• by Erik Sass , March 11, 2008

The deals are coming fast and furious in place-based video and out-of-home advertising.

The latest brings together National CineMedia, a leading cinema advertiser, and Reactrix, which creates eye-catching interactive displays in public places. NCM also announced an unrelated deal with Lexus to promote the new Lexus 2008 IS F. And competitor ScreenVision boosted its distribution through a deal with MovieTavern theaters.

Reactrix is set to begin installing its STEPscape and WAVEscape displays in the lobbies of a limited number of theaters operated by National CineMedia's cinema affiliates, which include AMC, CineMark, and Regal theaters. Like other Reactrix installations, the new lobby network will feature highly visible digital video projections on floors and walls that attract the attention of passersby by responding to their movements. Once engaged, the user is invited to experiment with controlling the display through different gestures that are tracked by motion sensors.

This will be the first time that Reactrix has allowed one of its venue partners to deploy the floor component as an independent ad network. All ad sales will be handled by NCM.

The interactive units will complement lobby assets, offering advertisers placement on concession-stand items, box office and lobby signage, flat-screen digital displays and free-giveaway promotions. These, in turn, complement NCM's FirstLook pre-movie advertising and entertainment feature, which reaches a captive audience of moviegoers through a total of 13,200 movie screens. (That number will grow to 16,500 with the addition of Loews by the end of 2008.)

Also on Monday, NCM announced a separate, unrelated deal with Lexus to promote the new Lexus 2008 IS F in the FirstLook feature. (At launch, the campaign doesn't include the Reactrix displays.) The campaign, by Attik of San Francisco, consists of six 15-second spots addressing the question "What is F?" with answers touting the car's capabilities.

Finally, NCM's main competitor, Screenvision, said it's bulking up its network with the addition of theaters operated by Movie Tavern, a cinema chain combined with full-service dining. The deal brings on board all 87 of the chain's theaters, including locations in Dallas, Atlanta, Houston and Denver.