Following a one-year pilot test of eight screens, the full implementation started at the end of 2008.

The pilot validated operability, the ability to deliver messaging consistently, the emergency functionality and – perhaps the most important measure after these three – revenue generation.

TransLink’s advertising licensee Lamar Advertising Co. provided the lion’s share of funding for the project, as the implementation provided a critical proof of concept for its Lamar Commuter Digital (LCD) network. Lamar currently operates over 150 outdoor advertising companies in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada.

The company that operates the LCD network for BC Transit, TransLink’s parent authority, is Burnaby-based Lamar Transit Advertising (LTA). LTA is in the fourth year of a contract that runs for 15 years, much longer than is typical in this business.

The company’s financial contribution to the implementation skews the TransLink ROI picture, but John Beaudoin is in no doubt about the long-term revenue upside.

“It doesn’t save us money, it actually makes us money. Once the system gets rolling, revenue for TransLink will be into the seven figures, he says.

“This is the biggest deployment of digital LCD screens in a subway system in Canada,” says Byron Montogomery, Lamar’s vice president and general manager.

“When it’s fully finished across the subway/light rail system in Vancouver, it will be the biggest in North America. No matter what station you’re on, advertisers will have access to that commuter market on 21st century technology.”

Lamar has over 1000 advertising customers in Vancouver that can take advantage of the new system’s capabilities. The company is working with a lottery corporation in B.C. to use the system to announce jackpots immediately, and also with Canadian airline WestJet to offer special fares on short notice.

The advertising packages can be as flexible as an advertiser wants, down to single-day or even day-part slots. However Montgomery is quick to point out that advertising constants still prevail. Repeat impressions are critical, especially with a time-constrained, commuter audience that is on-site only for a few minutes a day, so more conventional, longer-term engagements of at least four weeks are still the best.

Lamar recommends that advertisers leverage the system’s capabilities by using different creative content for different times of day.

Montgomery declined to reveal actual revenue figures, but he says the last couple of years have been exceptional, and notes that Lamar is performing very strongly at a time when competitor have been struggling.

“This type of system is a first,” he says. “We’re able to provide new solutions to advertisers and transit agency partners that we couldn’t before – and that’s a win because these days people are really counting the beans.”

Find out  more information about Lamar’s Digital Commuter Network (here).

Source: itbusiness.ca / 9/22/2009 6:00:00 AM By: Andrew Brooks Article (here).