Intersection operates nearly 800,000 digital and static faces nationwide. Billboard Insider interviewed Intersection’s CMO Esther Raphael. Today she talks about how Intersection uses content to complement advertising in New York City.
How does Intersection create good content?
Our content starts with our in-house editorial team, which includes content strategists and designers. They think about NYC as a whole, as well as each neighborhood we operate in, and come up with content that will resonate with those communities. Link was designed to be a part of communities, it was and still is important that our screens did more than just serve advertising.
What kind of content does Link run?
On LinkNYC we run a huge range of content, from everyday information like weather, sports scores and news headlines to community focused messaging to seasonal campaigns. We also have our “Art on Link” program where we run artwork from local artists on the Link screens. The art we feature reflects the pulse and culture of New York City, and features a hugely wide range of artists from amateur to widely known. We make sure that all the art brings in pieces of New York so it’s all about the city. We do a ton of community partnerships, and then there are fun facts or New York City facts – which people LOVE, we get a lot of engagement with this content in real life and on our social channels
Content during COVID
We partnered with Foursquare during Covid for an amazing, best-in-class execution using OOH in public space. Our “Best Times” campaign told people what times of the day grocery stores and pharmacies were the least busy. You could look at the screen and know the best time to visit the store in order to avoid the largest crowds. Link also served as a critical communication tool for the city during the early days of Covid to communicate important, real-time health information with New Yorkers across all five boroughs.
How does LINK personalize content?
From a house content perspective, we really like to speak to individual communities, neighborhoods, and boroughs where possible. Our dynamic capabilities also allow both our house content and advertiser messaging to take a personalized approach. For example, we have a lot of advertisers who use our dynamic mapping feature. This involves serving a brand message along with a map to the nearest location based on the location of the Link unit, ultimately driving more traffic into brick & mortar locations.
We also daypart our content. If it’s 7:15 in the morning, we can tell you “don’t forget to get your coffee.” That’s how out-of-home can personalize in a way that feels clever and not invasive.
We’re also starting to leverage and layer in AI to create targeted messaging, down to the smallest neighborhood block.
If content is king, context is God
A brand marketer at a recent OAAA brand council meeting said “if content is king then context is God.” Context is what makes the content valuable. “Content is king” certainly isn’t a new concept, it’s more like a guiding principle at this point. However, when you serve content that is also contextually relevant (in our case, based on location and mindset of consumers in that location), then your message becomes extremely powerful.
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