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New marketing concept - Captive marketing
Every now and then a lightbulb lights up in someone's head and a new marketing concept is born. One of the newer "opportunistic" marketing methods is marketing to yourself when you have no other choice.
Imagine yourself in a very small metal room with 10 other people. The doors close and you have no way to escape this room for a minute or two. While you are locked in with these strangers, you are exposed to various commercials for different products that appear on a video screen right in front of you. The doors are finally opened and he is allowed out.
Sound like a nightmare (or a marketing executive's dream, maybe)? Well, actually it is reality; It is your experience if you use an elevator in any of the hundreds of buildings in the United States.
Captivate Network has installed more than 3,000 flat panel video monitors in elevators nationwide. Business professionals use these elevators every day and while they're in that big metal box with nothing to do, a video screen turns on and sales pitches fill the room. After all, what are they going to do? Climb 60 flights of stairs? Probably not.
However, this combination of "marketing through a necessity" is not limited to wealthy entrepreneurs inside office towers. The Comedy Central television network has placed more than 500 advertisements in bar bathrooms to promote one of its new programs. Talk about a captive audience! When nature calls, advertisers listen ...
Advertising above urinals may be rare, but the trend in advertising and transportation is becoming more apparent and technology is playing an increasingly important role. If you've ever been on the subway or seen a bus, you've undoubtedly seen a billboard as well. Cars are often covered in graphics for any given local business or even a simple bumper sticker with a website. And now, in more than 400 taxis in New York City, passengers are treated with a video monitor while the meter works and they are transported to their destination.
Does the concept of captive marketing frustrate you almost as much as plunging a small white golf ball into a small hole 400 meters away? So you should avoid the nearly 25,000 golf carts in the United States equipped with video monitors that promote all kinds of products to help increase your frustration and poke fun at your uselessness. IMPROVE your game.
So how do you escape all this hype if you just can't accept it? The next time you play golf, just walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator or ride your bike instead of taking a taxi.
What if you're in a bar at 1:00 a.m. and do you have to go?
Well, they practically got you on that one!