• by David Kaplan , March 3, 2005

Digital video and audio advertising displays in shopping malls have the potential to increase brand recall, especially among younger demos, a custom report prepared by Arbitron for CoolSign Digital Media Networks indicates.

CoolSign's media network reaches 7.5 million consumers in the major U.S. markets

As department stores continue to struggle--and there's considerable introspection going on now in that arena following Federated's $11 billion purchase of May's last week--Arbitron's research concerning CoolSign suggests a possible lifeline.

For one thing, having the CoolSign Media Network in a mall seemed to raise the average recall for an advertiser by 18 percentage points. On average, consumers who noticed a CoolSign Media digital panel in the mall were more than twice as likely to recall having seen an advertisement for the featured products that day.

The sales for a major national department store using CoolSign Media Integrated Digital Displays outperformed other stores in its chain.

The report surveyed 1,417 consumers at two malls using the CoolSign Media Integrated Digital Platform and two malls not using the CoolSign Media displays. Eight advertisers (GNC, Fox, Nickelodeon, DeBeers, Zenith, BMW, Electronic Arts, and Macy's) participated in the study.