Yesterday, Toronto-based Clear Channel Outdoor announced the upcoming launch of the Oh!Zone – an interactive-display tour to showcase marketers’ latest products and services in shopping malls and office towers in major cities across Canada this August.
At each location, uniformed greeters will direct customers to an Oh!Zone-branded display area equipped with multiple touch-screens. There, consumers will be able to virtually try out products from participating marketers, Sara Clarkson, Clear Channel Outdoors’ business development manager – mall media, tells MiC.
The advantage for marketers, explains Clarkson, is that they ‘will be able to engage in one-on-one interactions with consumers, and get marketing insights that would otherwise be expensive to acquire, plus receive the names of qualified potential consumers with whom they’ll be able to communicate.’
Clarkson says the touch-screen process pre-qualifies consumers by having them complete questionnaires describing their interest in various products. At the end of each touch-screen session, customers will be given personalized printouts with information about whatever they’ve identified as best meeting their needs.
To maximize engagement, marketers will be encouraged to provide consumers with incentives, such as discount coupons, to drive traffic and sales to participating retailers located in or near each tour stop. Using data from the completed questionnaires, the Oh!Zone program will then provide marketers with info on each customer’s intent to purchase, as well as the actual overall rate of purchase at the conclusion of the tour.
Clarkson says the mall tour is expected to stretch over 55 days, with the displays staying at each mall for four to six days. The office tower tour will be 40-45 days, with two to four days spent at each location. The exact number of destinations is yet to be finalized. But Clear Channel’s projections are that this summer’s tour will likely deliver more than 2.8 million targeted brand impressions, as well as one-on-one interactions and product demos with more than 50,000 potential customers.
