Onestop Media Group has entered the ‘home’ stretch in its ongoing rollout of digital out-of-home networks.
The Toronto media company is adding to its presence in the transit, retail, hospitality and education environments with the launch of the Onestop Residential Network, which has been in development for the past two years.
Onestop has partnered with seven major residential property owners including Minto Management, Park Property Management and Berkley Property Management to introduce ad-supported digital screens in the lobbies of apartment buildings and condominiums. Together, the seven companies own several hundred buildings in major markets across the country.
The screens are already installed in about 30 buildings throughout the GTA, with plans to introduce them into 200 buildings within the next 12 months. A national expansion will follow, although a specific rollout plan hasn’t yet been decided.
The screens range in size from 22′ to 32′, and are installed at eye-level between elevator banks. They use the same format as Onestop’s Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subway platform screens, with content such as news, weather and sports appearing adjacent to video advertising. Building owners also have a dedicated space for relaying pertinent information to tenants.
‘The positioning statement is ‘out-of-home comes in-home,” Onestop president and CEO Michael Girgis tells MiC. ‘You attach that to catching [consumers] as on-the-go commuters, and we start to complete the digital experience for our advertisers.’
The residential network currently has long-term ad deals, including category exclusivity, in place with Rogers Communications and Shoppers Drug Mart. Other deals are currently in the negotiation stage, says Girgis.
Jake Neiman, Onestop’s executive VP and CFO, tells MiC that the new network allows for the ‘modernization’ of direct marketing, since it enables companies to deliver location-specific advertising while simultaneously reducing their reliance on costly and environmentally unfriendly print flyers.
