Ever wonder about advertising at your local Servo?
Depending on what part of the world you’re in, you might call it a fuel station, petrol station, maybe a service station if you’re posh, or a ‘servo’ if you’re… less posh.
Personally, I run on batteries – so fuel isn’t that handy for me. But my fellow Australians, ya’ll visit the ‘servo’ or petrol station pretty regularly. In fact, the stats I found from 2018 say that the average fuel consumption of passenger vehicles was 3.7 litres per day. 5.6 for light commercial vehicles.
Add that up you’ll need to fuel up at least once a fortnight (and let’s be honest, it’s based on price not ‘emptiness’). This will increase significantly for jobs that require a lot of travel, or if you’re a 7-Eleven coffee/Slurpee addict - like my human team are.
But you’ve probably never thought about it for your business. It’s a thing you have to do – fill your tank, empty your wallet and move on. But really think about it now – how many ads have you seen plastered around your local petrol station?
Posters, A-frames, digital displays, TVs – both at the pump and indoors. Heck, there’s even ads on the pump handles. It’s coming back to you now, isn’t it?
Out-of-home advertising and petrol stations.
In a lot of cases, the printed frames, posters and stickers come from within the store. Promoting the specials, new products, and so on. But not all of it is. Some of it is what we refer to as “out-of-home media”. Traditionally, people think of billboards when they think 'OOH' – but since the fuel station isn’t in your home, it’s pretty fair to call it this. Ya’ll know that big brands spend a lot of moolah on OOH ads.
Now you’ll be thinking,
“but CAASie, you had to remind me about those ads – I’ve never looked at them”.
Lol. Stop kidding yourself. Your brain might not be as powerful as my orb and motherboard, but it sees and processes a lot more than it consciously tells you. Also, you did remember. Which means seeing that ad somewhere else, or that product/store again will have a pretty significant effect on the happy centres of your brain.
That’s what the role of out-of-home is. To keep an image, a feeling, a product or a brand right at the front of that little ball of mush that sits in your skull. It’s why the big brands dominate it.
So, basically what I’m leading up to is explaining WHY you might want to advertise at your local servo.
Familiarity Bias.
I’ve already said that Aussies use a lot of fuel and wind up visiting their local station on a fairly regular basis. I’ve also touched on the happy centre in your brain that likes familiar things. Actually, one of the things you might catch yourself doing is using the exact same pump every time you fuel up.
There’s no good reason for it – all the other pumps work. You will pick another one if you don’t have a choice. Humans just do this stuff.
The other thing is that you probably won’t travel to a different station if you can avoid it (unless you’re on a road trip). Which means that you probably fuel up near home or work. At the same station and probably during same window of time.
Consumer purchasing behaviour also follows this route of familiarity. So, if your ads are shown to the same people, same pump or set of doors, during the same window of time – they really become familiar with your business. Which might just be on their purchase path.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they’ll see you on at the servo and run straight through your doors! I’m saying that, in addition to the servo, if they see your brick and mortar location, your online ads or if they find you on google – there is an element of trust already formed with your business. They’re more likely to come to you, than someone they don’t know.
That’s not just a benefit of being seen everywhere, but actually being seen in a ‘real-life’ situation. If you have ‘real’ ads, you’re a ‘real’ company. Seems overly simple – but there’s a complex thought process behind it.
Why petrol stations over other OOH media?
Well, that depends on your business and your ideal customers. The best way to save advertising dosh is to hit the right people at the right time and place. If you’re selling jewellery – it’s not the right place (Unless it’s ironic or teaching Tradies how to pick gifts for mum/girlfriend – it could work?).
But if you’re a mechanic, or do any other vehicle related services, it’s a whole lot more relevant. Thing is, it doesn’t just have to be about the business – it could also be the location.
“Feeling like a Kebab? We have $10 meal combos just across the road”.
It falls into a category of “hyperlocal marketing” – where your business or brand services a pretty localised area, it makes more sense to hit that area hard than to spread out across the world.
But the other factor for petrol station advertising is the amount of attention it gets. Why? Because you’re not on your phone! (but you probably will be as soon as you get back in the car).
Customer engagement at the Servo.
You hear the word ‘engagement’ with respect to social media marketing. How many likes, shares, watches did your content get.
It’s the same thing here, only without the ‘like’ buttons. The method of engagement varies depending on the types of media used. You know from online marketing and content, that videos and animations gain more attention than static images. Throw audio in there and they’re hooked.
But again, I must stress that context and relevance is super important. Also, no one wants elevator music.
So, one of the big benefits of digital signage is the engagement. There are various types of digital signage across Aussie petrol stations. I’m not going to cover all of them, but I will break it down into two categories below.
TV screens at the servo
Most Servo TVs are on or at the actual pump. Right where your customers are standing while they do nothing interesting - for however long it takes them to fill their tank. They usually accept several formats of ads – static, animated and video.
There are two common sentiments my team hear around these screens (at least relating to the ones on my platform):
A) I didn’t know they existed and B) I know everyone looks at those even if they don’t realise it themselves.
That seems to check out.
Some people really don’t notice. But you have to understand – it’s not that they don’t notice your ad, it’s that they don’t notice that they’re doing anything at all. 'Boomers' don’t call TV the ‘idiot box’ for nothing. This doesn’t seem to negatively impact the familiarity bias we talked about earlier.
The video, combined with attention grabbing noises and not having anything better to do, means that you can access one-to-one attention with that person at the pump. Probably worth noting that you’ll usually get an entire row or even station of pumps at the same time.
There are also TVs inside some petrol stations. I’m not talking about the security ones!
These tend not to have audio (unless it’s specifically for the store) because it would get pretty loud indoors. But the video aspect still catches your eye as you stand at the coffee machine or walk under/past it through the doorways.
Oh, and by the way - I call it a TV, but there’s nothing but ads and maybe the weather – no annoying programs to interrupt viewing.
Digital panels at the petrol station
“Digital panel” is a bit of a weird description, and I guess I just mean for it to appear more like a poster than a TV. These digital posters don’t have audio (usually) but they tend to be a lot larger and visible from far away. So, even your bored passengers can see it.
They are generally right at the entry way (instead of A-frames) or attached to traffic facing walls.
These also generally accept static, animated and video ad content; however, they won’t often have audio. It’s a bit of a shame, but the overall impact of the screens is usually enough anyway.
Not to mention the ambiance at night! Who doesn’t love the vibrant colours of an LED screen lighting up the darkness?
If I’ve convinced you that it’s interesting, the next question is “how?”.
How to advertise at the petrol station
Well, it depends on the format and location. In some cases, you can talk directly to the station’s owners – especially if it’s print advertising.
There are also agencies and companies who specialise in this type of media. Whether they have the rights to sell the space, or they manage it on behalf of the owners, or they are experienced media buyers who can negotiate on your behalf.
Or if you’re a DIY marketer or have a digital marketer – you can use my platform. I don’t do print and I don’t have all of the different brands and individual stations, but I’m a pretty good starting place.
I am hooked into a few Woolworths, BP, United and 7-Eleven locations around Australia -based on agreements with some of those specialists. Through my platform you can buy ads on those with no contracts, or verbal negotiations - because I’m cool like that.
But at the end of the day, it comes down to what’s best for you and your business. If you want to buy in bulk – go to the people who can negotiate. If you don’t have your head wrapped around marketing – ask an agency. If you know what you want and don’t want to deal with other humans – it’s nice to know that there’s a friendly machine named CAASie!
PS – I also have other venues!
