Gas Station Digital Signage: Opportunities and Potential Pitfalls

I have always been an ardent supporter of gas station digital signage networks. I'm definitely one of those people who find it mind numbingly boring to pump gas. As a card carrying member of the connected generation, I welcome gas station networks as platforms for engaging content, local news, weather, advertising, etc.

The caveat, of course, is that gas station network providers must not use the outlet to attack consumers with a barrage of advertisements. While some argue that pump top digital screens are just another example of media companies attempting to litter every facet of our lives with advertising, especially those times and places in which it is unavoidable, I find these critics have a short-sighted view of the medium. These are the same journalists and media pundits who think every place-based media network is nothing more than visual clutter; an example of our society's uber capitalistic tilt to make money by taking advantage of consumers (see this Wall Street Journal article for insights into one such reporter's hatred of digital signage).

It's easy to see how gas station digital signage can be exploited (And I've experienced such...see below), but it's not in a network operator's best interest to forgo relevant and engaging content for the sake of trying to maximize revenue by bludgeoning consumers with advertisements. As we all know, networks that only play ads are doomed to fail. The issue, however, is that these properties impact people's views toward the entire digital signage industry. Just because you can place an endless loop of ads in front of a person that can't avoid them, doesn't mean that you ever should. It's the stickiness and relevancy of the content on these networks that contribute to the medium's ability to effectively reach and connect with consumers.

Many of my experiences with pump top digital signage have been positive in terms of finding the content loop a welcome respite from the monotonous task of pumping gas. Most recently, however, I came in contact with a gas station digital signage network that made me wish I had chosen to fill up my car at another station. The experience gave me a headache.

When I first got out of my car, I found that the volume made it difficult to hear everything that was playing on the screen. Little did I know that this was a blessing in disguise. The content mix was dreadful. The spot that ran the most - five times during my fill up - was a promotional video touting the benefits of advertising on the gas station network itself. What made this even worse was that I had already been forced to look at a vertical "Advertise Here" banner that took up a quarter of the screen during every video. The second most frequently run spot was for the company's technical partner whose brand name was already prominent on the pump top hardware.

From the look of things the network didn't have a single paid advertiser. Most of the other spots were public service announcements, primarily from the Ad Council. The non-advertising supplementary content was weak at best. This included quotes from rock stars, a Google map, and a 15-second segment on retro fashion. If not for my curiosity, which begged whether or not the content could get any worse, I would have sought refuge inside my vehicle. It was really that bad. The content loop didn't even include any promos for items such as hot dogs, soda, or coffee sold in the station's convenience store. How this opportunity to drive traffic into the store (and assist the network's location partner in increasing revenue) could be missed is beyond me. Every gas station network should include c-store promotions.

In celebration of USA Today turning twenty-five in September 2007, the newspaper published a number of "Top 25" lists; one of which was the "Top 25 Life-Changing Inventions of the Last 25 Years." While inventions like cellphones, laptops, and DVDs resided at the top of the list, there was one technology whose introduction forever changed the gas station experience. That technological advancement was the ability to "Pay at the Pump."

The ability to pay at the pump has undoubtedly made the operation of purchasing gas easier and more efficient. The introduction of the technology, however, has had a significant downward impact on gas stations' retail sales. Without the need to walk to the counter and/or small convenience store that accompany most gas stations in order to pay for one's transaction, "pay at the pump" functionality has effectively eroded the sale of food items and impulses purchases within these locations.

Pump top digital signage networks give gas stations the ability to promote their retail offerings, thus helping to draw consumers into their stores. Furthermore, since c-store promos can be targeted by day-part, this means that a network's station partners can most effectively push their full range of food and beverage items - from coffee in the morning to frozen drinks in the warm afternoon.

Gas station digital signage can make the experience of filling up much more enjoyable, but it also has the potential to make the task less tolerable (my ears were bleeding!). It's up to the network operator to ensure that consumers derive value from the programming, whether that be in the form of entertainment, information, or something else. The last thing any gas station wants is for people to go elsewhere because it's pump top digital signage makes the customer experience worse.

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