Go for the biggest catchment

Written by AdMix / Marjorie Teresa R. Perez / joyetteperez@yahoo.com

Monday, 12 October 2009 19:34

Gatuslao: “We aim for a distinctive way to attract the interest of thousands of potential clients and deliver a higher customer recall.” There are still people who either do not use or cannot afford to use the current market offerings because they find the offerings unacceptable or beyond their means. An untapped demand waiting to be released, their needs are either dealt with by other means or ignored. Typically, these unexplored markets have not been targeted or thought of as potential customers by any player in the industry. That’s because their needs and the business opportunities associated with them have somehow always been associated to belong to other markets. Consider how Rotaboard, a vendor of automated rotating billboards, pulled the mass of an untapped market into a new concept in outdoor advertising. Rotaboard is an innovation of the traditional billboard—a first in the Philippines—making it very exceptional and one of a kind in the field of outdoor. It deviates from the usual billboards that are stationary and can cater to a wider range of advertisements. Rotaboard is an enhancement of the conventional billboard, with similar features, giving the ads maximum and effective exposure the other media cannot deliver. Some companies said outdoor advertising was not a popular campaign because it was viewed only in a transitory way. Especially for lesser-known companies, such advertising media were ineffective because they could not carry the comprehensive messages needed to introduce new names and products. Hence, many such companies refused to use such low-value-added outdoor advertising because it was either unacceptable or a luxury they could not afford. Billboards typically were located on city outskirts and along roads where traffic quickly pass by; transport advertisement comprised panels on mobile advertising, which again people caught sight of only as they whizzed by. In this way, Glenn Gatuslao, president and CEO of Rotaboard and Adworld Advertising Corp., created a breakthrough when he received a guru’s commendation for the development of Rotaboard. “It was a divine inspiration due to intense pressure to graduate,” he chuckled, during an interview. Gatuslao earned a degree program in Master in Entrepreneurship at the Asian Institute of Management. “One of the conditions [for graduation] was to find a new product that when you bring it to the existing market, [your market] automatically becomes a blue ocean rule. [It means that] you have done the uniqueness and [you have] a novelty of being able to supply all the needs of the market because you’re unique,” he furthered. This gave the idea to evolve as a powerful alternative to traditional media and would be able to offer innovative solutions to its clients. According to Gatuslao, customers are commonly overwhelmed with so many advertisements as they go through their daily routines. Television and print ads, advertisements in the Internet and public transportation seem to be monotonous and predictable, thus making many advertising campaigns futile or ineffective. “Rarely do we see ads that get our attention and this is the driving force that led us to revolutionizing the way customers view out-of-home advertisements.” In a traditional media plan, billboards would be included to create awareness and possibly generate some response. Marketers might prefer to have interactive billboards, not a static image. Depending on the location of that rotating billboard, the media plan would need to anticipate what video content is most appropriate to serve to that screen. One agency executive commented that traditional media planning needs to be multidimensional. The new media plan now needs to integrate direct response planning and activation planning, not just image building. Also, the plan needs to reflect the connection of media and devices—in this example, the interactive billboard. By making ads available in key areas, Rotaboard increased the average exposure time, improving recall capabilities of this advertising medium. The increase in exposure time also permitted richer content and more complex messages. Moreover, the structure is reusable and transportable, thus, it is cost efficient and practical for advertisers. Rotaboard occupies a smaller area for foundation purposes than traditional billboards. It can easily be assembled and disassembled, maximizes its four sides and it is highly visible on both traffic directions. It can also advertise four different products at the same time. With this business model, Gatuslao was able to capture a leap in value for itself in return for a leap in value created for its clients. Accordingly, Rotaboard was created that would call for a more and powerful and magnetic, ecologically friendly yet highly effective form of advertising. “If there’s a typhoon, the frame could either [just] move left to right or clockwise and counter-clockwise. Even if there’s a velocity of a strong wind, [the frame] gets free-wheeling basis, as opposed to the traditional billboards.” Although this might be a good way to gain a focused competitive advantage and increase share of the existing market space, the point here is not to argue that it’s wrong to focus on existing billboards but rather to challenge these existing, strategic orientations and opportunities for advertisers when they formulate future strategies, and create a sustainable win-win outcome. “We, as advertisers, saw the great necessity to make our ads more captivating to the public and at the same time being cost saving and practical. We aim for a distinctive way to attract the interest of thousands of potential clients and deliver a higher customer recall. It will be good for those who are just starting to expose themselves in outdoor advertising,” he said. Gatuslao earned long-term exclusive rights to display Rotaboard having its patent registered in 2008 and has likewise filed for a Patent Cooperation Treaty International Registration. The Rotaboard was recently given a Pioneering Award of Recognition by the Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines, a proof that Rotaboard can move well in the marketplace.