With thousands of buses and trains going to and fro every day, the mass transit industry is in constant motion. So why should your digital signage network stand still? The simple answer is: it shouldn’t.
Digital screens travel across the city and are seen by thousands of different people, each in their own environment. That means that the content on those screens should reflect the differences in these environments and provide context for each audience. This is where geotargeting comes in.
In most cases, screens in fixed locations are assigned data based on the location in which they have been installed. For example, a display on the New York University campus is more likely to reach college-educated young adults aged 18 to 25, so advertisers employing such screens will do so to support products and services that target this particular demographic group.
However, in the mass transit industry, screens cannot be assigned permanent data because they are constantly on the move. While demographic and location information could be manually assigned to vehicles each morning and be updated as the day goes on, such a monumental effort would require hours of manual labor daily, which would be wholly unrealistic.
On the other hand, geotargeting is a simple, automated solution that determines where screens are being seen at any given time allowing specific areas — whether cities, neighborhoods or even blocks — to be delineated by geofences and assigned appropriate data based on location. Per the earlier example, that means that it would be a safe assumption to conclude that the blocks immediately surrounding the New York University campus would also be likely to have an audience similar to the original location.
Why is Geotargeting Important?
Targeting capabilities make mass transit networks a very attractive option for advertisers. Each neighborhood has a unique history, culture and atmosphere, which of course translate to a group or grouping of people unique to each area enabling advertisers to identify viewers that they wish to target.
In order to spend budgets in the most impactful way possible, advertisers often find it more effective to serve limited ads at the opportune moment, rather than opting for a less focused, higher reach campaign. The ability to segment neighborhoods and define each audience provides advertisers with the information necessary to carefully manage their marketing dollars. Arranging to have ads run only in locations that are a right “fit” also provides a better return on investment for advertisers.
Location-specific marketing is also important in order to provide context and proper timing for the ad. In general, when consumers want something, they want it now. Through geofencing, you can set up a custom perimeter around a specified location to ensure ads are served when a consumer is in the ideal position to buy.
This is especially important for brick-and-mortar locations, where proximity to the store can have a large impact on sales. A study by IBM highlighted this impact, revealing that 72 percent of consumers will respond to a call-to-action when they are within eyesight of the storefront.
How Does Geotargeting Work in Digital Out-of-Home?
Geotargeting is the ability to target content based on physical location. Common in the mobile world, where a push notification appears when a customer is in a given area, the technology is also part of digital out-of-home advertising. Here is how it works:
A virtual perimeter is set up around a physical location using geofences. Imagine a geofenced area in a ½-mile radius around Madison Square Garden and a similarly geofenced area in a ½-mile radius around Barclays Center. Advertisers can then specify where they want their ads to be played.
That means a screen on a subway car travelling from Manhattan to Brooklyn will show the Knicks ad when it is within the Madison Square Garden radius and the Nets ad when it is within the Barclays Center radius.
This is possible because each screen on a subway car, bus or train is equipped with a global positioning system. As the vehicle goes about its route, it will enter geofenced areas, which then triggers the corresponding ads to play.
Does Your Digital Signage Network Support Geotargeting?
With contextual messages in the right screen locations, geotargeting can deliver strong results for advertisers. This will also positively impact the bottom line, which can be considered when developing a pricing strategy.
To get started, check with your digital signage software provider to make sure your system can support geotargeting functionalities. GPS transponders will need to be installed on all screens to be able to start geofencing the neighborhoods in which the system operates. As an important part of the preparatory work, meet with your clients to set up the ideal location targeting for their campaigns to ensure to define the goefenced areas in a way that will be attractive to your advertisers.
Bryan Mongeau is vice president of Technology at BroadSign International. He oversees all of the company’s technical aspects, including product development, quality assurance and IT operations where he provisions, deploys and maintains BroadSign’s private application cloud.
BroadSign International is a member of the Digital Signage Federation, the only independent, not-for-profit trade organization serving the digital signage industry. The DSF supports and promotes the common business interests of worldwide digital signage, interactive technologies and digital out-of-home network industries. To learn more, go to www.digitalsignagefederation.org
