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FUEL & FORECOURT VMO: KEEPING CONSUMERS INFORMED AND ENTERTAINED Val Morgan Outdoor (VMO) is a digital out-of-home advertising company aggregating “highly attentive” audiences across retail, P&C and health club environments. According to VMO, it provides a 100 per cent digital, full-screen content and advertising solution designed to engage consumers, ultimately enhancing their journey and driving convenience sales while they frequent a business. The company offers VMO On-the- Go (OTG), described as a premium, multi-format screen network designed specifically for the forecourt environment. Partnering with brands including BP, Euro Garages, Woolworths Caltex, Metro Petroleum, Shell, Liberty and United, VMO claims to have a national footprint of more than 600 locations. These are believed to be visited by more than 3.5 million people each week. “The VMO network is truly designed to enhance the customer experience and drive convenience store sales” VMO General Manager Commercial Partnerships Danielle Cameron said. The VMO OTG network encompasses two formats: OTG Reach (TV) and OTG Impact. OTG Reach involves screens positioned above the bowser or integrated into the pump interface, offering a “complete” audio visual experience to customers as they refuel. Airing TV-style advertisements dispersed among “engaging” entertainment and lifestyle content, the screens are considered a “welcome interaction” by more than 72 per cent of surveyed Australian customers (VMO, ‘Moments that matter’, 2018, provided by VMO). OTG Impact screens are digital portrait panels positioned within 2m of the store entrance and said to be particularly effective in influencing impulse purchases. In 2018, VMO conducted research in partnership with Data2Decisions, which the company says “affirmed the digital network’s ability to drive sales for the retail owner”. “We researched uplift for FMCG products stocked within the convenience store,” Ms Cameron said. “For every $1 spent in advertising the product on the VMO OTG digital screens, the campaign generated an incremental $5.13 in product sales, resulting in a staggering five-times ROI. “Customers who engage with the VMO OTG network will spend, return, and ultimately fuel business growth.” In late 2018, VMO also conducted an ethnographic study investigating the missions and mindset of the OTG customer. The process was twofold, consisting of 30 qualitative interviews conducted by brand strategist The Lab at VMO sites, as well as a quantitative survey of more than 1,500 Australians, facilitated by an independent research partner, Nature. The study, says VMO, revealed that consumers are in the mindset to engage with products and services that inform, entertain, and emphasise convenience. The research further revealed that one in two Australian survey respondents visit a service station once or more often each week, while 30 per cent regularly visit to buy something other than fuel. MAY/JUN, 2020 CONVENIENCE WORLD 59