Advertisements are coming soon to auto teller machine near you

By Michele Simpson

Thursday 20th April 2000

ATM machines will soon be dispensing advertising as well as cash.

An Australian listed company, POSmedia, has just bought the rights to an American video screen technology that will bring commercials to New Zealand ATM machines in the next three months.

New forms of advertising are continuing to spring up. The moon was investigated as a large medium for ads, the ABC network put its logo and slogans on 15 million bananas in the US last year and supermarkets are using trolleys and floor space to promote products.

POSmedia chief executive Peter Aynsley said he was in talks with banks and advertisers in Australia and in New Zealand for the "brandATM" rollout this year. Both countries are expected to have cash-machine advertising within the next three months.

"In our view it is changing the way ATMs look and feel for the user."

Mr Aynsley said bank customers were bored while waiting in an ATM queue or for a machine to dispense cash.

In the US the brandATM concept was launched a year ago. Wells Fargo was the first bank and Mr Aynsley said American Express was using the technology to carry advertising on 11,000 of its machines.

Using formation video technology, POSmedia will install brandATM at no cost to banks through copper telephone wires.

The software will allow text and graphic ads which will be played in three loops through an ATM transaction. These include:

on the bank introduction screen or front window;
while customer is waiting for the cash to be dispensed; and
just before the receipt is ejected.

"It is mainly a brand advertising opportunity," Mr Aynsley said.

Most of the companies interested in the ATM advertising were fast-moving consumer goods companies, major product manufacturers and dot.coms, he said.

In the past 12 months since advertising emerged on the ATM screen, advertisers such as Amazon.com and AT&T have advertised and offered discounts to consumers through their ATM ads. An average ATM transaction lasts between 45 and 90 seconds. So far the new advertising in the US has only lengthened transactions by no more than five seconds.

Mr Aynsley said a number of advertising opportunities had been discussed for the machines. Film companies had expressed interest as they could put a quick commercial trailer for upcoming movies on the cash machines.

POSmedia had also considered installing a video screen above each ATM machine to carry advertising for customers waiting in the bank queue.

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