“When Hans went to school, his eyes were always on the sky.” This is how the old German children’s tale “Hanns Stare-in-the-Air” starts. In 1845 and several accidents later, this may well have been the case for “Hanns”. But with digital outdoor advertising, such as the Infoscreen, Hanns is no longer peering into the air; he only has eyes for your OOH campaign on the digital screen.
What are digital Infoscreens?
Infoscreens, also known as “Station Video” or “Public Video”, are modern large-format screens in landscape format, which can be found primarily at highly frequented locations such as train stations, but also at suburban and underground stations in Germany’s major cities. The oversize (16:9) alone makes this digital outdoor advertising stand out from afar. A razor-sharp resolution of more than 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and moving images do the rest: automatically attracting the attention of everyone standing at the track. And that’s not all!
The special feature of this out-of-home medium is that your advertising is literally embedded between editorial content, such as regional weather forecasts and culture tips, as well as global news. Thus, the advertising is not directly perceived as such, and the information environment has a positive effect on the perception of your OOH campaign. Since the XXL screen and the diverse program, which is entertaining and informative at the same time, invites you to look, this digital poster is a real attention magnet at a train station.
Where do the Infoscreens attract attention?
With these digital info screens, your OOH advertising campaign is right in the middle of things: always well and visibly located at highly frequented interchange stations. This allows you to generate high contact numbers in major cities throughout Germany, as well as an enormous reach. In Berlin, for example, your digital advertising campaign can attract attention at the central “Friedrichstraße” junction or at Europe’s largest interchange station, the “Berlin Hauptbahnhof”. These locations are true transshipment points and handle several hundred thousand people. The long-distance train station “Südkreuz” alone is used by more than 175,000 departing and arriving passengers, visitors and Berliners within 24 hours. For commuters in particular, these transfer stations are the direct link between Berlin’s suburbs and the workplace – every day! With an advertising space allocation on an info screen, you therefore also reach multiple contacts. The target groups to be reached can therefore be a regional, as well as international audience, business travelers and the commuting, upper middle class.
Why is this digital outdoor advertising so effective?
Let’s cut to the chase: we wait an average of 5-10 minutes for the next train. During that time, we have nothing to do … you could look up in the air like Hanns – but there’s that attention-grabbing digital billboard. Interest is aroused in those waiting and is really attracted by the large digital screens. What’s more, your digital outdoor advertising is perceived intensively because the target group is in a low-stimulus environment.
So the term “infotainment” says it all: information worth knowing, such as regional reports – which, by the way, increases trust in your brands, because you are advertising in a familiar environment for the target groups – and news, create a positive environment (also from an editorial point of view) for your advertising clip.
What other advantages do these digital posters or digital outdoor advertising in general offer?
In principle, digital outdoor advertising is flexible and can be used at short notice, which means that updates to your advertising or the advertising motifs are possible. In addition, several cities can be covered at the same time, even in the same format! A nationwide presence of your OOH marketing measure is therefore easy with digital posters, as the campaigns can be easily initiated across cities, i.e. throughout Germany.
Furthermore, with the “Info Screen” advertising medium, you can specify exactly when your advertising should run. Through the possibility of booking different time slots (of 3 hours), you also select the people who will see your advertising. It is up to your marketing objective whether you want to use advertising space around the clock, i.e. the same playout in all six available time slots, or whether you want to use a few selected time slots with double or triple the frequency. You only advertise when you want. And so your Infoscreen advertising campaign easily turns “Hanns Stare-in-the-Air” into “Hans Stare-at-the-digital-Infoscreen” – who then sees, directly and blatantly, your digital outdoor advertising.
The digital information screens thus achieve enormous attention, like reach, mainly due to their oversize and locations. Added to this is the long waiting time in a monotonous environment, which again increases the perception of OOH. Through the editorial environment in which your advertising is integrated, the trust in your brand is also strengthened. So all in all, for you as an advertiser, this means: If “Hanns”-at this point representing your target group-is only looking at your outdoor advertising instead of the air, then you have probably occupied an advertising slot on an Infoscreen!
All’s well that ends well!