I was on my way to down town and I did an adhoc survey of people around me, there were exactly two individuals indulged in some kind of one way information exchange with the paper based medium. Although the experience seemed immersive, the only interactive part of that primitive source was its rustling sound, along with added amusement of the dexterity needed for holding it and then moving to the next page simultaneously. This effort in the name of viva la paper is commendable in lieu of the fact that almost everyone else who was engaged in other occupations besides holding on to the rods or their seats or practicing the fine art of looking without feeling or expressing, had an electronic gadget of some sort and most of those "geraet" were, yes, mobile phones or likes (I really think we should stop calling them mobile phones, and go the German way of calling them "Handy's", or use an umbrella term of "handhelds" for all such devices).
After I was done amusing myself with the little survey to confirm mobile onslaught, which by the way is already history, I moved on to my second favorite past time; browsing the subway walls. Although I could see the extraordinary offers in wholesome ads targeted toward a broad, and I mean really broad audience, because you don't get any more diverse then the subway crowd in New York, my mind was lighted with flashing tiny bulbs.
Approximately 4 million use the NYC subways daily. For the sake of simplicity(or complexity) we will assume that a small percentage of them carry connectable devices and of those some (percent) actually use these living plastics while commuting, and then of those there are a few that would willingly consent to a data connectivity(with some strings) and therein lies our target audience. In all I would imagine that a million impressions, not of the same ad, but maybe of million different, but highly personalized, marketing messages (it sounds so less evil), can be served. And I haven't even touched the implications it will have on push content for digital signage spread across A,B,C ... and 1,2, 3 .....
After I was done amusing myself with the little survey to confirm mobile onslaught, which by the way is already history, I moved on to my second favorite past time; browsing the subway walls. Although I could see the extraordinary offers in wholesome ads targeted toward a broad, and I mean really broad audience, because you don't get any more diverse then the subway crowd in New York, my mind was lighted with flashing tiny bulbs.
Approximately 4 million use the NYC subways daily. For the sake of simplicity(or complexity) we will assume that a small percentage of them carry connectable devices and of those some (percent) actually use these living plastics while commuting, and then of those there are a few that would willingly consent to a data connectivity(with some strings) and therein lies our target audience. In all I would imagine that a million impressions, not of the same ad, but maybe of million different, but highly personalized, marketing messages (it sounds so less evil), can be served. And I haven't even touched the implications it will have on push content for digital signage spread across A,B,C ... and 1,2, 3 .....
The model to carry will be to allow free connection, with fine print or large print, doesn't matter, nobody reads them, that all data will be monitored, with some caveats to privacy, so on and so forth, and off course the price for your free ride to browsing, emailing and all the, good, data centric activities will be, that you will bear the banner, or the inserts, or occasional SMS or two. And if you don't like it, well than pay per minute or per gallon of data.
Since the big carriers don't get the signal down there, I might be willing to comply with free Wi-Fi even with some timed and targeted marketing, or pay for some, on demand, minutes of connectivity, watch a small show, finish up on a movie, browse through shopping, look up the map; there are just so many pieces of internet heaven that can be had with a little connectivity.
So what is keeping the MTA from buying some wholesale broadband, and taking us for a ride; nothing actually. I believe the things are already in some kind of works, so get your marketing bows ready for some target practice.
Since the big carriers don't get the signal down there, I might be willing to comply with free Wi-Fi even with some timed and targeted marketing, or pay for some, on demand, minutes of connectivity, watch a small show, finish up on a movie, browse through shopping, look up the map; there are just so many pieces of internet heaven that can be had with a little connectivity.
So what is keeping the MTA from buying some wholesale broadband, and taking us for a ride; nothing actually. I believe the things are already in some kind of works, so get your marketing bows ready for some target practice.
