In the midst of Vancouver’s tightly embargoed Olympic media landscape, The Media Merchants (TMM) [1] lights up a great ad-hoc interactive campaign for GM Canada.
This installation combines a traditional building wrap with live Twitter content processed via BroadSign [2] software and projected from the curb-side below.
People can send real-time well wishes to the Canadian Athletes through www.twitter.com/GMCheers [3] to be displayed on the projection as well as various e-media properties.
[4]The Media Merchants provided the display technology, installation, distribution of media assets, and real estate acquisition for the projection.
The Media Merchants started with a single conventional advertising property on the east-facing façade of The Vancouver Film Studios along Vancouver’s Trans Canada Highway. Co-founder, Brad Foster, attributes the development of TMM’s digital-only model to Pattison’s pre-disposition for West-facing properties and sheer dominance of the traditional Out of Home (OOH) landscape in Vancouver.
“Pattison was only interested in west-facing media properties along Highway #1 intending to capture traffic entering Vancouver. Instead we convinced the property owner to let us set-up shop on their east wall. Immediately we had the space sold solid for months,” says Foster.
“Pattison took notice and offered the property manager a large retainer in exchange for long-term exclusive rights to the real estate. Unable to match that out of our pocket, we turned to an entire new business model.”
[5]Media Merchants abandoned the traditional OOH media and pitched a daring night-time projection campaign to BMW Canada’s MINI Cooper ream – MINI bought in and Brad and Brodie took out a loan to buy their first projector and pressed the power button on a new business model!
Now exclusively specializing in digital projections, The Media Merchants pitch the medium as providing greater tactical and creative flexibility for an advertiser to target and impress consumers. “Projections are newer and more exciting, creating an impact like no other OOH medium,” says Foster.
In addition, utilizing the urban landscape of buildings, glass, walls, etc., projections don’t interrupt the landscape, avoiding architectural and environmental intrusions of erecting billboards.
At 5 years young, The Media Merchants retains on-staff real estate brokers for property selection and rights, opened a new satellite office in Toronto and lights up skylines across Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax for a client roster that includes Warner Brothers, BMW, Bell, Starbucks, Fido and Wind Mobile among others.
They no longer worry about parking tickets for crew vehicles parked on-site through the night and even look good naked [6] while on the job!
Dmitry Sokolov is a new guest contributor to DailyDOOH. He is a Digital Signage Evangelist and a Samsung Market Development Manager at Ingram Micro Canada. Look forward to more content by Dmitry on Canadian Digital Signage landscape and first-hand experiences as a Digital Signage professional in the Canadian IT Channel. Dmitry can be reached at write@dsokolov.ca [7] or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Dmitry_Sokolov [8]