• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 6, 2007

At a time when Madison Avenue is becoming increasingly focused on the "last 10 yards" of media, two divergent players in the world of in-store advertising are teaming up for a test that would surround shoppers with an ambient, multimedia advertising and marketing experience. The test, which will rollout in a sample of supermarkets owned by The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., will combine the place-based programming of InStore Broadcasting Network (IBN) with personalized shopping media developed by Cuesol.

The alliance, which will be announced officially today, is an extension of a "perfect media" concept developed by IBN, which seeks to surround and synchronize consumers with media throughout their retail shopping experience.

During the Stop & Shop tests, IBN will deliver synchronized advertising messages via its audio and video platforms in the store, which will be combined and integrated with Cuesol's technology, a high-tech shopping cart equipped with a digital personal shopping assistant dubbed the "Shopping Buddy."

"We can run perimeter channels, as well as individual aisle channels with screens," said long-time retail media vet Jim Deveau, who recently joined IBN as senior vice president-marketing. Using the technology, he said, IBN can synchronize audio and/or video advertising messages so that they relate to specific aisles or sections in the store, or even have the entire place-based media coordinate the same message at the same time.

Under the agreement, IBN will handle media sales and content for the combined IBN/Cuesol system.

Terms of the deal and the duration of the test were not disclosed, but if successful, the companies are expected to roll the concept out throughout Stop & Shop, as well as in other supermarket chains.