The other day, I went to get money out of the ATM. The instant I put my card in, I was shown a commercial. For my bank.
I couldn’t figure out how to change the channel, so I watched.
Here was a completely produced commercial, playing on the little TV screen in the ATM—a full-on commercial that tells me how much my bank is doing to provide the best possible service.
From the bank’s point of view, this has got to seem like a really smart investment: They have my card, and I’m not going anywhere until I get it back, hopefully with a wad of cash.
But here’s the interesting part. Once the commercial was over, the screen—the one that can display full-motion video in a range of dazzling colors—returns to white type on a black background. And when I press a button in order to make something happen, the sound—which during the commercial involved music and voiceover, beautifully recorded and professionally mixed—becomes a series of beeps.
Now clearly, the technology that allows an ATM to play a commercial is the same technology that would allow it to give me verbal instructions instead of beeps, guide me to the correct button with graphics, and give me customized information about my accounts.
But my bank has decided not to use their ATM technology to do those things. And you want to know why? Because my bank thinks it’s more important to tell me they provide great service than to actually provide it.
In other words, I’m more valuable to the bank as a viewer than as a customer.
It’s not just my bank. At the grocery store, I can watch television in line as I wait to check out. Only it’s not television—it’s commercials. Same thing at the gas station.
Right now, these commercials are fairly short, because we still live in a world where many of us value convenience from the places we buy things. But what happens when the grocery store and gas station realize the vast amount of money they can make off of such a captive audience? The checkout is going to take a little longer. And the pump will pump a little slower.
Don’t believe me? You think companies aren’t willing to compromise your current purchase experience in order to sell you a future purchase experience? You think advertisers haven’t already figured out the incredible value you represent as a captive audience, forcing you to sit through their sales message while you wait for them to deliver what you paid for?
Go to a movie and count the previews.
