Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who has the coolest ads of all?
Ambient ads are untraditional ads in public places. And washrooms are popular public venues for advertisers. Combine them and you have AddMirror.
Using a mirror as an advertising screen, AddMirror back-lit ads can remain static or move around the mirror. Created by AddDirect, they are meant to grab the attention of the washroom audience. The company claims the washroom audience is a captive one that lingers up to 4 minutes. The innovative ads are sure to be noticed. The ads are popular in 600 high end London bars and nightclubs. Has anyone seen one in the US?
Innovative or annoying to the point of wanting to smash the mirror, you decide. Market studies show the ads are noticed by everyone except narcissists and women applying makeup.
Source: Gizmag (via Gizmowatch)
Further Reading: The Effects of Ambient Advertising [pdf]; Ambient Media.
Related Post:
Talking Urinal Ads
The Best Place to Put Your Ads: Place Marketing
So maybe I’ll make an ad with my own picture on it. That should prevent the smashed mirror problem!
On the mirror doesn’t sound too bad but in the stalls just kills me. I know a lot of people advertise there but I don’t want my business associated with sitting on a toilet:)
I’ll bet they are popular. If you’re anything like me, everything is funny after about 2 hours at the local bar.
Do they actually produce results? They’re too infrequent to reinforce a brand or message and once you leave the bathroom, you immediately forget what you saw.
I’m with Karen on this one.
The company is based in the UK, and they claim to be going after the club and nightclub audience. They claim the ads can’t be missed and because of their novelty are talked about and remembered. It would seem that the ads should still be targeted to the audience in these clubs. As with any place advertising, conventional or not, the ads have to appeal to that market demographic. So, yes, Karen is right—use the ads only if they fit the setting & the audience.
Being a former nighclub employee, I’m going to bet the ads will be “cool” to patrons, but few will remember what the ad was about once they wake up the following morning (or afternoon).
I think that if you were to use the ads in restaurants where the focus was more on food than on alcohol, they would be a bit more “sticky” and have better results.
Yes, Danilo, we agree. Ad impression/retention is a problem when alcohol is involved but also when there is lack of repeat exposure to the ads. Unless the patron is a regular they are likely to see the ad only a few times unless they are heavy consumers of Guinness
The ads in restaurants will certainly avoid the alcohol related retention problem but the lack of repeat exposure may still hamper the ads’ effectiveness.
I guess the key is to make an ad so clever, one time is memorable.
It looks like a great place to advertise as long as the mirror is wide enough and there is enough room for kids using the restroom to be able to use the mirror.
I agree in the stalls is not a place where I would want to advertise.
The ads seem to occupy a small space and move around the mirror. They are being targeted to nightclubs.
The stalls seem to attract a different kind of advertising
New Mexico orders 500 talking urinal cakes.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2875880