How can elevator advertising resist the wave of digitalization?

The epidemic is sweeping across China again. Outdoor advertising has suffered repeated setbacks in the face of the epidemic, but elevator advertising is the only one that has shown a good development trend and still holds its position in outdoor advertising. Due to the epidemic, people's travel frequency has dropped rapidly. Most people stay at home and in the company, and their activities are narrowed to the two points of community, family and workplace. Elevator advertising has become the biggest winner. While major outdoor media are restricted, this type of outdoor media is still vibrant.

In community scenarios, people’s attention is exhausted due to staying indoors for a long time. At this time, elevator advertising is more likely to capture the minds of users, and the mandatory viewing feature of elevator advertising means that the reach rate of elevator advertising is high. Therefore, with the rise of naked-eye 3D large screens and high-speed rail and subway media, elevator advertising continues to be successful and has become the leader in the outdoor advertising industry.

Elevator advertising is growing steadily step by step

If you think that elevator advertising is showing signs of fatigue in the outdoor advertising market simply because it benefited from the epidemic, then take a look at the following data.

Source: Guanyan Tianxia

In 2020, the elevator advertising reach rate was 79%, the viewing rate was 45.1%, and the brand re-recognition rate was 12.9%. Its data far exceeds that of the other four popular categories of outdoor advertising.

According to Osmo INSIGHT statistics: As of 2021, the total number of elevators installed in China has exceeded 9 million, the number of outdoor elevator advertising screens installed is close to 6 million, and the total number of users covered has exceeded 700 million. Users who frequently take elevators take the elevator an average of 4 to 6 times a day.

Elevator advertising covers scenarios including residential buildings, office buildings, hotels and other living, working and consumption scenarios, as well as public service places such as stadiums, banks, train stations and airports.

Compared with mainstream outdoor advertising media, elevator advertising far exceeds other outdoor media with its high reach, high exposure and strong memory, occupying the first place and taking the lead.

The reason why elevator advertising ranks first is its stability, which will not be easily disturbed by external factors. Therefore, under the epidemic, elevator advertising is the only outdoor advertising that remains out of the way and is the least affected, so it is expanding while stabilizing the market.

According to Lingmou Insight data statistics, China's elevator advertising revenue has been on a growth trend over the past five years. In 2021, the total revenue of China's elevator advertising exceeded 20 billion, showing a growth trend, but the growth rate has slowed down.

Elevator advertising has obvious advantages in outdoor media, with stable and strong exposure, a large base population, and wide coverage. Another reason is that there are several leading companies in elevator advertising media that have formed several large networks. Unlike other outdoor advertising media, which are scattered and difficult for buyers and sellers to connect, elevator advertising occupies a small half of the outdoor advertising industry.

Too noisy, bad viewing experience, elevator ads are plagued by negatives

In the post-epidemic era, elevator advertising media is still the most effective outdoor advertising, but the biggest dilemma facing elevator advertising is the sharp decline in word of mouth.

Among the 1,851 user data sets surveyed by Osmo INSINGHT, 65% of the respondents who frequently take elevators have seen elevator ads, while 30% said they had noticed but did not watch them, and instead played with their phones or listened to music in the elevator.

Among the users interviewed, 64% said that elevator ads are worth watching, and nearly 40% felt that elevator ads as a whole were interesting. Another 20% or so of users have a negative perception of elevator ads, specifically: noisy, repetitive, unavoidable, and annoying.

About 40% of the respondents believed that elevator advertisements are either standard or youthful, interesting and creative. 27% of users think that elevator advertisements are cliché, backward and old-fashioned; about 20% of users give the overall evaluation of elevator advertisements as low-end brainwashing, exaggerated and childish.

Among users who have watched "poor elevator ads", 61% thought that the elevator ads were of poor form, exaggerated and brainwashing, 53% thought that the content was poor and uncreative, 44% thought that the communication concept was poor, among which backward ideas and objectification of people were considered to be poor methods, and another 12% of users gave poor reviews to the elevator ads they watched because they did not like the spokespersons.

