Last Friday I took a flight to visit some of my relatives who live in Montana and Wyoming. I flew from Seattle to Portland and caught a connecting flight to Billings Montana. Unfortunately, I lost my cell phone at the SeaTac security checkpoint before boarding the plane in Seattle. When I landed in Portland I was forced to exit the security area in an attempt to find a T-Mobile provider (not so lucky there) so I could suspend my phone service and get a replacement phone.

Usually, I wouldn’t be leaving the security area since I hate going through the checkpoints in the first place and don’t see a need to do it again for no reason, but this time I am actually glad that I did, since I wouldn’t have noticed the new advertising medium that Zappos.com (and others) have employed into their marketing arsenals. It appears that airports nationwide are now testing a new security bin advertising program at airport security checkpoints.

SecurityPoint Media, a Florida-based advertising company, will be providing airport security checkpoints with new security bins that come complete with company or brand advertisements affixed to the inside of each new bin. SecurityPoint will also furnish the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints with new rolling carts on which the empty bins can be returned for reuse. In addition, airports will be using new metal tables where airport travelers can load the trays with their personal items (purses, jackets, laptops, shoes, change, phones, etc) and the contents of their pockets before passing through metal detectors. SecurityPoint furnishes these bins, carts and tables, for free, in exchange for the advertising exposure. The new bins were implemented into several airports since before July 4th.

SeaTac, Portland, Reno-Tahoe, Chattanooga, Nashville, Los Angeles, Ontario, John Wayne, Jacksonville and Lafayette Regional Airport are among a few of the select airports now testing the new security bin advertising program. More airports are expected to be approved as more advertisers sign on. The airports are taking part in a one-year pilot program that began after studies demonstrated the system decreases passenger wait times and reduces security screeners’ work-related back and shoulder injury claims by as much as 90 percent. Revenue from the new ad program is used to offset system costs so that equipment, installation and maintenance are completely and continually covered at no expense to the TSA, or the participating airports.

Zappos.com is one advertiser who has seized the opportunity to reach airline travelers by sponsoring the installation of the advertising program in checkpoints at airports across the country. They are one of the largest Online shoe sellers in the space today, we have reported on them and their CEO before on the blog.

I thought this was a great move on Zappos’ part for several reasons, but primarily because so many people travel through airport security checkpoints and all of them have to remove their shoes before passing through. It forces people to think about their footwear and Zappos.com is right there to deliver a message to each and every traveler. They may think “Wow, it’s about time for me to get some new shoes,” or “Man, my shoes are looking really worn out.” At that point, in come Zappos’ new ads, ready to offer an answer to shoe buyers’ problems. Not only does Zappos get to reach an audience with shoes on the mind, but many of the travelers they reach may also be stuck in airports on a layover or waiting several hours before they actually leave the airport. It’s a perfect fit since many travelers will sit down and plugin their laptops, giving them direct access to Zappos’ Online catalog and the ability to shop for shoes, or whatever else.

Here’s what Andy Kurlander, Zappos’ senior marketing manager, had to say:

We feel that this is a highly targeted venue to promote our brand. Each person getting on a plane is guaranteed to view our message multiple times. Plus, with shoes in hand, it’s the perfect instance to remind them they’ve been meaning to make time to buy a new pair. Why not Zappos?

If you think about it, it’s actually a pretty brilliant idea. Not only for advertisers, but also for airports. I saw Zappos’ ads in Portland’s airport, but I am sure they have them all over by now. Has anyone else seen these ads? What do you think about them? Will they catch on and run strong or do you think travelers are too busy thinking about their trip, connecting flights and other traveling stress to catch a message from advertisers?

That’s why it didn’t surprise me one bit to hear that at least one savvy marketing company has now found a way to automate electronic billboards using Web-based software to create, upload and edit any of the billboard images, any time, giving full control to the advertiser. The marketing company and software creators also offer ongoing technical support and software assistance for around the same monthly cost as non-electronic billboards, that are not managed by software.

