FOR many marketers, advertising in stores is an increasingly important way to influence shoppers at the so-called moment of truth, as they finally make up their minds about which brands of soup, soap or cereal to buy — or not buy. Now, a company is hoping to bring commercials to the retail point of purchase on screens that will be attached to shelves and above aisles.
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Automated Media Services plans to test its system, 3GTV, in stores this summer. This screen displays an ad for Kraft macaroni and cheese.
The company, Automated Media Services, known as A.M.S., has been working for years on a system that would deliver television in retail environments in a way that would allow media agencies to plan and buy commercial time in stores just as they do on the networks, channels and stations watched at home. The system, which the company calls 3GTV, also includes provisions to verify that commercials have actually run.
The initial test of 3GTV is scheduled during the summer in Maryland and Virginia, at nine stores that belong to the Bloom supermarket chain, part of the Food Lion unit of the Delhaize Group.
The executives at Automated Media Services, who have backgrounds in television, advertising and marketing, have raised an estimated $10 million to develop 3GTV. Investors and advisers include some names well known on Madison Avenue, among them Burt Manning, former chairman and chief executive at the JWT division of WPP, and Stephen Grubbs, who held senior posts at media agencies owned by the Omnicom Group like OMD and PHD.
Source: NY Times