The above data charts are from Osmo INSINGHT

Previously, the elevator advertisement of Ulike hair removal device was boycotted. The slogan "Without sapphire, I won't take it off" caused discomfort to passengers, who felt it was vulgar, low-level and disrespected. This borderline behavior was reported by users and eventually resulted in a corresponding fine.

Because of some bad advertisements, the public generally believes that elevator advertisements are a hotbed of junk advertising. This is quite unfavorable for the sustainable development of elevator advertising. The sense of trust between any media and users is very important. This determines the efficiency of advertising and will also affect the entire brand and the credibility of the communication media in the eyes of the public.

For any media, credibility is equivalent to its vitality. When credibility is lost, there is no point in placing advertisements because it is no longer recognized by the public.

The elevator advertisement made by Mofashijia on Women's Day was well received by the public, but its dolphin skin mask has recently caused its reputation to take a sharp turn for the worse. Users said they dared not use their products anymore. The shrill dolphin sound as soon as they entered the elevator made the audience angry.

Source: Singularity Finance

For elevators as a communication medium, advertising content is the key to success. Not only does good media drive communication, but good content also feeds back to the media. The reputation of elevator advertising is also affected by the content of the advertising.

For a closed communication medium like elevator advertising, on the one hand, it is easier to attract the attention of the audience, and on the other hand, the requirements for content must also be strictly controlled. In fact, no matter what communication medium it is, it is complementary to the user. When a medium is condemned by a wide range of users, it will inevitably have a serious impact on it.

Long-term development, creativity first

Elevator ads are generally considered to be uncreative.

According to the statistics of 1,821 respondents of Lingmou insght: in the evaluation of the overall memory effect of elevator advertisements, 52% of the respondents had no impression of outdoor advertisements, and about 30% of the users had watched elevator advertisements with poor or good impressions.

Judging from the overall data, elevator advertisements lack content creativity. If we want to improve competitiveness, content creativity is currently the most important part of elevator advertising. As for advertising, it must start from the heart and capture the psychology of consumers.

The elevator advertisements that have been suffering from public disgust and complaints recently actually have a lot of good ideas. Yingshi cleverly grasped the needs of users last year. Not only did it not disgust users, but it also captured their curiosity. It may seem like just a public service advertisement, but it actually contains hidden meanings, stimulating users' rebellious psychology and arousing their curiosity. The copywriting is not only interesting but also interactive.

Image source: Some media

This kind of interesting interactive advertising can better occupy the user's mind. When users actively participate in the interactive process, their understanding of the brand will be more profound.

The first impression of an advertisement is extremely important to the audience. Visual effects affect the effectiveness of advertising to a certain extent, satisfying the user's senses and naturally establishing an effective relationship with the brand, linking the relationship between the brand and people, and ultimately turning it into a relationship between people and products.

This gym advertisement from the foreign company PragmaDDB uses the picture on the elevator door to tell you the dangers of obesity. It is intuitive and vivid. It is not only eye-catching but also very contagious.

Image source: PragmaDDB

In the elevator, in the awkward atmosphere, people are always faced with two choices: look down at their phones or wait for the elevator to arrive. When the elevator is overcrowded, the only option is to wait for the elevator to arrive, and elevator ads become the only viewing option. This is a true portrayal of use and satisfaction in communication studies. The emergence of elevator advertising allows users to lower their focus, and this is when it becomes a battle between advertising content and creativity.

Summary: Elevator advertising’s stable exposure and high reach make it stand out. Under the wave of digitalization, the competitiveness of other outdoor media has increased, and elevator advertising also faces certain challenges. Poor creativity and criticized advertising forms have become the main problems of elevator advertising. In the long run, the development of elevator advertising cannot be separated from the drive of content and creativity.