Look around any major metropolitan city and you see taxi cabs. What if marketers could actually use these taxi rides to sell their products to riders? Want a coupon for 20% off dinner tonight? How about a movie? Want to go there now?
VeriFone Media operates in thousands of cabs around the country. In New York City, the capability is in 6,800+ cabs – providing a large captive audience for viewing promotions, local programming, and products. With the capability of recognizing specific geographies and times of day, the advertising can be targeted to meet specific needs of the riders. (Or maybe just annoy the riders.)
Verifone also has a video advertising product that is used at gas pumps. This gives a one-on-one experience at the pumps, changeable by time of day, location, and promotion.
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Ask students to consider the ads that are currently placed on taxi cabs in their city. What have they seen? Are these effective ads?
- Ask students to identify the different market segments who ride in taxis. What do these segments want from a taxi ride?
- Have students visit the VeriFone Web site to learn more about the strategy for the product. http://www.verifonemedia.com/vnet/taxi.aspx
- Also have students review the gas pump product – At the Pump – and discuss pros and cons.
- What are the limitations for these types of promotion?
- What are the benefits for these mediums?
- What are products that could use these types of promotion?
- How would they deploy these advertising media in an integrated marketing plan?
Sources: Advertising Age, New York Times, VeriFone Media
