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Case Study - Subway Advertising

The document discusses how advertising agencies are illuminating dark subway tunnels with static image panels that come to life as 15-30 second commercials when a train passes by. Major brands like McDonald's, HBO, and Coca-Cola use this innovative form of subway advertising. Riders are a captive audience and reports show the ads surprise and engage commuters, with some stopping to look and many remembering the advertised brands. Transit agencies also benefit from this new source of advertising revenue.

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Danish Ali
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323 views2 pages

Case Study - Subway Advertising

The document discusses how advertising agencies are illuminating dark subway tunnels with static image panels that come to life as 15-30 second commercials when a train passes by. Major brands like McDonald's, HBO, and Coca-Cola use this innovative form of subway advertising. Riders are a captive audience and reports show the ads surprise and engage commuters, with some stopping to look and many remembering the advertised brands. Transit agencies also benefit from this new source of advertising revenue.

Uploaded by

Danish Ali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Brave New World of Subway Advertising

What do McDonald’s, HBO, Unilever, Intel, Acer, Netflix, Microsoft, Shell, Paramount, Coca-
Cola, and Universal have in common?100 They all break through the clutter of traditional ad
spaces to grab the attention of potential customers. And in the process, they dazzle people right
out of the boredom of riding the subway. Subway advertising has been around nearly as long as
the subway itself. But Vancouver-based advertising media pioneer adtrackmedia gives the old
venue a different twist. By employing an innovative technology similar to that of a childhood flip
book, the agency illuminates dark subway tunnels and turns them into valuable showcases for
major advertisers.

At the core of this method is a series of lit panels that contain static images. The panels occupy
space that normally contains only graffiti, grime, and the occasional rat. When you view one
from a standstill, it appears as a simple still image. But when a subway train passes by, the series
comes to life for riders as a 15- to 30-second full-motion commercial. If you don’t live near one
of the subways using this technology, you can check out the video at adtrackmedia.com.

Having just another place to air a commercial might not seem so appealing to advertisers. But in
a media environment where consumers increasingly skip or fast-forward through ads, the
placement of these messages in subway tunnels presents exceptional possibilities. Advertisers
clamor for opportunities to break through the clutter. Because these ads are really unique, they’re
likely to grab the attention of even the most jaded commuter. Branding expert Tony Chapman
says, “Millions upon millions of people ride the metro every day. All of a sudden the subway
tunnel comes to life with great advertising. That is the kind of marketing that we need in the
future to make sure that brands can still engage their consumer at the speed of life.” But the
uniqueness of this medium is only part of the formula that makes these ad agencies believe
they’re on to something. The rest is based on the nature of the subway audience: captive and
bored. “Our riders’ reactions oscillated between surprise and curiosity. It certainly brought a
positive experience to our riders, bringing some fun and making the trip more pleasant,” said
Harald Zwetkoff, President of ViaQuatro, the metro service of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Whether it’s
because the ads give a bored audience something to do or because this new wave of out-of-home
advertisements is truly cutting-edge, industry officials claim that the public reaction has been
overwhelmingly positive. In a test of the service in Madrid, two out of three riders remembered
seeing the tested campaign, with over 44 percent rating the ad as “original.” Over 58 percent said
that the ads made them stop and look. Most important, 34.3 percent reported that the ads made
them more likely to buy some of the brand being advertised through this innovative medium. The
novelty of the technology is part of the magic of this approach to communicating with
consumers. Client Antonio Selles, Director of Marketing of shampoo producer Garnier, said that
the values of the medium—notoriety, surprise, and modernity—were transferred to his product.
He also noted that the ads generated some buzz on social media, multiplying the value of his ad
spend. Results like these make it easy to believe the claims of underground advertising agencies.
In one ad test with Dasani bottled water, Coca-Cola found that 93 percent of consumers
remembered a subway-advertised product, whereas only 13 percent had that same level of recall
for televisions ads. This means big ad revenues, and not just for the agencies that create these
messages. Mass transit organizations potentially can realize a big source of secondary income
when they lease out this unused real estate. In a two-year trial with adtrackmedia, Madrid (Spain)
Metro hoped that subway tunnel ads installed between two of their stations would add €400,000
of advertising income to their bottom line. Currently, brightening the tunnels of numerous mass
transit systems in North and South America, Asia, and Europe, these subterranean animations
represent something every advertiser dreams of: an ad that people go out of their way to look at.
In a world that is increasingly skeptical about too much advertising, this new platform is an
express ride to success.

QUESTION 1 Based on the principles of attention, explain why riders receive these ads so
positively. Be sure to consider the possible stimulus selection factors that apply.

QUESTION 2 It has been shown that consumers can habituate to a stimulus. Is there anything
the ads’ creators should know about adaptation and its potential impact on the success of these
ads over time?

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