Outdoor advertising both traditional and digital has seen a surge in QR code use. Even the Superbowl had a major advertiser (Coinbase) feature exclusively a QR code. Love them, or hate them as a consumer or as a marketer, they are proving effective.
I recently had an opportunity to interview Sean McCaffrey, President and CEO at Gas Station TV (GSTV), a data-driven, national video network delivering targeted audiences at scale across tens of thousands of fuel retailers. Sean and I discuss whether QR codes — whose use was stimulated by the pandemic — are here to stay. Sean observes that the correct use of QR codes in video ads on the GSTV network can cause a marked improvement in response rates.
GSTV is a fascinating platform which shares elements of outdoor advertising and place-based video advertising. I recommend the full interview. We discuss how marketers and brands are using it, the degree to which the GSTV network is hyper-personalizable, the mix of DR and brand advertisers using GSTV, and other opportunities relevant to Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising.
We also discussed one of my favorite topics, the importance of ad creative. Clearly, skippable/front-loaded ad creative differs from cinematic, storytelling-oriented creative, the types of ad creative that perform on GSTV. Great creative can make media more affordable due to higher performance on brand and direct response KPIs.
