New York City Taxi Drivers Protest Video Screens

Well, it looks like that proposed strike by New York City cab drivers over the installation of video screens with GPS capabilities has actually happened. Coming during NYC's Fashion Week and the U.S. Open, the strike hasn't exactly crippled the city but it does let us all know exactly where this famously disgruntled group of workers stands on the matter, as if there were any doubts.

According to an article in Bloomberg yesterday, the strike began at 5 a.m. on Wednesday and will end today. Bloomberg spoke to Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the Taxi Workers Alliance, who labeled the move as "effective", saying that "between the day and night shifts, there were 20,000 on strike out of 26,000 active drivers."

While this is more an issue about a group of workers feeling their privacy is being infringed upon, it also represents a valuable case study in regards to the idea of intrusiveness as it relates to OOH advertising.

The idea of video screens in the workplace is nothing new. Tons of corporate headquarters in NYC have screens in their elevators. But for the most part they're acceptable to passengers not only because they aren't overly intrusive, but also because they offer benefits in the form of useful news feeds to the viewer. If you work on the 50th floor, chances are you've already gotten a decent chunk of news by the time you get up to your office.

What we have to consider now is what the value of "privacy" is, and how people will react negatively if they feel they are watched too closely by some "Big Brother". Cab drivers are upset that the GPS systems could potentially be used to track them. Would a casual ad viewer in the cab likewise feel that geotargeted content is a little too Big Brother-ish for comfort?

Here's a hypothetical example, that probably would not be too far fetched: Say two co-workers are discussing lunch plans on the elevator and they've decided they don't know where to go. Suddenly, an ad pops up featuring two similar looking corporate types discussing the pros and cons of lunch at McDonald's. It'd be enough to make anyone suspicious, even if an innocent advertiser was simply taking advantage of time- and location specificity to deliver an ad about a relevant subject.

There is a fine line between delivering ads that are convenient because they're on-target, and those that are creepy because they use lots of information to hit too close to home. It's up to digital signage network owners to figure out where that line is, and how close to it they want to get.

Tags: digital signage, NY10, taxi signage

Cabbies to strike over GPS feature of NY10 network?

So I've been following the news of Vodafone/ClearChannel's NY10 taxi cab digital signage/kiosk network with some interest, as there are a number of really interesting business models that they might decide to try out, and with each passing month the story behind the system keeps getting odder and odder. Consider, for example, this recent post from Engadget, that notes that taxi drivers are so upset about the possibility of having GPS units installed that they're planning to strike. Apparently they don't like the idea of their employers watching over them all the time (can't imagine why).

Anyway, the GPS units are there to provide a host of other services as well, like mapping taxi pick-up and drop-off points, giving customers a better idea of the route they're taking though they can't like the idea that customers might be able to keep an eye on what drivers are doing, like when they turn a 2-mile trip from Penn Station to Rockefeller Plaza into an 8-mile sojourn ), and possibly even providing geo-located content, advertisements and purchase opportunities.

Tags: NY10, digital signage

Just how many NY taxi network projects are there?

Clear Channel's NY10 network is looking even more uncertain now. First, as we noted yesterday, they released a public retraction about the advanced state of the network project, which has been described as an in-cab TV and advertising network featuring multimedia content on embedded displays. Now, ABC and VeriFone are describing what would appear to be a nearly identical network, which leaves me wondering who's really calling the shots. As the press release notes:

WABC-TV/Channel 7, the most-watched station in New York, announced today it will provide news content to the city’s famed yellow cabs. The news will be “broadcast” over integrated payment and content delivery systems developed and installed by VeriFone Transportation Systems, an alliance of VeriFone Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PAY) and Taxitronic, the leading supplier of taxicab meters in New York.

The new systems deliver the latest technology enhancements mandated by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) and will be installed in taxis over the course of the next year.

As part of the partnership, WABC will provide a customized version of its market-leading “Eyewitness News,” updated several times a day with the latest news and weather information. The video will be fed via wireless broadband technology from WABC’s website hub, www.7online.com, to thousands of moving taxicabs equipped by VeriFone Transportation Systems.

This would suggest that the meter system will be displaying the content, and not a separate multimedia display in the back, as we've seen in some past networks (and guessed would be what the NY10 network used).

