A report published by the Survey Sampling Institute research firm, on behalf of outdoor advertising company Eye, called Mall ads more effective, has found that ads placed in shopping centres were considerably more effective than those placed in car parks.
They found the shopping centre ads to be three times more memorable, four times more relevant and influential and eight times more likely to encourage trust and value in brands than those in car parks.
Whilst we acknowledge that advertising media in shopping centres is certainly effective, car park advertising does face a number of challenges. With the car park mainly perceived as a ‘utilitarian’ space in contrast to the more ‘browsing’ orientated environment of the mall, advertising messages and media will have to work harder and be more relevant to the consumers in the car park environment.
However, it’s not just the behavioural patterns of the consumers in the car parks that is the only consideration; in many cases not enough effort is being spent on designing attractive advertising for car parks, that are well lit and enhance the general ambience of the car park. Unless more effort is placed on genuinely relevant messaging in bright, well-placed and well-maintained locations, we are of the opinion that retailers are not going to achieve an adequate return for their advertising dollars.
Would you take notice of a bad quality or badly maintained sign attached to a boom gate? Probably not, and for the right reasons too! Shopping centres have been investing significantly into innovative and engaging advertising media, especially in the past few years. It would be great to see some of these innovations being extended into car parks.
Do any of our readers have any good examples that they want to share with us? Post a link to the ‘comment’ link below.