Elevator pitch

Waiting for an elevator in a Shanghai commercial highrise a few weeks ago, my eyes settled on the LCD screen affixed on the wall, above the buttons. An ad was playing for some car, maybe a Toyota.

This was a 30-storey building and the elevator took its time in coming. By the time it arrived and we entered, I counted two spots. Of attentive viewing. Like the bunch of folks standing beside me.

It struck me then that this was not the first LCD I had seen. The apartment hotel complex I was staying in the expat-heavy district of Gubei also had one. And then I learnt, so did almost every elevator lobby in most Chinese cities. And while some lobbies were packed, the ones like my apartment complex was mostly empty. And yet the ads would run, all day.

Later, on the way out of the highrise, we hailed a taxi. On entering, I noticed it had a small sized LCD screen fixed on the right side (cars are left hand drive) just next to the right window below the visor. A local television channel was broadcasting a news bulletin, it appeared. That couldn't be live, I thought. My Chinese-Taiwanese friend assured me it was.

A volley of rapid-fire Chinese with the driver followed. My friend turned around said this was indeed live. And the taxi driver got paid for it, not the other way round, he said.

As we alighted, the driver took us around and showed us the small rubber antenna that received the TV signals. Incidentally, Shanghai's taxi cabs can be summoned via SMS. And you can pay your fare through a smart card which works on all of the city's public transport systems.

Turns out, the idea for elevator advertising came three years ago to 33-year-old Shanghai ad man Jason Jiang. While waiting, similarly, for an elevator, and looking at a poster in the lobby, he spotted a business opportunity. His conclusion..with an average wait time of 5 minutes, there are lots of bored eyeballs waiting to be tapped. And Focus Media was born. One report says Focus today (it acquired two rivals recently) has over 60,000 displays in 30,000 locations in 75 cities. And revenues of $68 million.

Now I was beginning to notice things. A day later, passed through a Carrefour department store, again in Gubei.

Noted that large sized, strategically placed LCD screens were exhorting customers to buy various brands of cosmetics and detergents. I learnt, later, that Jason Jiang had decided to tap bored eyeballs here too. A company profile said as of March last year, the company's in-store network comprised 3,149 TV secreens in 423 hypermarket and store locations in 20 directly operated cities.

The advertising is not cheap, but can get amazingly focussed. Jiang's philsophy has been to reach consumers 'around their lifestyles'. And hence, the screens are in lobbies, elevators, resaurants, malls and stores. And even in a Shanghai night club as I noticed.

Will this form of advertising work in India ? In elevator lobbies for sure. Since people spend as much if not more time waiting for elevators. Taxis are a bit difficult. Its tough to imagine the rickety Premier Padminis in Mumbai holding on to anything more than their engines. And its not the most conducive ad viewing environment.

Maybe if the taxis are different. The cost of LCD screens could be prohibitive for a while. But leave it to the Chinese to bring down prices. Jiang has been quoted saying (AdAge China) he is not sure whether elevator advertising will work in New York. He thinks it will probably work in cities like Tokyo, Delhi and Mumbai.