Many Online advertisers forget about more traditional forms of marketing like billboards and print ads and typical Offline advertisers are not used to harnessing the power of technology and the Web within their campaigns. So what happens when these two worlds collide? It means a whole new form of mixed Online and Offline advertising that utilizes the power of the Web and billboard advertising space.

The article I read reports that NY-based marketing agency, Advertising Advantage, is one of the first of it’s kind to launch this type of advertising program and it looks like to be going well for a number of the advertisers who have participated. One such advertiser, Dahlkemper’s Jewelry Connection, uses Advertising Advantage’s Web-based electronic billboard program to help promote their brick-and-mortar/website jewelry business. Dahlkemper’s has one retail location in Erie, PA which is managed and maintained by it’s two founders, Ed and Christine Dahlkemper.

The Dahlkempers use Advertising Advantage to help gather, create, and maintain all the necessary image files for the jewelry products, special announcements, sales and the store’s brand name. Once the image files are prepared, Advertising Advantage uploads all the files to a special Web-based software that manages ad content on Advertising Advantage’s leased electronic billboards.

People don’t view TV ads as much as they used to, and newspapers are going by the wayside, but when they’re driving in cars, we’re in front of them with billboard ads that change throughout the day.

Watchfire Digital Outdoor, the Web-based software creators, have managed a way to give each billboard it’s own unique IP address. The billboards typically scroll through electronic ads for roughly six advertisers at any given time. Each ad then rotates between the six advertisers and flashes each of the digital images for about 6 to 8 seconds before moving on to the next.

The delivery method and automated system aren’t the only benefits. The Watchfire Digital Outdoor software also gives advertisers total control of their campaigns and surprisingly costs around the same as traditional non-electronic billboard space. Advertisers can insert different ads throughout the course of each day to coincide with other promotions they are running. Either advertisers or their marketing firm has the ability to insert them on the fly through a web browser. The price is based on estimates of how many motorists view the billboards on any given day. The average cost for the advertiser is roughly from $2 to $4 per thousand ad impressions per month. The typical cost to advertise on a traditional non-electronic billboard is about $1,500 to create the image, plus $1,800 to $2,000 per month to rent the billboard space and doesn’t offer the same flexibility to change up campaigns as often. Advertising Advantage states that a typical web-based electronic billboard campaign, including several versions of an ad appearing at different times of day, can cost about $2,000 per month per billboard without any additional design costs.

Currently, there are about 450,000 billboards throughout the U.S. and about 600 to 700 are web-based. Watchfire Digital Outdoor expects to convert 500 or more non-electronic billboards to the web-based system this year alone. Although this is only one form of marketing campaign that has been put in place by Dahlkemper.com, it did help lead them to an increase in sales over the 18 months that they have been using electronic billboards.

We like to be on the cutting edge of advertising technology. The electronic billboard has become an important part of our marketing because of its flexibility and affordable cost.

These are the kinds of points that Seth Godin has brought up in his recent article, “Organizing for Profit.” In it, Seth discusses how frustrating it can be to find certain items while shopping in the traditional retail world and raises some interesting questions when he suggests setting up brick-and-mortar shops more like eCommerce stores.

Here’s a couple pieces of the article to give you an idea of what he means:

Here’s what most retailers do: They organize by brand/designer or label. Within that, they organize by type of item and within that, by style and finally, by size. This is dumb, and the web makes it obvious why it’s dumb. It’s dumb because it makes it easier for the clerk, not for the customer. And dumb because it plays to the label’s ego, not to ours. It’s pretty simple: if you want to sell belts and socks and even shoes, you need to sell a suit first. Make it easy to add on, and people will do it, quite happily.

I think there’s plenty of things that retailers in the brick-and-mortar world could learn from the ones who sell solely Online. This is one great example of what improving your customer experience and organization can do for both sales online and off. Take the advice, make a change.