Digital screens in barbershops, gyms and pubs

What is digital screen advertising in barbershops, gyms and pubs?

Digital screen advertising in barbershops, gyms and pubs is indoor out of home media that plays a still or short silent advert on a wall mounted screen inside a venue people are already sitting in. iDO, the trading name of Info Display OOH Ltd, runs a network of these screens in barbershops, gyms, pubs and bars that delivers around 500,000 impressions a week.

The venues are picked for how people use them, not for passing traffic: a customer waiting for a barber, a member resting between sets, a table waiting for food. The screen sits in the line of sight of someone with nothing else to look at. iDO has placed media in venues like these since 1997 and runs the network from 60+ distribution centres across the UK, with teams local to their own areas.

What do D6 and D4 mean on a digital screen?

A D6 is a digital 6 sheet and a D4 is a digital 4 sheet. The names come from UK poster sheet sizes: a 6 sheet poster measures 1200mm by 1800mm and a 4 sheet poster measures 1016mm by 1524mm, so a D6 screen and a D4 screen carry advertising at the same portrait footprint as those printed panels, in a lit digital frame.

Artwork for a D6 or D4 screen is supplied portrait, usually at 1080 by 1920 pixels, as a JPEG, PNG or short MP4. Screens in barbershops, gyms, pubs and bars play with the sound off, so the advert has to work as a picture: one headline, one image, one call to action, and a QR code if you want a response.

Why do high dwell time venues beat roadside for attention?

Dwell time is the reason. A roadside poster or roadside screen is read in two or three seconds by someone moving past it. A customer in a barbershop waits 10 to 20 minutes, a gym session runs 45 minutes or more, and a pub visit is longer again, so a D6 or D4 screen in those venues gets repeated chances to be seen by the same person, standing still.

That changes what the advert can do. A roadside format buys a glance, so it carries a few words and a logo. A D6 or D4 screen in a barbershop, gym or pub can carry a date, a price, a venue and a QR code, because the viewer has time to read it and a phone already in their hand.

How do digital screens and print distribution work together?

In an iDO campaign the screens are the reminder and the print is the thing the customer takes away. iDO distributes more than 5 million brochures every month through 150,000 print points across the UK, which makes it the biggest print distribution network in the UK, and a brochure in the hand outlives the screen loop.

A combined campaign for a museum, gallery, theatre or attraction is normally built in three layers, run in the same postcodes and booked as one job.

• Leaflets and brochures racked and hand distributed in the target postcodes
• Posters across retail, food and drink, community and heritage sites in town
• D6 and D4 screens in the barbershops, gyms, pubs and bars in between

How is a screen and print campaign reported?

iDO has invested over £250,000 in its reporting system, so a campaign that mixes screens and print is reported as one job: GPS tracked distribution, photographed proof of display, and a live dashboard with geo located maps. You see which streets were covered and which print points hold the brochure, next to the screen schedule.

Design Museum membership ran this way: solus door to door in W8 6 plus an ultra local blanket of Kensington High Street, Earls Court Road and Notting Hill Gate, and it produced a spike in membership applications. iDO clients include Disney, the National Trust, English Heritage, ZSL London Zoo and the Royal Albert Hall. Head office: Unit 3, Vale Business Park, Cardiff, CF71 7PF, 020 3876 4268, hello@infodisplayooh.com.