Top brands test in-store TV ads

Top brands, including Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Gillette, are testing a new in-store TV advertising medium which could shake up the point-of-purchase sector.

The programme, on trial in Safeway in north London, is installed, operated and owned by UK company RTN (Retail Television Network), which has US backing.

It features a six-minute loop of silent ads for 12 non-conflicting brands, which is aired for 14 days on screens situated in supermarket aisles.

The scheme is controlled by satellite and can be tailored for individual stores or changed at short notice. Each brand is aired for up to 30 seconds and can use either existing TV ads or remastered imagery.

The company is planning to launch the programme next in the Carlton, Meridian and Anglian TV regions before a full UK roll-out later in the year.

RTN managing director Martin Vernon says: “More than 70 per cent of purchasing decisions are made in store and TV is the most powerful ad medium. There are very few methods, if any, of reaching the consumer at the precise time they are making brand purchasing decisions. For the manufacturer, it doesn’t get any better than this.”

Vernon, who launched the European newspaper for Mirror Group, set up RTN with ex-Telegraph sales director Anthony Broke-Smith in November 1998. Vernon was most recently sales director of cable news channel EBN, but left when it merged with CNBC (MW January 22 1998).