Met Row of Ads in Metro

Video is to give idea how it all works

Even Dead space speaks now !

The Metros are the much talked about topic in India and especially Delhi where every month some deadline is met to run new lines. It has been a significant source of pride for each one of us who dreams and see India progressing. The same progress has been taken many steps further. Earlier, the tunnels in which the metros were running were only dark spaces which were considerably a dead area for any action. But recently, the aggressive marketers have tapped into this dead area to advertise and to take attention of daily commuters. The concept has been into practice in UK and Europe but is brought to India recently where Kotak Life becomes first one to take on lease the stretch between Chandni Chowk and Kashmere Gate.

Termed as in-tunnel advertising, C2E Technology Labs brings the ad in dark tunnels of Delhi by collaborating with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and with support of Submedia which is a US based company that has patented the technology for this kind of communication. Earlier there was no technology for utilizing this area because of fear of fire and considering the safety norms. But with technology killing all challenges came up with “Reverse Film” application wherein the thought was to reverse the way audience watch a movie sitting still in the theatres and the film rolls. For in-tunnel advertising, it is the other way with audience rolling and the film is fixed. So the steel made display boxes with dimensions of 1.2m -1.4m in length and 25-40cm in thickness are installed on the tunnel walls which can house the images of ad. The images are placed frame to frame and are lit by the fluorescent tubes placed inside. The boxes are laser cut and keep into account the distance between the audience and image boxes , the speed of train when in front of particular box and therefore the boxes are calibrated for each transit system. Besides metros, elevators and escalators use the similar methods to capture audience attention on a go.

Kotal Life has a 15 sec spot just before it enters Kashmere Gate station when passengers are attentive looking out getting ready for the exit. In the darkness of tunnel, it is almost impossible to miss notice the sudden glow of images. For this 15 seconds ad, 180 panels are put over 200 metre of distance. With over four lakh commuters every day, it is certainly capturing masses and getting noticed where least expected definitely leads to increase brand awareness and brand recognition. Besides these, large portion of commuters are the one for whom this is a daily routine and hence looking at it everyday surely enhances the brand recall. The audience is not distracted with anything else and has no choice of changing the view so they are forced to look and know about the brand. Moreover, it is considerably a cheaper affair than broadcasting a movie ad over television where you are dependent on viewers interest to get noticed. Besides the brand itself, it also leads to a source of revenue for DMRC.

Credit it to technology, marketers, creativity, adaptability, versatility, but surely way to go in advertising.

No escape from advertisements!