Seen throughout ONE PLACE: Sony Reader ads

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Today I came through the Gallery Place Metro station in Washington, DC, and saw a full-sized advertisement for the Sony reader... and I thought, "That's cool, I've never seen one of those ads around town."

And then I saw another.

And another.

And another and another and another. Look, there's two of them, side by side.

All in all, I know I saw more than a dozen identical ads for the Sony reader. In ONE Metro station.

Now, call me crazy, say I don't know advertising... but it seems to me that such an ad might get slightly better exposure if it was placed in a dozen or more Metro stations, as opposed to a dozen or more ads in one station. (And no, I haven't seen any such ads at other stations that I pass through, 2 of which are Metro Center and Union Station, among the busiest stations in the system.)

[Bob Russell]

Very neat to hear that!

My thought is the opposite, though... repetition is very important to motivate purchases, especially with an unfamiliar item. I've heard that for print ads like Magazines and newspapers, so I'm guessing it's true for this. And you certainly get an audience likely to have a need for one, riding transportation all the time.

But I sure do agree... they should put it in other stations also! Wouldn't it be neat if they could flood all plane and train areas, so that most travelers knew about the Reader!

[jasonrak]

Try Port Authority in NYC - its almost overwhelming the amount of ads!
Jason

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Actually, flooding a single place with ads would make more sense if the ads were mostly different, say, showing different aspects of the reader... instead of the same reader posed against a stack of books (how exciting!).

It also wouldn't hurt if the ads prominently stated where you could get one!

[kezza]

The only place I ever see ads for the Reader is on my commuter train. I agree, the ads would be more effective if they were placed on other public transport (not just the commuter rail, but the El and buses), and if they said where the device could be bought. Also, the ads on my train are for the 500, not the 505. Are the ads that you see up-to-date with regards to hardware?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Now that you mention it, those ads I saw may have been for the PRS-500, at that.

[Cabe]

I have just flown in from LAX Terminal 2 and they have them everywhere, in the bottom of every tray you dump your stuff in and every one of the rolling ads is an ad for the PRS-505, my problem?

I waited until I got to the airport to buy and and guess what YOU CANT FREAKING BUY THEM IN TERMINAL 2!

I wish I had bought mine in best buy and just took the hit on the sales tax

[NatCh]

You may not be able to buy them in the LAX terminals, but you can in DFW.

There's a Sony vending machine at gate C11 (probably others as well, I didn't wander that far afield while waiting for my plane yesterday) that had one left in it, along with headphones and PSPs, both device and games. Imagine, buying $300 devices from a vending machine!?! Who'd'a thunk it?

If the Sony folks are reading: That machine is due for a restock.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I had a chance to get another look today: The ads to feature the PRS-505 (silver), and underneath the ad (in relatively small size) are the names of stores where you can get them. I thought it was funny, as one of the stores, CompUSA, has recently vacated the D.C. area.

[Cabe]

Originally Posted by NatCh

You may not be able to buy them in the LAX terminals, but you can in DFW.

Dallas is a bit of a trek from LAX, especially after I had spent 2 hours in security reading big billboards advertising an unattainable slice of geek pie.