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Getting consumers to carry through on an advertising message is the age-old problem for agencies and their clients.

There’s also the matter of ad fatigue. The average UK consumer is said to receive 1,600 marketing messages a day. As one message enters the human brain, another leaves just as quickly – it’s a storage problem and nothing more.

So, a given television advert might have an impact on a viewer just as the advertiser intended – but will that person act on it, or even remember it, by the time they’re shopping? With the roll-out of its in-store television system this month, Tesco is hoping to circumvent the time lag and memory lapse problem by hitting up consumers right at point of sale.

The idea is to give shoppers a little bit of content with Sky news and sports breaks and then hit them with in-store promotions, customer information and independent ads.

Spencer Berwin, group marketing director at JCDecaux, which won the lucrative contract for Tesco TV, explains: “What you get is a situation when someone is sitting in their home, then somewhere between 13, 24 or 36 hours later they go out and do their shopping.

“That’s why 70 to 75% of purchasing decisions are made in store, that’s where you make your choice on which brand to pick or not – that’s the moment of truth.”

With the announcement of the roll-out of Tesco TV – after an original eight-store trial – targeted ad campaigns have now achieved a new height, reaching consumers by broadcasting in the UK’s largest chain of supermarkets. And Tesco’s entry into this new and growing advertising sub-sector might just be the start as other retailers are expanding their in-store offerings. Tesco TV started rolling out in the retailer’s 100 largest stores last Wednesday and is expected to reach 10 million shoppers a week. The aim is to install the service in 300 Tesco stores by the end of 2004.

Zoned areas

The screens will be in “zoned areas”: a power aisle (the central aisle from which all other aisles are accessed); the grocery aisle; health and beauty; beer, wine and spirits; home entertainment; counters (for instance the delicatessen); and the café. Each TV will show information that is directly related to the products in its area.

Tesco insists that this is the “first media format to work within the last 10 feet”, encouraging customers to choose their brand at the point of purchase.

Of course, less exciting versions of the medium have long been with us, through internal poster sites, promotional stands, or even attractive girls and boys encouraging us to take a voucher when entering a store – in other words, good oldfashioned point-of-sale marketing.

These are the influences that encourage us make those rash, impulse purchase in a store, whether it be the pack of cereal everyone in the family hates, and is now gathering dust in the back of a kitchen cupboard, or the pancetta that you wanted as part of that Jamie Oliver recipe.

A more souped-up version of in-store promotion should surely be a godsend to many advertisers looking for new ways to target you in the aisles of your favourite retailers. Surely a good thing for the media agencies – another weapon to help them target the modern consumer.

Steve Parker, UK buying director at Starcom Motive, is an advocate of in-store screen media, but insists it must be informative and not intrusive to capture consumers at the point of purchase: “The content has to add to the experience. You have to set a line between being intrusive and informative.

Ultimately the advertiser has to make sure that the content adds something that the consumer wouldn’t normally get.”

Testing grounds

Tesco may be the most highprofile example of in-store screen media, but is not the only example of a retailer that has tested the medium. Convenience store Spar has also been testing in-store screens, while Sainsbury’s is rumoured to be considering a roll-out after conducting trials last year.

Boots has also been testing in-store screen promotions through Avanti Screen Media.

The company also provides services for the hairdresser Toni & Guy and travel firm Lunn Poly.

David Williams, chief executive of Avanti Screen Media, says: “I think people make a mistake when they say that this form of promotion is going to be everywhere. We target consumers in the right environment; you simply can’t just put up a screen anywhere and expect consumers to engage or advertisers to advertise.

“You have to have a very well thought- out client strategy.

“I’m very worried when I see new companies within the market putting up screens and not thinking if they are reaching the right target audience.”

This could be a criticism levelled at Forecourt TV, the broadcast media on petrol station forecourts, which went under due to lack of investment from advertisers.

In-store radio has also been a hot topic, with Dixons investing in the media. Former Radio 1 DJ Bruno Brookes’ in-store radio promotions company Immedia is also investing in in-store radio for newsagents.

Brookes says that instore radio promotion “makes media spend work harder for advertisers by delivering significant increases on in-store impulse sales”.

JCDecaux’s Berwin says agencies may have to take a different look at the way they plan their schedules with the advent of in-store broadcast media, and agencies are making rash judgements about rumours of a high cost-per-thousand for Tesco TV that some have whispered around the industry.

He points to the individual nature of the offering: “We haven’t spoken to them. Tesco hasn’t spoken to them.

“So the only thing they know is what they’re reading, and what they hear, at best, third hand, and they’re forming an opinion on it.

But what do you compare this particular medium against? When agencies realise that they can’t compare this medium against anything, it kind of dulls the issue down a bit.

“We’re going around and seeing all the major advertisers.

“All the advertisers are seeing their agencies and saying ‘tell me more about it’ and a lot of agencies are talking about the cost, which is an easy benchmark.”

Question time Berwin is very aware that this is a new medium that agencies have their clients asking questions about because they want to understand it.

“We’re not selling all of the wastage that goes with TV.

“We’re targeting people at the time they’re purchasing,” he says.

“We’re having to talk a new currency to people and that’s to be expected, but once we explain the effectiveness at point of purchase, suddenly it becomes a no-brainer, and planners and buyers can peel off other media choices and put this on because of its incredible accountability.”

Williams says that audiences will react in different ways to an advertiser’s on-screen message in various environments: “If you talk about hairdressers and bars, your consumers have more dwell time and are therefore going to be more receptive to brand promotion, as they are relaxed when they receive their marketing messages.

“If you’re talking about a retail environment where a consumer is presented with FMCG products, it’s much easier to measure because the marketing message will be much more about return on investment.”

Berwin is aware that Tesco TV will be addressing a certain target audience, and that advertisers will have to cut their creative messages accordingly: “Running a typical 30-second commercial on this media is probably not appropriate... probably.

“A much sharper, shorter, call to action is probably what is more desirable to promote your brand.”

Parker is excited about the technological advances that have presented themselves recently in targeting “an old audience, with a new media”, he says, and that in-store television “will be something of real interest to agencies and advertisers alike”, insisting that this burgeoning media is “part of the natural evolution of talking to consumers. “We want to understand more about it”.

Like any new media offering, understanding is the key to selling more client product.

To this extent, agencies and clients will have to be educated about in-store broadcast offering, and Tesco TV has set itself some bold targets.

JCDecaux chairman Jeremy Male has encouraged his teams to take one per cent of the current £4bn total UK television ad spend.

That’s £40m.

Over to you, guys.