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Indoor Direct launches digital media network in QSRs

ADDISON, Texas — Indoor Direct has launched a new digital media network located in high-volume restaurant chains across the nation, offering patrons a mix of original and repurposed content from CBS Outernet. Segments such as news, sports, animation, “behind the scenes” spots, classic television shows, music videos and games are available. Advertisers will have the opportunity to run traditional spots or create customized, integrated spots into the content. Indoor Direct is placing between two and four, 42-inch LCD screens in restaurant dining rooms, which show a mix of produced and original content. A third screen, called the Promotional Board Screen, is also being placed at the point of purchase and promotes the restaurant’s featured menu items. Eight major quick service and casual dining restaurant chains have been outfitted with Indoor Direct screens. A recent Arbitron study, done in conjunction with the launch of Indoor Direct, found that 42 percent of Americans over the age of 18 visited at least one of the restaurants studied in the month prior to the survey. The findings also revealed that nearly two-thirds of the group, which spanned all consumer demographics, recalled at least one ad that was featured on the network. Other key findings from the Arbitron survey were:
  • Patrons spent an average of 32 minutes in the dining areas with an Indoor Direct screen
  • 85 percent of diners noticed the Indoor Direct screens
  • 9 out of 10 customers that noticed the screens in the dining area spent at least “some” time watching
  • 72 percent agreed the screens promote a “cool” or “cutting edge” image for the restaurant
  • 65 percent of those who noticed the Indoor Direct screens could successfully recall at least one of the advertisers

“We found that diners we studied often tend to be on site or en route to shopping destinations such as malls and department stores or going to a movie when they step into a casual dining or quick-service restaurant,” said Diane Williams, product manager, custom research for Arbitron Inc. “Brand messages in out-of home environments such as quick service and casual dining restaurants have the potential to influence consumers right before or after a shopping or entertainment event.”   Most locations will have two networks running programming simultaneously — an informational screen at the point of purchase (POP) and larger screens in the dining room. An initial deployment of screens has already launched in 70 locations within the top 13 U.S. markets.  An additional 1,000 locations will begin to roll out by the end of the summer 2008.   “In-store digital media networks provide a terrific supplement to traditional TV ads because they extend brand messages to the out-of-home space,” said George Schweitzer, president of CBS Marketing. “Our partnership with Indoor Direct gives us another compelling way to engage, entertain and inform people with CBS’s hit programming and brands when they are on the go. What’s more, it expands CBS Outernet’s footprint in the burgeoning out-of-home digital marketplace, where we already reach consumers in grocery stores, pharmacies, medical and dental waiting rooms, malls and other retail locations.”