Captivate Capitalizes on Captive Audience

Captivate Networks, the elevator digital signage company, has announced an interesting plan to use direct mail marketing to drum up advertising interest for its 7,000+ screens deployed in office building elevators throughout the US. From this article at DMNews:

Captivate Network, a digital at-work news and information network, is using direct mail to make an elevator pitch.

The Westfield, MA, company starts a campaign today targeting 3,500 executives at ad agencies and brand marketers to reignite their interest in running ads on screens placed in elevators.

"A big part of what we do from a marketing standpoint is educate people about the power of using a medium like this," said John Bigay, Captivate's vice president of marketing and programming. "People ask, 'How do I fit my marketing goals in with all this new technology? How do I really use all these new and different options?' We educate the marketplace about the value we can bring."

The campaign is to run through the year and begins with the mailing of an informational box. The royal blue box features a meditating yogi and clouds, with the slogan, "Elevator Meditations: Freeing the mind, Getting the Message, Going up."

I'm fascinated by this, and would love to know if it works. Sadly, if it does Captivate isn't likely to tell us, and if it doesn't... Captivate isn't likely to tell us :) Still, it's a creative approach to what frequently turns out to be the most challenging aspect of managing a digital signage network: selling the ads.