Up to now, in-store video ads have been confined mainly to overhead screens or end caps that are relatively easy to ignore. But now a store equipment manufacturer and digital signage firm are teaming to roll out technology that puts video or static ads on refrigerator and freezer doors in convenience, grocery and drug stores.
The somewhat ethereal iDoor medium comes from equipment manufacturer Anthony International and digital signage firm Real Digital Media, which have tested it at Circle K and 7-Eleven franchisees, as well as several undisclosed grocers, with an eye to also moving into drug stores. Anthony has around 600,000 doors installed nationwide that could theoretically be retrofitted with the ad system, said Carre' Bistline, the company's director of business development for digital signage solutions.
Other than the darkest graphic renderings, the ads are transparent, so people can still see products behind the doors, said Ken Goldberg, CEO of Real Digital Media. The ads can be changed and distributed nationwide from a central location.
Installations cost $5,250 per iDoor, which makes it practical for franchisees to invest in or brands to fund, Ms. Bistline said. Anthony has been working so far with an unnamed beer marketer and other carbonated soft-drink brands, she said.
To avoid clutter, stores probably won't use iDoor on all their glass doors, she said. And while much of the advertising may be for products immediately behind the doors, she expects lots of cross merchandising, such as targeting people buying soft drinks with promotions for snacks or prepared foods.