Astral wins DOOH war in Montreal airport

January 20, 2011 by Dave Haynes

Montreal’s Trudeau airport is a frequent haunt and has been for many years. I was impressed, several years ago,  when Bell Canada installed a nicely executed portrait screen network all through the facility, pre and post-security. I liked the sightlines and the packaging and the use of portrait.

Then Montreal-based media giant Astral came in and installed its own screens, in landscape mode, in the departure gate seating areas. Didn’t like those much, though the programming improved with time.

This meant that it was possible, for at least the last three years (maybe more), to see two competing DOOH screens in the same field of view once you were past your cavity search.

It made no sense, and I know that the Bell screens – sold I think by ClearChannel – were not getting on a lot of media plans. At some point, it was clear, one would pick up the other.

Now there is word that Astral has launched AeroVertical – which is positioned as new but is actually those Bell screens.

Astral Out-of-Home, one of Canada’s leading out-of-home advertising companies and a subsidiary of Astral Media Inc. (TSX: ACM.A/ACM.B), has expanded its advertising network at the Montréal-Trudeau International Airport with the addition of 80 new AeroVertical digital faces to the hundred digital faces already in place.

“This addition of our new AeroVertical network consolidates our digital advertising offering at Montréal-Trudeau airport,” said Luc Quétel, Vice President, Real Estate Services, Astral Out-of-Home. “It provides marketing specialists with a substantial return on innovative and targeted campaigns.”

Astral Out-of-Home’s AeroVertical network includes a 90-second broadcast loop shared by a maximum of six advertisers with 15-second spots. Its 40-inch (102 cm) vertical digital faces are mainly located throughout the airport’s domestic terminal. The AeroVertical network can broadcast still or animated content. It is programmed and managed remotely from Astral’s state-of-the-art control and broadcast centre located in Montréal.

With over 12 million travellers passing through the Montréal-Trudeau Airport annually, the AeroVertical network represents a media of choice for advertisers looking for flexibility and creativity. The AeroVertical network complements the existing AeroTV flat-screen television network – located in the flight departure area – that features programming focused on entertainment and leisure; and the PasseportMedia screens – located in the flight arrival area – that broadcast rich visual content, supported by text or graphics.

I assume sales gets a lot easier when media people are not asking, “OK, one more time, which ones are yours???”