Article

Digital signage goes to the bathroom

With a successful trial nearly finished, mirror-based digital signage could be headed to a restroom near you.

December 16, 2010 by Christopher Hall

Other than their seats, what's the one place almost everyone goes when they go to a sporting event?

What's the one place most airport travelers are sure to stop when they're between planes, other than their boarding gate?

Sooner or later, everybody has to go to the bathroom.

Ads over the toilets have already been done, but where can you put an ad in the bathroom that doesn't carry negative associations?

Apparently, the answer's staring you right in the face: Look in the mirror.

Huntersville, N.C.-based Mirrus is in the final leg of the analysis of its mirror-based digital advertising platform in restrooms in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, following successful installs in sporting venues around the country.

In the Mirrus Digital Advertising Mirror and the Mirror Image Digital Network, lavatory mirrors display digital advertising until the system's sensors detect someone approaching the mirror — which causes the ad to compact into a corner of the mirror. Lavatory visitors are then free to check themselves out while washing their hands or continue viewing the ad up in the corner of the mirror.

Working with global media research agency Millward Brown, Mirrus is testing the effectiveness of the advertising platform, using consumer intercept interviews to gauge its efficacy and rates of unaided recall.

The study began at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum and will conclude with the testing at O'Hare. Big-name brands like Microsoft, Geico, Zappos.com, Unilever, SC Johnson and Coca-Cola are participating in the final round of analysis.

While the company doesn't have the final numbers in on the O'Hare project, the numbers so far look good, Mirrus president and founder Brian Reid said in a recent interview.

"Preliminary studies show that we are outperforming when it comes to unaided recall other advertising assets in that environment by six to seven times – that was in Greensboro. We believe we're going to get the same results in Chicago, at O'Hare," he said. "I can tell you it looks pretty darn consistent with the results we were getting before."

Mirrus is in O'Hare through its partnership with Clear Channel Airports, and is working to get its Mirror Image network expanded into Clear Channel's top airports, Reid said.

According to Reid, the digital ad mirrors are currently installed in college football stadiums in North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia, as well as in Dallas' American Airlines Center, home to the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. The company is quickly moving into more airports and entertainment venues, Reid said, with a focus on getting into the top 10 DMAs in the country.

The stadium installs were done through a partnership with ISP Sports in Winston-Salem, N.C., which was recently acquired by IMG College — which could lead to future opportunities for Mirrus — Reid said.

Mirrus also is seeing more interest from the retail sector, with potential customers looking to install the Mirrus system in dressing rooms and at the point-of-purchase, Reid said. The point-of-purchase deployments probably won't include mirrors, but will make use of Mirrus' proprietary back-end content scheduling and audience measurement technologies, Reid said.

Mirrus also is getting ready to release a cosmetics mirror advertising system — for countertop mirrors in beauty and cosmetics settings as well as sunglass and eyeglass store settings — and a shoe mirror that works the same way, he said.

As for the mirror system's effectiveness so far, John Moyer, executive vice president of airport development and relations for Clear Channel Airports, said it has the potential to open up new revenue streams for airport advertising.

"I think we're quite excited about the possibility to deliver incremental revenue to the whole airport industry with that particular product," he said. "(And) for one simple reason: We believe that it is the right product to attract and accommodate a category of advertiser that has traditionally not chosen airports to a large degree; that would be health and beauty, personal care items, pharmaceuticals, that sort of thing."

The people and passengers in the airports seem to really enjoy the mirror-based adverts, Moyer said.

"It is something that is attractive, is kind of fun and interactive to a degree, and just makes the experience of moving through one of these facilities ever so slightly more entertaining and cutting edge, elevating airports as a media to be a bit cooler, for lack of a better word," he said. "So I think in that respect, it's a success."