Ads increasingly inundate public places

Allison Linn Senior writer • Profile • E-mail

J. Walker Smith is fond of saying that the only places he thinks can resist the call of advertisers are courthouses, places of worship and the halls of Congress. Lately, though, he’s starting to wonder if the worshipers can stay unfettered.

“I think churches are already showing evidence of succumbing to marketing,” said Smith, president of the marketing research firm Yankelovich Inc.

As for the rest of the world, well, that may be a lost cause.

“I certainly think that every other place is going to be increasingly covered with some kind of marketing message,” he added.

By now, Americans have grown used to seeing advertisements on television, billboards, newspapers, the Internet, even bathroom stalls. But lately, people hawking everything from insurance to iPods have begun trying to make inroads into public and even government-run spaces where commercial intrusion may once have been considered taboo.

The Transportation Security Administration recently approved a test plan to place advertisements in the bins used to stow wallets and belts at security check points. In some towns in Pennsylvania, government vehicles now feature ads for local businesses. And the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recently scrapped plans for ads on the George Washington Bridge amid concerns about long-term damage to the authority's mission and reputation.

In other places where advertising has long been expected, marketers are growing more aggressive. New York City’s Penn Station was recently plastered with advertising for Kellogg's Special K as part of an ambitious project to inundate the station, stairs and all, with promotions for the cereal brand. The company launched a similar effort in Harvard Station outside Boston.

Elsewhere, some city and county buses are wrapped almost completely in advertisements for iPods and other products — a practice that drew complaints from bus riders in the Seattle area who said they couldn’t see out the windows.

The move to put more intrusive advertising in more public places comes as advertisers fret that people aren’t paying as much attention to traditional advertising methods, especially the staple 30-second television spot. That’s left marketers eager to push their message in places and ways that force people to pay attention.

“Advertisers have to be more creative and go where the people are,” said Barry Roberts, chief executive of StareWays, which created the staircase advertisement for Special K.

Special K also is running ads on television and the Internet, said Michelle Rietschel, media director at Starcom USA, which provides advertising services for Special K. But she said advertisers are realistic about people’s ability to ignore television ads, either with television-recording technology or because they are distracted by other tasks.

“It’s hard to ignore what’s happening at a train station when we’ve done it as intrusively as we’ve done it in Boston and New York,” she said.

For some, placing ads in unusual places is partly an effort to draw people in just at the time  they might be thinking about that product or service.

Doug Kruep, director of brand development for Sanford Co., said the TSA’s security bins were a perfect fit for his company’s Rolodex brand because traveling conjures up thoughts of getting organized. After taking part in an initial test at Los Angeles International Airport, Kruep said the company has been pleased with the results and hopes to expand the ad effort.

The TSA, which has committed to a wider pilot of the ad offerings, didn’t get paid in cash for the advertisements. Instead, the agency received bins, tables and metal-free bin return carts that spokeswoman Amy Kudwa valued at about $250,000. In addition, she said, the bin carts meant workers no long had to lift the bins, resulting in a 90 percent reduction in injuries.

MORE FROM U.S. BUSINESS

U.S. business Section Front

Obama laying out plan to combat joblessness   Morgan Stanley shuffles executive team Procter & Gamble chairman to step down United orders Boeing 787, Airbus planes U.S. must fix its finances: credit rating agency Where porn stars sing for their supper Ex-CEO says eBay didn't misuse Craigslist data Citi, Wells Fargo seek to repay TARP loans Rich getting richer? Particularly in Connecticut Industry slams EPA greenhouse gas ruling U.S. business Section Front   Add U.S. business headlines to your news reader: