STRATEGIC PARTNERS
You can offer advertising on an ATM, but can you draw consumers to the machine? Maybe if they're carrying handheld Internet devices, say GeePS.com and ATM Advertising Inc.by Ann All, editor
September 17, 2000
Joe Business is flying into O'Hare and needs cash for the cab into town. He pulls out his Palm Pilot and punches up an ATM locator. According to the Palm, there are four ATMs and -- hey, what's this -- he can get a coupon for 50 cents off a cup of Starbucks coffee at one of them. Lured by the siren song of caffeine, he visits the ATM with the promotional offer. While this scenario won't happen tomorrow -- ATM advertising and wireless communications are both in their infancy -- some think it could be the greatest thing to happen to advertising since the Pillsbury Doughboy. Gregg Rupprecht, vice president of sales and marketing for Baltimore based ATM Advertising, Inc., said it can't miss because consumers love a bargain. "You're receiving something for free just for doing something you would typically be doing anyway." ATM Advertising Inc. just made a deal with GeePS, an applications service provider that uses WAP (wireless application protocol) and PQA (pocket query application) to connect retailers to PDA or Web phone-toting consumers. GeePS utilizes global positioning system (GPS) satellites, among other methods, to target a user's location and send him or her relevant advertising offers. With e-commerce rapidly becoming yesterday's technology, analysts are buzzing about m-commerce, or mobile commerce. According to Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based research firm, 25 percent of U.S. households will access the Internet with mobile devices such as phones by 2003. A report by the Kelsey Group, a Princeton, N.J.-based research company, predicts that wireless advertising revenues will reach $17 billion by 2005, with local advertisers accounting for $6 billion of that total. GeePS will partner with shopping malls and retailers, both of whom are interested in offering targeted ads to their customers, said GeePS CEO Andy Goren. Merchants at New Jersey's Palisades Mall, a GeePS client, for example, can customize their offers based on existing inventories and local tastes rather than relying on a "one size fits all" sales strategy. Consumers must register to become a member of the GeePS network, Goren said, and will likely do so at participating malls or retailers. "A perfect way to do that is through an ATM machine that is already there, online and ready to go." There is no cost to consumers to join the network. Instead, merchants will pay a monthly fee to GeePS to gain access to its members. GeePS also expects to collect a share of revenues generated from purchases. Goren estimated the annual cost at about $150,000. "That's not much when you consider a decent-sized merchant probably spends millions on their ad campaigns," he said. ATM Advertising will provide Cranbury, N.J.-based GeePS with a continually updated list of ATMs featuring promotional offers so that GeePS subscribers looking for an ATM can zero in on machines with ads that are attractive to them. Rupprecht said the m-commerce element may make it easier to enlist ATM advertisers. "GeePS subscribers are an additional audience they'll be able to reach. They'll get more bang for the buck." Some of the earliest adopters of GeePS technology are likely to be business travelers, who are an especially attractive target market for hotels, rental cars and restaurants, Rupprecht said. Participating ATM owners will benefit because of increased traffic to machines in the GeePS network. More traffic results in more surcharge revenue, said Mike Szimanski, president of ATM Advertising Inc. GeePS is testing the concept in New Jersey. Under an agreement with Advance Internet, a network of community-based Web sites, GeePS will deliver content and advertising from New Jersey Online (NJO) to Garden State residents with Internet-enabled handheld devices. The ultimate GeePS concept is to send consumers directly to participating merchants, where they will use their handheld devices to pay for purchases and receive discounts automatically at the point of sale.
