MANILA – Imagine walking past a digital screen or a billboard. And then suddenly the screen just starts to talk to you – it knows who you are! Or better still, it is a rainy day and so the screen reminds you to take your daily dose of Vitamin C.
It’s not a fantasy or part of a Hollywood movie script. It is happening right here in Metro Manila — in our very own LRT-1 line.
International media company PHAR Partnerships, appointed in 2016 as the exclusive ancillary revenue partner of LRT-1 operator Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC), has just finished installing digital ad assets as part of the upgrades of the recently inaugurated new Doroteo Jose station.
With their refreshed looks, LRT-1’s new ad assets become more effective platforms to reach Filipino consumers.
“LRT-1 is a marketing ecosystem which remains highly untapped. It has great potential to increase awareness for different brands and has key points that can nurture and deepen brand loyalty,” said PHAR Managing Director for Asia Prem Bhatia.
Bhatia says that the new ad assets that are and will be made available by PHAR in the different stations can help brands propel their products to the awareness and preference of a wider audience, in creative yet non-obtrusive ways. Some of these touch points are larger-than-life video walls and 200 cloud-based simulcast LCD screens.
By putting brand presence in day-to-day commute activities, brands can easily integrate their marketing messages and promote their services. Concessions, shops, automated teller machines (ATMs), and vending machines in the stations also allow for amplified brand awareness that can lead to sampling and purchase.
LRT-1 itself can also be a stage for creating brand experience, according to PHAR. Through brand-tailored initiatives and campaigns, PHAR is able to bring brands closer to its audience. The introduction of WiFi connectivity within the train line can also provide companies with options for targeted consumer activations via their own websites and social media assets, and even specially developed applications.
“With digital advertising environment, cloud-controlled software, the introduction of free Wi-Fi plus the presence of a standardized retailing in LRT-1, consumers experience much more than advertising, they witness a creation of a marketing ecosystem,” Bhatia remarks.
Bhatia also stresses that companies can benefit from LRT-1’s strategic location as it runs through four major cities of Metro Manila: Quezon, Manila, Makati, and Pasay. LRT-1’s marketing ecosystem amplified by the fact that several of the stations of LRT-1 are located in nearby malls and establishments influences consumers to immediately take action as soon as they alight the train and leave the train line’s premises.
“LRT-1 is shaping to become a strategic choice for companies who would like maximize its ability to offer the entire marketing ecosystem. We want to follow the successful model of marketing executions in transport systems in Singapore and Hong Kong. PHAR has done this in several other countries like London and Malaysia and we’re bringing that opportunity to advertisers here in the Philippines,” Bhatia adds.
PHAR has already signed Globe, Smart, PSBank, Cherry Mobile, and Lamoiyan Corporation to venture in the LRT-1 ecosystem.
