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CBS Coming to the Produce Aisle
smooth wombat writes "In the continuing struggle to capture viewers, CBS is pairing with SignStorey Inc. to provide short-form programming designed specifically for shoppers on topics such as health, nutrition, as well as short news and sports items and entertainment. This programming will be displayed on video screens in the produce and deli sections of 1,300 supermarkets nationwide.
Virginia Cargill, the CEO of SignStorey, said CBS will provide 1-2 minutes of programming for each video loop that appears on the in-store monitors. Each loop consists of about 8 minutes, half of which is advertising."
I feel bad for the poor produce section workers that have to listen to the same 8-minute loop for 8 hours a day.
This will probably encourage the trend of people listening to music or talking on the phone *all the time*, in this case just so they don't have to hear the advertisements. I fail to see how this could be successful.
[sig]you really dont want the answers, trust me[/sig]
Seriously, who cares? Nobody really watches those screens anyway.
Two gas stations near me now have 17 inch flat-panel displays near each gas pump, running news and ads. With loud audio. It's so annoying that I switched gas stations.
This may come as a shock to middle management, but people don't want to watch commercials. The supermarket is already a clogged toilet of happy-talk announcer voices, video screens, blaring signs, surveillance cameras, one cashier for 15 customers and constant harping about signing over your credit profile to avoid being charged penalties of up to 75% on food.
The last thing people want to see is some blow-dried "my voice is smiling" asshole reading a 30-second factoid from a teleprompter while people try to find a box of breakfast cereal that doesn't annihilate a $10 bill.
Unplug the fucking televisions. At least give people the dignity of being ripped off in peace.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
I'm not a huge fan of advertising because I hate paying increased prices for products -- I tend to buy generic if the quality is close (or I just make dinner from scratch). Yet advertising is a huge portion of the economy, and if the old media formats don't work, the companies have to evolve.
I actually like this form of advertising IF it gives me some interesting information. If it is the same 4 minute segment run over months, I'll ignore it and it will likely fail. If they give me something interesting to do with produce, I can actually see it working.
"Buying onions? Try them with Hamburger Helper for a delicious meal for the family!" isn't going to get me to buy packaged junk. But if they combine it with an interesting recipe (or fact) about the onion, I may just stick around to watch it.
For those anti-advertising in general, remember that much of the old media that you might have loved (think: Firefly, Futurama, etc) may have died because advertisers wouldn't pay for it -- and we never had the chance to ourselves. Don't knock advertising until you understand how forcing millions to pay a nickel more for a product might be better than asking a few tens of thousands of media users to pay $5 each.
Then again, the iTunes format may destroy TV and radio anyway. I guess CBS is seeing the forest for the trees.
Just like I'm all for those stupid "club cards". I used to hate them, until I realized that the suckers who didn't use them were subsidizing me, along with the free advertising and coupons. It's well worth it to me for them to know how many tampons my wife buys in exchange for lower prices. Same theory.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
...Just installed 10 or so 40 inch plasmas suspended from the ceiling and a 17" LCD in every checkout lane.
They show the "Walmart Network" on a recurring loop.
I just wish I could order that channel on Dish Network or DirecTV.
It could have valuable and informative programming on it that will stir my imagination, enrich my mind and possibly motivate me to buy something that I don't know (yet) that I need.
later, gotta go punch the monkey and win.
No, all of it will be advertising.
Consider a magazine with exactly one advertiser, entirely supported by that advertiser's dollars. These do exist. The "articles" are little different from the ads. The material identified as ads is at least presented honestly as persuasion, not information. The material identifed as articles is misrepresented as information when in fact it is persuasion.
Take a look at the helpful health video running in the waiting room at your eye doctor, dentist, etc. Same deal. They're not blurring the line, they're obliterating the line between advertising and information.
It will be no different in the supermarket. What advertising insiders call "short form programming" you will call ads. If the entire video was identified as ads, it would at least be presented as what it is. But it won't be; half of it will be passed off as "information".
The result will be not just intrusive and annoying, it will be dishonest and misleading.
Yeah, I guess really no one watches the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th ranked shows these days.
http://tv.yahoo.com/nielsen/
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
I'm guessing that you're laughing to yourself about sticking it to The Man by putting down "I.P. Freely" on the card application? Have you ever, even once, used your club card in conjunction with a check or a credit card? Whoops. There goes your alter ego.
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"