• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 4, 2023

At CES today, Stagwell unveiled a new unit called Specialty Media, which it said is designed to create new brand and performance inventory. 

The new unit is part of the Stagwell Marketing Cloud division, which the company rolled out a year ago, also at CES. 

Several existing products developed under the purview of Marketing Cloud are being folded into the Specialty Media unit including augmented reality platform ARound, which made its debut last year. It’s designed for use in big arenas and stadiums, the NFL Ram’s SoFi Stadium being the most recent example. Inventory in the content released at the stadium (via mobile phones) is sponsored by SoFi the online finance company. 

Two new Specialty Media products unveiled at CES include a QR Code-powered ad platform for restaurants and bars and The Travel Marketplace. The restaurant/bar platform will integrate with digital menu and point-of-sale systems to serve contextual ads native to the customer’s experience. The platform provides brands with customer profiles and channels to place messages that complement the user’s current experience, like a promotional offer for a specialty cocktail or a wine to pair with a meal, for instance. First-party data is created in the process. 

“The Travel Marketplace” is billed as a one-stop shop giving brands access to 5 million passengers a day. The new platform offers access to a portfolio of channels including airport TV screens, WiFi sponsorship, inflight entertainment, branded travel documents, targeted social media, and more. So far there are 2,500+ screens across 90 North American airports via Stagwell’s ReachTV.  According to the firm, the service also provides first-party passenger data to drive targeting to reach travelers at every stage of their journey.  

“Stagwell is bringing new experiences to consumers whether they are at the stadium, in a restaurant or getting on an airplane,” stated Stagwell CEO Mark Penn. “Along with these experiences come a wealth of creative marketing opportunities.”