So which story is accurate? Hopefully the situation will become more clear over the next few weeks, as one (or both, if they're not the same) of these networks goes to pilot.

Tags: ABC, VeriFone, Clear Channel, NY10, out-of-home advertising

Clear Channel launching digital signage network in O'Hare

Hot on the heels of news that their NY10 taxi cab network may not be as far along as originally suggested, Clear Channel Outdoor has indicated that they are deploying a digital signage network in the concourses of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. According to this article in Media Buyer Planner, "the network will include 8 new LED units; each 6-foot-by-eight-foot sign will feature 10-second advertising spots running continuously."

Clear Channel notes that the airport will be able to deliver a desirable customer demographic to advertisers, and are especially excited about especially elite business travelers, who have, " high personal income, discretionary buying power and the greatest influence on business purchase decisions," according to the company.

Tags: NY10, Clear Channel Outdoor, out-of-home advertising

ClearChannel clarifies NY10 taxi cab signage network

We wrote about Clear Channel's ambitious NY10 in-taxi digital signage network a few weeks ago, right after Advertising Age wrote an article about the network and its implications.

Apparently, what was written at the time wasn't entirely correct, at least according to this correction/retraction that Clear Channel posted today:

Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE:CCO) wishes to correct the Press Release we issued January 4, 2007. As stated, our goal is to inform and entertain passengers in at least 5,000 New York City taxis by airing NY10, New York Taxi Entertainment Network. At the present time, neither we nor any subsidiary of Clear Channel Outdoor is a party to any contract with any owners of the approximately 13,000 New York City taxicabs. Currently, the Taxi and Limousine Commission (“TLC”) has not authorized the sale of any technology systems with or without media entertainment to owners of NYC taxicabs. Furthermore, neither Clear Channel nor any of the four vendors currently approved for testing, is “partnering” with the TLC. The use of such term was intended to demonstrate the enthusiastic commitment Clear Channel has in working cooperatively with the TLC on this exciting project, which will benefit the entire New York City taxicab riding public. We regret any confusion that may have resulted from the original release.

So did they get into trouble because of this? While they've been trying to go private again, they're still a public company, thus any misinformation leaked to the press can get them into hot water with the SEC. Or, by over blowing the story, Ad Age and anybody else hyping the deal could have inadvertently aggravated the T&LC (a notoriously difficult organization), putting it in jeopardy before it ever got off the ground.

Hopefully we'll get a bit more clarification to this clarification soon, since I was getting pretty excited that somebody like Clear Channel was going to step in and give this thing a try. There have been numerous failed projects to put multimedia devices into New York cabs (and I'll even include that Godawful thing with the voice of Joan Rivers), but nobody has been successful with it yet. Clear Channel, with their big piles of cash, advertiser relations, and out-of-home advertising street cred, could have been the ones to make it happen.

And who knows, maybe they still will...

Tags: Clear Channel, NY10, digital signage, out-of-home advertising

Clear Channel Outdoor to deploy Taxi Entertainment Network to 5,000 NY cabs

Numerous sources are covering this story, but the best link I've found is from the San Antonio Business Journal:

Through a content-sharing agreement between Clear Channel Taxi Media and NBC Universal, some 5,000 taxis will air NY10, New York's Taxi Entertainment Network. The channel will air exclusive content from WNBC, NBC News and NBC Entertainment.

It will roll out during the first half of 2007 as part of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission's recent announcement to install passenger information monitors in New York cabs.

Clear Channel Taxi Media, which is owned by Clear Channel Outdoor, will sell advertisements on the network. NY10 should provide a new avenue to reach more than 14 million New York consumers each month, according to Charlie DiToro, chief operating officer for Clear Channel Taxi Media.

NY10 will air news, weather, sports and entertainment on LCD screens installed in the back seats of cabs. The screens also will give passengers the ability to track the route of their trip and pay their fare by credit or debit card.

So aside from possibly watching some interesting news and weather info, it seems that Clear Channel is hoping to make the network more useful by letting passengers also use the terminals to pay their fare via credit or debit card, which is pretty clever. While taxi networks are nothing new (they've had one in Las Vegas for years now), New York has been hesitant to get involved, with a number of companies piloting and then abandoning taxi-based kiosk and digital signage networks over the past few years.

Tags: digital signage, Clear Channel Outdoor, out-of-home advertising, Taxi Entertainment Network, NY10