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This is CNN...at an ATM near you

Several industry watchers are hailing Bank of America's advertising pilot at 2,000 California ATMs -- with a campaign promoting programs on CNN and TBS -- as a sign that third-party ATM advertising still has the potential to succeed.

August 13, 2002

While a four-month ATM advertising pilot by Bank of America hardly qualifies as a knockout punch, those in the ATM advertising business see it as a promising sign that the medium could be a contender after all.

Gary Walston, first vice president of the ATM Advertising Council, called the deal, with AOL/Time Warner advertisements running on 2,000 BofA ATMs in California, "a shot in the arm" for the medium.

While there have been past tests -- and even a paid buy or two -- involving a similar number of ATMs, Walston believes the deployer makes all the difference in this instance.

"The fact that it's BofA, one of the country's biggest banks and the largest owner of ATMs, is an affirmation for a lot of us in the industry who have known that this can be a successful medium," said Walston, the former owner of ATM Advertising Solutions and now vice president of sales and marketing for Houston-based ISO Momentum Cash Systems. 

The campaign and the publicity generated by it will be a "big positive for the industry," agreed Don Jarecki, vice president of network development for Seattle-based ATM advertising company CashPoint. "Financial institutions in general have a follower mentality, so other organizations will likely see what BofA is doing and follow."

Yet even BofA, with a fleet of 13,000 ATMs, can't offer national advertisers the kind of reach they desire, Walston said.

"If they want to attract major advertisers, they won't be able to do it alone," said Walston, who brokered deals between ATM owners and advertisers in his previous position as president of ATM Advertising Solutions. "BofA is in maybe half of the country's top 25 DMAs (designated market areas), but they don't have broad coverage in all of those areas."

No money exchanged hands for the deal, which is part of an agreement between BofA and AOL/Time Warner in which the two companies are promoting each other's services. As part of the agreement, announced last summer, BofA receives ads on America Online, in Time Inc. magazines and on AOL-owned Turner television properties such as CNN and TBS. In exchange, BofA promotes AOL Time Warner properties at its ATMs, in bills and statements and through branch signage and telephone banking.

BofA is in the midst of upgrading its entire ATM network to what it calls an "advanced technology platform," which includes Pentium processors, touch screens and other new features. The goal? "We're trying to make our ATMs a more robust, useful tool that offers more interactivity with the consumer," said Bank of America spokesman Brad Russell.

Russell said the ad campaign, which includes spots for CNN's "Connie Chung Tonight" and TBS' "Worst-Case Scenario," is running at a mix of branch and non-branch ATMs. The ads debuted in May and will conclude in September, at which time the bank will conduct customer research to determine whether it wants to add more third-party advertising.

BofA administered surveys and focus groups before this pilot began.

"In order to do this, you really have to listen to the customer and assess the impact, if any, on the transaction," Russell said. "I think some of the prior trials (of ATM advertising) didn't seem to take that into consideration."

The main desire expressed by customers during pre-pilot research, Russell said, was that any advertising should not extend transaction times. "That was absolutely the biggie."

Sound, no fury

Full-motion video clips play during an attract loop while the machine is not in use, then stop when a card is inserted. Another five-second clip airs during the "please wait" portion of the transaction. Some of the ads for "Worst-Case Scenario" also include a coupon that offers a discount for the book of the same name.

The ads include audio; Russell said the volume can be controlled by the ATM user.

Jarecki said the inclusion of sound is important, because a lack of audio is a deal-breaker for many advertisers. "Without it, you're eliminating an entire segment of advertisers, including the TV, movie and recording industries."

While financial institutions have hesitated to alter ATM transactions because of a fear of angering users, Russell said BofA has not experienced a discernible uptick in consumer complaints made directly to the bank -- either at branches, via the call center or online -- since the launch of the ad campaign.

One key, Russell said, is making sure the ads are relevant to ATM users. "We think third-party advertising can offer an interesting value proposition for consumers. We hope they agree; but if we come to the conclusion that they don't, we will not continue doing it."

Research has shown that many consumers would rather watch an ad than stare at a typical "please wait" screen, said Jarecki, who headed up an ATM advertising program for EDS that earned $650,000 over an 18-month period in 1997-98. "As long as it's entertaining and doesn't intrude on the transaction, it engages most consumers in a way they like," he said.

On target

BofA and other deployers that want to offer third-party ATM advertising will need to address several problems before the medium can gain broad acceptance, Jarecki said.

One is a lack of standards. "If BofA is offering four-second ads and Wells Fargo is offering 10-second ads and someone else is offering seven-second ads, the advertisers aren't going to go for it," Jarecki said.

Yet perhaps the biggest issue, Jarecki said, is what he calls deployers' "lack of rate card reality." While EDS commanded a rate of $50 CPM (or cost-per-thousand impressions) for its full-motion video ads and a $30 CPM for static ads, Jarecki said advertisers today won't pay that much for untargeted advertising.

"If they refuse to offer the ability to target, that makes ATMs a mass media, which is less valuable to advertisers," Jarecki said. "You can't charge targeted rates for untargeted advertising."