Quebecor transit shelters are upping interactivity that grabs consumer attention; next step beacons.
In the short time that Quebecor Media has been in the OOH business the company has embraced digital technology as a way to redefine urban transit shelters.
The shelters are becoming interactive showcases that provide real-time messaging such as news and weather by time of day or geographic area – as well as advertising that connects with consumers.
Marketers can use the shelter ads to extend campaigns via smartphones and mobile devices using NFC and QR codes. With that technology consumers can download all types of content such as music, product information, coupons or event tickets.
For example, last fall, Febreeze used the Quebecor shelters to introduce a new product. The ad encouraged people to choose from a list of characteristics such as relaxing or spiritual and then have music matching the mood played to create that experience in the shelter. A fashion brand used shelters as a virtual catalogue to highlight its line of winter coats.
Adding OOH to Quebecor’s media properties has given the company a robust content supply chain as well as making it a one-stop shop for coordinating ad campaigns across a portfolio of six media platforms that includes newspapers, magazines, conventional and specialty TV, mobile and Quebecor Digital.
Claude Foisy, vice-president of Quebecor Media Out of Home, says, “The beauty of the way our business is built is that we can personalize campaigns to meet the objectives of each and every client thanks to the depth of our media portfolio. We have experts in every field of media so we can put it all together to create an integrated cross-platform campaign for advertisers, rather than having them buy it one medium at a time.”
Quebecor Media Out of Home was born in the summer of 2012 when the company inked a 20-year deal to handle the transit shelter business for Montreal Public Transit, Société de transport de Montréal (STM). That win involved a network of about 2,700 advertising faces throughout Montreal that Quebecor has since enhanced with the installation of 50 interactive 84-inch digital screens in the city’s high-traffic areas. Twenty-five more interactive screens will be installed this fall.
In July, Quebecor Media was awarded a similar 20-year contract for the Société de transport de Laval (STL) transit shelters. Quebecor plans for Laval include increasing the network of 101 transit shelters to nearly 300 and install five interactive shelters equipped with 84-inch screens, the largest non-touch, gesture recognition technology screens in the world.
Right now Quebecor transit shelters are NFC (Near Field Communications) code enabled and Foisy says that the next step is to have beacons installed to allow consumers the option to accept relevant brand offers.
Foisy says, “We’re going to see more digital use in the future, and the consumer will be the winner because of it. It will create social sharing and a more multi-sensory user experience. I think the city will be smarter and OOH will be part of that by connecting consumers and their mobiles throughout the city. We have to be relevant to consumers so marketers can see the OOH industry as really essential when they think about reaching customers.”
