• Ad Age , Monday, January 30, 2006 3:31 PM

The newest trend in point-of-purchase marketing is a device that plays a 10-second video ad on a small screen placed on a store shelf that starts automatically when a shopper walks by. Called ShelfAds, the products are being produced by POP Broadcasting and cost $300 to make. They are battery operated, attachable to store shelves and operated by a remote server the size of a cigar box. So far, marketers including Coca-Cola Co., Colgate-Palmolive Co., Kraft Food's Maxwell House, Bush Bros. and Tyson Foods have signed on to test the device for free. The goal of the new system is to dispel previous criticism of in-store video ads: that shoppers must look up to view ads on giant, expensive plasma screens and that the ads never stop. "Brands and marketers are desperate to reach shoppers at the shelf," said Gwen Morrison, president, The Store in Chicago, a part of WPP's Global Retail Practice. "Many of these systems have gravitated to these large screens and it's always been hard for shoppers to look up. It's been an ergonomic issue almost."

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