New complimentary Content Membership provides access to growing pool of point-of-sale marketing opportunities
ScreenScape announced today that it has opened its service to content members. ScreenScape is an online service for engaging audiences inside physical places through the use of digital displays. Its new Content Membership gives organizations a secure way of sharing content with the Venues and Groups of the ScreenScape Community.
“We’re opening the doors and welcoming organizations of all kinds to discover the power of place-based marketing,” said ScreenScape Founder Mark Hemphill. “ScreenScape Content Members can now use their free account to manage their own channel in the ScreenScape Community.”
By offering free Content Memberships, ScreenScape is creating a way for businesses in the same value chain, or in the same community, to standardize the way they share digital marketing content and optimize its use on screens where the public gathers – be it a waiting room, a lobby or a retail store. The company recently received a $6MM investment from Canada’s largest IT services company, Hartco Inc., and won a coveted Companies-to-Watch Award, one of four separate awards categories that make up the 2011 Deloitte Technology Fast 50™ Awards, the pre-eminent technology awards program in Canada.
ScreenScape-powered digital displays are in active use by retailers, health clinics, community centres and recreational facilities to enhance their visitor experience. Many of the businesses that participate in ScreenScape are readily discoverable by browsing the ScreenScape website at http://screenscape.net. By offering both a repository of community-shared content, such as online video, and a pool of targeted sales and marketing opportunities ScreenScape is making place-based media easier and more affordable to deliver.
“Content Members aren’t necessarily Venues and they may never operate a digital display themselves – but they do have a message,” continued Hemphill. “ScreenScape now offers them a powerful and free way to share it with audiences in physical places through the ScreenScape Community. Content Memberships are already in use by a range of organizations. They are the brands, the advertisers, the community-minded organizations and the creative partners in the community. Now that Content Memberships are easy to get and entirely free we anticipate a whole range of new participants – not just suppliers to retail networks but also entertainers, publishers, event producers, and entrepreneurs. Anyone with an audience.”
Joel Ives, Owner/Broker of Century21 Colonial Real Estate, has used ScreenScape to promote his company’s real estate listings. “ScreenScape displays are popping up in more places,” says Ives. “We have used the service to promote our listings, our agents and our overall services and, with the help of our community partners we’re able to place these notices on screens nearby in the local neighbourhood.”
ScreenScape President and CEO, Kevin Dwyer, spoke to the business benefits of an open platform for content distribution. “ScreenScape can help brands reach their customers more effectively and it can help local businesses collaborate. It’s all about involving your industry and community partners, tapping into the power of place and offering a better quality marketing experience for all involved. It’s using new technology to harness new media and it happens to be very cost-effective especially when compared to traditional forms of mass advertising.”
Wakefield Canada markets Castrol lubricants and services to lube operators, automotive service providers and select retailers. “We’ve been using place-based media for a number of years”, says Anthony Stadelman, Wakefield’s Vice President of Marketing. “ScreenScape offers us an online service that is both easy-to-use and highly functional. It allows us to promote our brand in the retail environment and update screens in real time. Based on our research it has proven to be effective in helping to lift sales.”
As trade spend and co-marketing initiatives fund new point-of-sale promotions, place-based media is becoming a hotly contended new marketing arena that has been dubbed in the popular press as “three foot marketing”. According to Hemphill, Content Memberships are already a key business driver for ScreenScape Venues.
It’s natural for our Venues to want to see many types of partners in the ScreenScape Community,” says Hemphill. “Content Memberships open up new business models and more opportunities for Venues to monetize their Displays by selling screen space. The power of place-based media is a currency for those that know how to use it effectively and that power is growing steadily as consumers become more mobile and more connected.”
For more information, please contact:
Karl Bruenjes
Director, Marketing Operations
ScreenScape Networks Inc.
(902) 368-1975 | screenscape [at] screenscape.net | http://screenscape.net
P.O. Box 291, 133 Queen Street, Third Floor Charlottetown, PE C1A 7K4 Canada
Source: ScreenScape Networks
