STRATEGIC PARTNERS
After months of "talking the talk," Credit Card Center's P&G; Marketing is ready to do some walking with two ATM advertising pilots in the New York City area.by Ann All, editor
September 12, 2000
After months of experimenting with ATM advertising on a local level and building a formidable installed base of machines, Philadelphia-based Credit Card Center (CCC) is ready to launch its first national effort, two pilots with dot-com companies in the New York City area. According to Len Sendroff of P&G Marketing, a division of CCC, the pilots will help P&G fine tune its approach before expanding its program. "Initially we were focused on local advertising only. Now we're looking at a regional and national model," Sendroff said. "This will be a test for us that will help us work things out." The pilots also will give P&G an opportunity to compile data that may help bring more advertisers on board, Sendroff said. "Advertisers need to have as much information about this as they can." The first effort, with a Spanish-language auction site called DeRemate.com, has been up and running since May 1. A second, three-month program will roll out in September. Featuring static screen advertising and thermal receipt-based coupons, they will run on a total of approximately 1,100 ATMs. P&G worked with Inter Active Touch Marketing, Inc., a Coral Gables, Fla.-based company that helps connect advertisers with ATM owners. Antoinette Okon, iATM's vice president of sales and marketing, said, "As long as innovative companies such as CCC's P&G Marketing continue to see and share our vision, this medium will no doubt become a staple in most any advertiser's campaign to enhance their traditional media." CCC has more than 2,600 machines in the New York City area, although only 1,400 are currently advertising-ready. The remaining machines will require software upgrades. According to Sendroff, 150 to 200 new machines are being added each month in the New York City area. CCC's national installed base is over 10,000, with about 1,000 machines being added every month, he added. All of the newest machines are advertising-ready. The ATMs are located in small supermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores and gas stations with mini-marts, among other sites. Acknowledging that they are not high-volume machines, with most doing fewer than 500 transactions a month, Sendroff said they are still effective vehicles for advertising. "The banks are doing much greater volumes, but they're obviously not getting everyone. We do a lot of business," he said. While CCC's network may be large enough to attract advertisers on its own, Sendroff said P&G Marketing also wants to combine its machines with those of other ISOs and/or financial institutions to offer advertisers more "critical mass" in the desired DMAs (dominant market areas). CCC's aggressive pace of deployment will benefit advertisers, Sendroff said. If an advertiser commits to a contract in Dallas, for example, and 100 machines are deployed during the course of the contract, the advertising will appear on the newly-installed ATMs as well as the original machines. P&G plans to sell advertising in three-month "flights," Sendroff said. "Because of the cost of downloading, it makes the most sense to do it for at least three months." Like Wells Fargo Bank,which includes public service announcements for non-profit organizations in its ATM advertising program, P&G is establishing a "long-term relationship" with the United Cerebral Palsy Association, Sendroff said. "We intend to give them space on all of our machines." According to several industry sources familiar with P&G's pricing structure, P&G's pricing is more reasonable than the CPM (cost per thousand) figures being quoted by many other ISOs. Gary Walston, president of Dallas-based ATM Advertising Solutions, Inc., said, "Right now, I think they have the most realistic expectations for an ISO concerning ATM advertising." A lower CPM is one of the keys to attracting advertisers to what is largely an untested medium, Walston added. "We don't want to be greedy. You have to develop the value (of ATM advertising) before you can sell it for what it's worth," Sendroff said. Sendroff may be reached at 516-484-3963, bestatms@yahoo.com.
