Avanti report points to new future for drinks advertising
Drinks advertisers are turning away from TV commercials in favour of promoting their brands on pub and bar plasma screens, according to a new report.
Research by Avanti Screenmedia, which supplies music programming to more than 1,000 high street venues, indicates that 59 per cent of media buyers now expect to advertise on pub screens - compared to only 41 per cent who have previously used the media.
Avanti managing director David Williams described the trend as "a sea change in the opinion of advertising agencies".
"There is a strong momentum behind us now," he said. "It's been a hard slog but people are accepting these screens as a credible medium."
The shift in attitude has come both as a result of the growth of pub plasma screens and a desire among advertisers to move out of television advertising, he believes.
There are now about 1,500 high street bars with plasma screens showing a mix of entertainment and advertising, a figure that has more than doubled since last year and attracted the interest of drinks companies in particular.
If advertisers do turn to plasma screens in a big way it could be good news for high street pub operators. Avanti offers them a 25 per cent cut of all its ad revenue.
Mr Williams said drinks advertisers are looking for alternatives to television, fearing greater regulation and wanting more measurable results from their ad spend.
"It is likely that alcohol advertising will be blacked out of TV at some point and companies are, in any case, beginning to question the validity of TV in increasing awareness of their brands and giving them a return on their investment," he said.
"Our research has proved conclusively that screenmedia (the term coined by Avanti for plasma screen entertainment with advertising) not only improves the atmosphere in a bar but also sells more product by promoting events and brands."
According to Avanti's new research, using EPoS data, sales of advertised brands jump by an average of 14 per cent. In one long term campaign Bacardi showed an increase of 28 per cent in its share of the spirits category in the 155 bars that screened its advert.
