Large niche for a small one
Star Plakat uses existing know-how to build up a poster site network for a mobile target group
Star Plakat uses existing know-how to build a poster site network for a mobile target groupBy Markus KnöpfliWhen you fill up, you have to wait. The young outdoor advertiser Star Plakat now wants to use this waiting time of a mobile target group for the advertising needs of its customers: with a poster site network only at petrol stations.
Petrol station users spend around three minutes at the pumps. Until now, this valuable time has been wasted - at least from an advertising perspective: Swiss petrol stations have hardly any advertising. Star Plakat, a company that has been in existence for two and a half years, therefore wants to actively exploit this untapped potential. To this end, it is launching a network of petrol stations with billboards in collaboration with Migrol.
Migrol has a total of 350 petrol stations. However, only the 290 that are visited at least 40,000 times a year will be included in the Star poster network. A total of 1400 B12 and around 500 B200 sites are planned. Ten petrol stations are currently covered, seven of them in Zurich.
"We have planning permission for a further 50 Migrol petrol stations, so that we will be able to offer a total of 300 high-traffic B12 and 70 B200 billboards from mid-2001," says Renato Schena, Managing Director and sole owner of Star Plakat. All these billboards can be booked individually and exclusively via Star Plakat. From 2002, Star Plakat intends to offer two national service station networks for each of the two poster formats.
First attempts back in the nineties
The new poster sites are clearly visible. "As soon as the customer has inserted the tap into the filler neck, their first glance should be directed towards one of the posters," says Schena, explaining his concept. Even at night thanks to lighting. These spaces can be used to address a predominantly mobility-oriented target audience: Tourists, commuters, residents who shop and tradespeople who come here for a snack break.
In Switzerland, there are a total of 3,652 petrol stations operated by a good ten companies (see table). Star Plakat has thus undoubtedly discovered a niche and, with Migrol, has also attracted a medium-sized player. And yet Star Plakat is not the first. In the mid-nineties, the outdoor advertiser AWI, which now belongs to Plakanda, entered into partnerships with OK Coop (now Coop Mineralöl) and later also with Tamoil (see box).
This is no coincidence, as it was Schena who, as AWI Managing Director, came up with the idea of the petrol station billboards with Coop. When AWI was taken over by Plakanda, the AWI crew was surplus to requirements. Together with Schena, they set up Star Plakat and have been persistently pursuing the idea ever since.
Expansion is already planned: Negotiations are currently underway with other petrol station network operators. Among others, a tender is also underway with Shell, the industry's second largest, in which Plakanda/AWI, APG and the Bern-based company Gutjahr have also submitted bids alongside Star Plakat.
Star Plakat cannot yet make a living from the Migrol petrol station network. The main offer therefore still consists of poster spaces that are leased permanently from Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) or - as in Zurich - can be rented for a limited period.
Star Plakat thus covers a total of six Swiss tourism regions. The company also has 90 B12 poster sites each in Basel and Berne and 25 in Lucerne. In Zurich, individually selectable networks with B12 and B200 sites are available.
Star Plakat also works closely with APG in other ways: All Star Plakat sites are technically managed by APG. Schena is also Managing Director of the APG subsidiary Externa Media. According to Schena, the four-person Star Plakat team achieved gross sales of three million Swiss francs this year. By way of comparison, APG achieved sales of around CHF 217 million in Switzerland in 1999.
Public filling stations (TS)
Petrol station users spend around three minutes at the pumps. Until now, this valuable time has been wasted - at least from an advertising perspective: Swiss petrol stations have hardly any advertising. Star Plakat, a company that has been in existence for two and a half years, therefore wants to actively exploit this untapped potential. To this end, it is launching a network of petrol stations with billboards in collaboration with Migrol.
Migrol has a total of 350 petrol stations. However, only the 290 that are visited at least 40,000 times a year will be included in the Star poster network. A total of 1400 B12 and around 500 B200 sites are planned. Ten petrol stations are currently covered, seven of them in Zurich.
"We have planning permission for a further 50 Migrol petrol stations, so that we will be able to offer a total of 300 high-traffic B12 and 70 B200 billboards from mid-2001," says Renato Schena, Managing Director and sole owner of Star Plakat. All these billboards can be booked individually and exclusively via Star Plakat. From 2002, Star Plakat intends to offer two national service station networks for each of the two poster formats.
First attempts back in the nineties
The new poster sites are clearly visible. "As soon as the customer has inserted the tap into the filler neck, their first glance should be directed towards one of the posters," says Schena, explaining his concept. Even at night thanks to lighting. These spaces can be used to address a predominantly mobility-oriented target audience: Tourists, commuters, residents who shop and tradespeople who come here for a snack break.
In Switzerland, there are a total of 3,652 petrol stations operated by a good ten companies (see table). Star Plakat has thus undoubtedly discovered a niche and, with Migrol, has also attracted a medium-sized player. And yet Star Plakat is not the first. In the mid-nineties, the outdoor advertiser AWI, which now belongs to Plakanda, entered into partnerships with OK Coop (now Coop Mineralöl) and later also with Tamoil (see box).
This is no coincidence, as it was Schena who, as AWI Managing Director, came up with the idea of the petrol station billboards with Coop. When AWI was taken over by Plakanda, the AWI crew was surplus to requirements. Together with Schena, they set up Star Plakat and have been persistently pursuing the idea ever since.
Expansion is already planned: Negotiations are currently underway with other petrol station network operators. Among others, a tender is also underway with Shell, the industry's second largest, in which Plakanda/AWI, APG and the Bern-based company Gutjahr have also submitted bids alongside Star Plakat.
Star Plakat cannot yet make a living from the Migrol petrol station network. The main offer therefore still consists of poster spaces that are leased permanently from Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) or - as in Zurich - can be rented for a limited period.
Star Plakat thus covers a total of six Swiss tourism regions. The company also has 90 B12 poster sites each in Basel and Berne and 25 in Lucerne. In Zurich, individually selectable networks with B12 and B200 sites are available.
Star Plakat also works closely with APG in other ways: All Star Plakat sites are technically managed by APG. Schena is also Managing Director of the APG subsidiary Externa Media. According to Schena, the four-person Star Plakat team achieved gross sales of three million Swiss francs this year. By way of comparison, APG achieved sales of around CHF 217 million in Switzerland in 1999.
Public filling stations (TS)
of the mineral oil companies
in switzerland
Provider TS TS-Shops
Avia 656 65
Shell 537 271
BP 417 172
Migrol 348 133
Agrola 348 11
Agip 343 128
Esso 275 127
Tamoil 237 92
Eleven 194 39
Coop mineral oil* 90 68
Various 207 30
Total 3652 1136
*OK Coop so far
Source: Petroleum Association: Status: 1. 1. 2000
