Not quite in the picture yet
Ambient Media: The screens are not yet generating the expected revenue. Marketers are putting on a confident front.
Ambient media The screens are not yet generating the hoped-for sales. When Swiss Post equipped its CanalPoste network in German- and French-speaking Switzerland with 320 new screens, steles and dispensers almost a year ago, project manager Andreas Etter calculated that sales could be increased from CHF 1.4 million in 2002 to CHF 4 million in 2004. "We were too optimistic," he admits today. Sales from local customers in particular were under budget. They stayed away from the new medium, although the individually bookable screens should have attracted them in particular. The planned expansion of CanalPoste in Ticino was postponed due to the drop in sales. Etter: "We have to earn money first. The investment in Ticino will probably take place in 2005. "At Goldbach Media, too, the turnover of the young outdoor medium "did not quite meet expectations", as Fredy Grau, Head of Business Development, explains. "It takes more time to build up trust in the new medium," he says. But he notes: "Anyone who has tried it once will use it again." In any case, he still estimates the market potential at between 40 and 50 million francs a year.
Roger Baur, head of Plasmedia, a company belonging to Cinecom, also "imagined the introduction of the screens would be easier". "The battles are tough and it often comes down to price," he says, referring to the competition. Nevertheless, he is satisfied. The screens in the Coop front stores in particular are doing very well, and he expects revenues to rise in 2005.
The Affichage subsidiary E-Advertising has a different balance sheet. It markets APG's big screens on the one hand and interactive terminals from the Zumikon-based Terminal Company (TC) on the other. "The big screens are doing very well, we are seeing more customers and a double-digit percentage increase in sales," says Ueli Ritschard, Managing Director of E-Advertising. The situation is different with the terminals. The reason: TC wanted to set up 1000 terminals by 2005, but only has 132 locations, including in post offices, city disc stores, youth hostels and Mövenpick restaurants (www.terminalcompany.com). "The locations are too heterogeneous and the networks are still too small for national customers. That's why we have hardly made any active sales," says Ritschard.
TC itself justifies the delay with the necessary ADSL lines, which would not be available within a reasonable period of time. Maybe so. But the stagnation probably also points to the main problem with screens: the high investments for hardware and software. The industry's decline has made various investors more cautious.
Jürg Knecht, whose poster company Citylights operates eight 50-inch screens in Zurich, was also cautious. By the end of the year there should be twelve. "I wanted more once," he says. However, he no longer relies on large networks, but on a few highly frequented locations. What's more, Citylights does not show spots, but only still images - electronic posters. It is said in the industry that Citylights is the only company already making money with screens. "Screens make up 10 percent of my total turnover today, next year it should be 15 percent. That covers the investment costs," says Knecht.
Despite the rather weak sales and some expansion problems, there is no general standstill in the screen sector: Goldbach Media in particular has acquired new screen networks in the last six months. There are now 523 screens in Manor stores, 370 at Tamoil petrol stations, and Goldbach is marketing more at the Migros-Center Limmatplatz, in M-Electronics stores in Eastern Switzerland, in ladies' and men's toilets in upmarket bars and on three bus networks (Chur, Schwyz, Zurich Oberland). Cinecom has not been idle either, with Baur announcing "two to three major stories" for the near future.
Cinecom, which has recently become part of PubliGroupe, is ahead in one respect: it is the only company to offer the screens cross-media - together with prints on popcorn bags and spots on the big screen and on Sat 1. At Goldbach, on the other hand, screens are currently primarily sold separately, and e-advertising does not have any screen-poster packages either.
Screen advertising at petrol stations and supermarkets: the possibilities are still being explored, but the medium has not yet achieved a breakthrough.
Step on the spot with generic marketingFormat, price per second, CPM, technology, loop length - the screen scene is as diverse as a flower meadow. Nobody disputes that generic marketing, or at least joint research, is urgently needed. But this is a long way off. As Werbewoche found out, at least four studies are currently underway on the acceptance or impact of screen advertising. Last year's efforts to found an association have also come to nothing.
Nevertheless, Cinecom and Goldbach will also be presenting their screen offerings for the first time at the screen-up on September 7. However, other providers are not (yet) participating. (mk)
Markus Knöpfli
Roger Baur, head of Plasmedia, a company belonging to Cinecom, also "imagined the introduction of the screens would be easier". "The battles are tough and it often comes down to price," he says, referring to the competition. Nevertheless, he is satisfied. The screens in the Coop front stores in particular are doing very well, and he expects revenues to rise in 2005.
The Affichage subsidiary E-Advertising has a different balance sheet. It markets APG's big screens on the one hand and interactive terminals from the Zumikon-based Terminal Company (TC) on the other. "The big screens are doing very well, we are seeing more customers and a double-digit percentage increase in sales," says Ueli Ritschard, Managing Director of E-Advertising. The situation is different with the terminals. The reason: TC wanted to set up 1000 terminals by 2005, but only has 132 locations, including in post offices, city disc stores, youth hostels and Mövenpick restaurants (www.terminalcompany.com). "The locations are too heterogeneous and the networks are still too small for national customers. That's why we have hardly made any active sales," says Ritschard.
TC itself justifies the delay with the necessary ADSL lines, which would not be available within a reasonable period of time. Maybe so. But the stagnation probably also points to the main problem with screens: the high investments for hardware and software. The industry's decline has made various investors more cautious.
Jürg Knecht, whose poster company Citylights operates eight 50-inch screens in Zurich, was also cautious. By the end of the year there should be twelve. "I wanted more once," he says. However, he no longer relies on large networks, but on a few highly frequented locations. What's more, Citylights does not show spots, but only still images - electronic posters. It is said in the industry that Citylights is the only company already making money with screens. "Screens make up 10 percent of my total turnover today, next year it should be 15 percent. That covers the investment costs," says Knecht.
Despite the rather weak sales and some expansion problems, there is no general standstill in the screen sector: Goldbach Media in particular has acquired new screen networks in the last six months. There are now 523 screens in Manor stores, 370 at Tamoil petrol stations, and Goldbach is marketing more at the Migros-Center Limmatplatz, in M-Electronics stores in Eastern Switzerland, in ladies' and men's toilets in upmarket bars and on three bus networks (Chur, Schwyz, Zurich Oberland). Cinecom has not been idle either, with Baur announcing "two to three major stories" for the near future.
Cinecom, which has recently become part of PubliGroupe, is ahead in one respect: it is the only company to offer the screens cross-media - together with prints on popcorn bags and spots on the big screen and on Sat 1. At Goldbach, on the other hand, screens are currently primarily sold separately, and e-advertising does not have any screen-poster packages either.
Screen advertising at petrol stations and supermarkets: the possibilities are still being explored, but the medium has not yet achieved a breakthrough.
Step on the spot with generic marketingFormat, price per second, CPM, technology, loop length - the screen scene is as diverse as a flower meadow. Nobody disputes that generic marketing, or at least joint research, is urgently needed. But this is a long way off. As Werbewoche found out, at least four studies are currently underway on the acceptance or impact of screen advertising. Last year's efforts to found an association have also come to nothing.
Nevertheless, Cinecom and Goldbach will also be presenting their screen offerings for the first time at the screen-up on September 7. However, other providers are not (yet) participating. (mk)
Markus Knöpfli
