‘Underground Mall' Redefines Digital Out-of-Home Advertising
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
MTA pilots digital signage shopping on Amazon in NYC subways
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the Control Group is transforming New York City MTA's "On the Go" digital signage information kiosks into Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising spaces that will showcase transactional Amazon.com ads to subway riders, according to an announcement .
The Control Group have built more than 90 digital kiosks to replace existing subway maps and service announcements system-wide and expand the advertising network, creating the first network of digital out-of-home storefronts in the busiest transit system in the Americas, according to the announcement. As part of the agreement, the Control Group was tasked to create a new subway experience that improved communications and interaction between the MTA, advertisers, and riders.
Amazon has created pop-up stores by using the more than 90 digital kiosks to greet commuters with curated products from Amazon's Consumer Electronics Holiday Gift Guide, showcasing select products to 1.2 million riders per day.
Colin O’Donnell, Founding Partner at Control Group, said in the statement that “This is an opportunity to tap into one of the greatest transportation networks in the world, laying a foundation for innovation in customer messaging, way finding and advertising. We’re excited with our roadmap of features that will bring the innovations of web and mobile to the 100 year old New York City subway system.”
With the new system, users can browse the latest in electronic devices from Amazon and push a selected product to their phone to complete the purchase , all while standing on the platform waiting for their train.
"This new platform was born out of a belief that the future of advertising should be aligned, targeted, helpful and, more importantly, transactional, creating an urban retail experience," said Damian Gutierrez, associate partner at Control Group, according to Retail Customer Experience. "This is the evolution of the pop-up store where customers can make a purchase whenever and wherever they want."
In addition to traditional DOOH advertising, Control Group said it has lined up programmatic, TV/video and transactional advertising, which will be piloted during the Amazon Holiday campaign.
"The Amazon Holiday Gift Guide is an excellent use of a DOOH platform for an engaging experience between a brand and consumers while they are on the go during their daily journey," said Paul J. Fleuranges, senior director, corporate & internal communications, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, according to Digital Signage Connection.
"It’s exactly the kind of creative campaign that we hope to see more of and what we had in mind when we first began thinking of digital advertising in [the MTA] system, and what we’d like to see more of in the future using either digital signage or other technologies in some of our vacant retail space in system."