Park and read - a new ad-venture hits the spot

By SIMON HENDERY

When pharmaceutical sales rep Ian Stewart was looking for a new business venture in 2000, the proliferation of job-search websites set him thinking about carpark advertising.

Stewart's theory was that a carpark was the ideal place for the sites to advertise - staff would have their job search top-of-mind as they reluctantly headed to the office of a morning, and when they got to their desks the internet would be waiting for them to visit sites that had just been splashed in front of them.

The bursting of the dotcom bubble that year may have snuffed out a lot of internet hype - and many job sites with it - but Stewart still believes carparks are a good advertising medium.

His company, Parking Space, has deals with Wilson Parking and City Car Parks, giving him access to 30 buildings between Auckland and Dunedin.

He can offer a range of advertising media, including carpark wall posters, barrier-arm signs, lift door signs and custom-printed tickets.

Aware that over-exposure to advertising is a pet hate for many and can be counter-productive, Stewart aims to avoid clutter by limiting the number of ads in a building.

Instead, he says an advantage of the carpark as an advertising medium is that it can offer "flow" - the branding drivers see at the barrier arm and on the back of their ticket is followed by a related message on posters on the wall as they get out of their cars, or on the lift doors as they leave the building.

Another advantage, Stewart says, is that different ads in the carpark can target two audiences: those arriving and those leaving.

Shopping is likely to be the focus of the inbound parker, so retailers can grab that "last point of communication" before people hit the mall.

The driver following exit signs out of the building will be focused on the next destination, giving an advertising opportunity for the likes of petrol companies, supermarkets, or even pizza stores.

Stewart says advertising agencies remain reluctant to embrace the carpark advertising concept because it is new and there is a lack of research to back up its effectiveness.

However, the 30 car parks where Parking Space is operating attract a monthly audience of several hundred thousand.

Parking Space