Atlanta Billboards Not Changing Soon

I’ll be curious to see how the Atlanta City Council decides to regulate digital billboards. Talk about getting your message across in a busy marketplace! I loved the mention of a restaurant being able to tailor its pitch for different meal specials throughout the day.

This topic interests me for several reasons. I am a native Atlantan and like to track how the visual landscape of the city evolves over time. But as a marketer, it’s nice to know that I won’t be subjected to the same, irrelevant messages for extended periods of time.

But how exactly can a billboard operator monitor how many people view each ad (as the above article mentions)? So it’s great that an advertiser can measure its ROI, but there’s something about it that seems a bit Big Brother-ish to me.

Looks Like Philips Has a Winner

Philips Electronics was the sole sponsor of the December 4 edition of NBC Nightly News and in doing so freed up more than an extra six minutes of airtime for the program. This elimination of multiple advertisers allowed all of the attention to be on Philips’ “sense and sensibility theme.” According to this USA Today article, the result was an increase in viewership and more than 4,000 e-mails from viewers thanking NBC for subjecting them to only one sponsor. All but one of the messages were positive and many mentioned they were planning to buy Philips’ products. The consumer electronics was the sole sponsor of an edition of CBS’ 60 Minutes last year as well as a college football broadcast earlier this year. It seems to me like the company is choosing to spend its money wisely. I can’t argue with spending to be the lone pitch in what would be an otherwise crowded marketplace when the feedback indicates a strong tendency to buy the product.

A Card in Hand is Worth More Than Two Gifts Under the Tree

I read this blog about the Starbucks card and wanted to throw in my $.02 on the topic. Having given (and received) this card, I know first-hand how easily they can become a staple item in someone’s wallet. But I think this is an example of a good loyalty program. Given that many people make a Starbucks stop a part of their daily routine, and that one in eight visitors use a Starbucks card to pay for their drink, the coffee retailer has a wonderful opportunity to get to know its customers and create tailored marketing campaigns. In this time of holiday gift-giving, I wouldn’t be surprised if Starbucks cards accounted for a large portion of the $24.8 billion in sales projected here for gift cards. As one analyst pointed out, why not give a gift that allows the recipient to choose how its used?