekly routine, whether they are large LCDs or smaller interactive screens. But how effective are they? And what's the best way to incorporate them into your advertising campaigns?

Place-based digital video advertising has emerged as an extremely effective branding tool. According to research conducted by OTX, 44% of adults said they paid a lot or some attention to place-based digital video advertising, placing it ahead of billboards, the Internet and mobile phones, and on par with magazines, radio and newspapers. And 63% reported that place-based digital advertising "catches their attention" -- more than any other media.

Still, if you want to make this new medium part of your integrated advertising campaigns, you'll need to ensure you're getting the biggest bang for the buck. Here are five strategies media buyers are using to do just that. 

1.      Build brand ubiquity with national reach to complement your TV plan.

Placed-based digital video advertising creates brand ubiquity for advertisers looking to reach mobile consumers. Until recently, the fragmented nature of this media, consisting of many private, regional digital video networks, made it difficult to execute a national buy. Companies like SeeSaw Networks, however, are now aggregating many of these networks, making it very easy to create brand ubiquity for today's mobile audiences. SeeSaw, for example, delivers more than 50 million weekly gross impressions through its network of over 50 partners spanning over 30 different categories with over 26,000 locations in over 200 DMAs.

2.      Capitalize on  life patterns to deliver contextually relevant messages.

Life Pattern Marketing is a methodology that employs behavioral analysis to target groups of people -- Alpha Moms or Young Urban Professionals for example -- to reveal where they go during a busy week as they work, play, socialize and shop. With this knowledge, you can precisely identify a segment of the population, map where they go throughout a week, find the locations offering digital screens, and select the locations that provide the right context for your products and services-whether it's reaching consumers interested in wellness at health clubs, medical offices and juice bars, or engaging sports fans via 50-inch plasma screens at sports bars and health clubs,  Jumbotrons, or even a 2100-square-foot digital screen on a blimp at a NASCAR race or baseball game.

3.      Leverage geo-targeting to precisely deliver your message. With place-based digital video, precision marketing tools let advertisers target a specific radius -- 5, 10 or 20 miles around a very precise list of addresses. This lets brick-and-mortar retailers and companies with service restrictions precisely define the areas to advertise in. Precision targeting enables brand managers to reach more of their target audience, more often and at less cost, whether it's a telecommunications company with a new service available only in some locations, or a restaurant chain wanting to confine its promotions to a specific distance from its locations.

4.      Extend your interactive campaigns with mobile and place-based digital advertising. Consider this scenario: a pizza delivery chain allows customers to go online and set up a profile that includes an address and set of size and topping preferences. These customers can then order their preferred pizza using their mobile device simply by sending a text message. To increase the use of this service, the company launches a place-based digital video advertising campaign in contextually relevant locations, such as gas stations along key commute corridors. The ads remind consumers to use the Web service right there and then. Only digital video advertising makes this three-pronged interactive advertising strategy perfect for local promotions as well as national loyalty and rewards programs. The mobile phone is the "click-through" of place-based digital advertising.

5.      Deliver contextually smart promotions to the right audience. By combining Life Pattern Marketing and precision targeting, place-based digital video advertising can take contextually relevant advertising to new levels. Think about creating dynamic digital video spots that run based on local conditions in particular zip codes -- the ultimate in presenting the right offer in the right place at the right time. For example, ads at local gas stations can promote seasonally and locally relevant products such as snow chains during winter, batteries and radiator fluid during summer, and umbrellas and rain boots on stormy days -- and the ads can be dynamically updated to reflect current inventory levels!