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Pump up the pitch

Pump up the pitch

Posted by Rob Walker on December 27, 2007
Posted Under: Murketing

I happened to notice this item carrying the news that CBS has struck a deal with something called Gas Station TV, “to push programming streams to viewers at gas pumps.”

CBS will deliver a potpourri of breaking news and headlines from CBS News along with short takes from its entertainment programming to a captive audience of consumers while they fill their gas tanks.

Obviously, the payoff is that this programming will also be spiked with ads. I was dimly aware of the idea of television screens at gas tanks, but I’ve never experienced it that I can recall, and I wasn’t aware of this company, which claims that 30 million people a month see programming on its 5,000 gas station screens in 300 cities.

Curious, I found Gas Station TV’s site, where a press release quotes the company CEO saying: “We’re transforming the gas station into a true media destination for consumers, marketers and retailers alike.”

Elsewhere, the site explains the appeal to advertisers of this “media destination”: “GSTV reaches the consumer ‘off the couch’ and ready to take action.” It claims that advertisers can target a “demographic audience based on location and time of day,” and mentions that “your ad is integrated with content,” although that’s not really explained. Also mentioned in a promotional video on the site: it’s a “captive audience,” and there’s no TiVo factor here.

Three things:

First, I stand once again awestruck before the astonishing inventiveness that the profit motive inspires. I would not have imagined the gas pump as a captive-audience venue. And even if I had, I would not have believed that somebody would go to the trouble and expense to create a system to treat it that way.

Second, while assorted gurus continue to make a living peddling the idea that thanks to various technologies (such as TiVo) “interruption marketing” is dead, and in the future we’ll only be exposed to the sales pitches etc. that we the consumer find personally relevant, here, once more, is proof that this assertion is balderdash. What ad-avoiding technology has done is inspire previously unthinkable new forms of interruption, and that’s not going to stop. See point one above.

Third, while my instinct is to be annoyed at the idea of being pitched while pumping gas, I’m having trouble really backing that up. It’s not like a gas station is a public space, like park, or a sidewalk. It’s already a business, so I guess the owners of the business can do whatever they want, and I can choose to be there or move along. And it’s not like I view pumping gas as an enjoyable and relaxing respite from my busy day. It’s not a leisure activity, or a time for private reflection: It’s pumping gas. How outraged can I really be?

Further diversion may be found at MKTG Tumblr, and the Consumed Facebook page.

Reader Comments

Entertaining post. Advertising is ubiquitous, so why the heck should I really care if someone is clever enough to put it in front of me while I’m pumping gas. As you point out, it’s not like the gas station is the last bastion of peace and quiet in the urban jungle.

#1 
Written By Ian on December 27th, 2007 @ 8:36 am

I don’t understand this at all. How long does one spend at the pump? 3 minutes? We’re going to get Letterman’s Top Ten, a promo for CSI: Saskatchewan, and ads for cars and cell phones. I have a hard time believing that this will be profitable, but maybe that’s why I’m not a venture capitalist.

#2 
Written By Matt L on December 27th, 2007 @ 10:23 am

Gas station owners nationwide are imagining all of those pennies adding up when a distracted pumper fails to stop at the even $40…
I’m glad I live in Oregon, where I won’t have to pump myself, nor be exposed to the ads.

#3 
Written By Steve on December 27th, 2007 @ 6:12 pm

Oh, yes, Gas Station TV. As someone who lives in the suburbs and pumps gas at the Murphy station attached to my neighborhood Wal-Mart, I am acquainted with GSTV. And I believe that there was already CBS coverage on it, light news items peppered with ads.

#4 
Written By Ingrid on December 27th, 2007 @ 6:18 pm

Personally, I think this is great. I love televison, and I love the smell of gasoline. But why stop at the pumps? Why not install some televisions in the gas station bathroom?

#5 
Written By cousin lymon on December 27th, 2007 @ 6:18 pm

You can’t really complain but perhaps you would pay a couple cents more on the tank to go to an ad-free station…or perhaps it would add yet more motivation to get an electric car.

#6 
Written By Andrew Condon on December 28th, 2007 @ 7:06 am

What’s the difference of looking at a billboard across the street or watching the motion on a nearby TV? I think it will further annoy the people who are already frustrated with the media-crazed culture, and will appear novel to the happily over consumed person too sedated by media in the states to notice what their life is really about anyways.

#7 
Written By Kevin Hopp on December 30th, 2007 @ 8:59 pm

But won’t gas station owners have to weigh the pennies brought in by this advertising versus the additional revenue they actually earn right now by impulse purchases motivated by on-pump promotions?

I mean, the tiny digital screen on the pumpnow offers me discounts on candy bars and car washes – items actually for sale inside, when I have my wallet out. And that’s real money in the dealer’s pocket.

#8 
Written By Colin McKay on December 31st, 2007 @ 12:30 pm
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