Elevator Advertising in Buildings – Misconceptions to Clear Up

The building elevator advertising channel can be seen as an offline media tool that amplifies brand presence, serving as a "crystal ball" to observe changes in the business landscape. Most businesses aim to transcend developmental limits and enhance their brand in various ways, and the elevator advertising channel contributes to this transformation.

Some jokingly say, "If you watch elevator ads for 5 minutes each day, you'll know which brands are competing in the market."

With the robust development of elevator advertising, understanding and perceptions of this media channel have become more widespread, yet there are still misconceptions that need addressing regarding its characteristics and effectiveness.

1. Elevator Advertising is Annoying with Simple Content

Let’s analyze Chicilon Media, which holds over 70% of the building advertising market share, as a primary example.

Many believe Chicilon Media's elevator ads rely on repetitive sounds and images to force brand information into consumers' minds. This is only partially true.

Observing many ads from brands on Chicilon Media reveals that the content is simple and straightforward, leading some to mistakenly think that elevator ads only require a catchy slogan. In reality, this repetition is engaging rather than irritating; it's simple yet concise, making it easy for viewers to remember.

While waiting for the elevator, viewers find that ads alleviate boredom. Furthermore, watching ads in a small, quiet space, unaffected by the outside environment, enhances retention and comprehension of the ad content.

Creating an effective advertising message is not merely about a catchy slogan; it fundamentally relies on the business owner’s accurate positioning of their operations. If positioned correctly, effectiveness can double; if mispositioned, it may widen the gap between the brand and consumers.

Besides accurate positioning, using simple yet nuanced language is also crucial. Therefore, what Mr. Guo Zhi Feng, founder of Chicilon Media, often emphasizes is that a brand's robust market presence depends on its accurate positioning, identifying competitive strengths to establish a foothold in consumers' minds, finding an effective media channel, and then synthesizing these elements to make a strong market impact.

2. Elevator Advertising Cannot Immediately Boost Sales or Traffic

This statement reflects a logical flaw. If you run ads on Chicilon for promotional campaigns like Black Friday or 11/11, it will undoubtedly drive sales. However, running brand-awareness ads on Chicilon Media with the hope of immediate sales is unrealistic. Brand development is a process of shifting from quantitative changes to qualitative improvements; once a brand reaches a turning point, it can achieve sustained and breakthrough sales.

During your daily commute, elevator advertising helps you remember the brand and its core positioning, leading to brand explosions rather than instant sales conversion or traffic spikes.

Many brands have successfully found ways and resources to generate sales. For instance, everyday products like milk and noodles typically advertise in elevators during peak hours, combined with promotional staff at retail points. Consumers hear the sounds and see the images of these products daily, making them more likely to purchase them upon arrival at the store.

Many tech and e-commerce companies have chosen elevator advertising as a primary channel, heavily advertising in office buildings while using promotional staff in the surrounding areas, resulting in significant app downloads and order volumes.

In essence, the goal of brand advertising is to build a consumer's mental image and enhance trust over the long term, while the aim of promotional ads is to drive immediate traffic and sales, which is merely a temporary effect.

3. Investing in Elevator Advertising Requires a Large Budget

It’s true that many companies invest substantial initial amounts in elevator advertising, sometimes up to several billion VND. However, this does not mean that advertising on Chicilon Media necessitates a huge budget.

Chicilon Media aims to help brands achieve significant visibility, meaning ads need to be widely disseminated to be unforgettable. However, if you have a limited budget, you can initially reduce the scope of your impact. For example, if you cannot afford national coverage all at once, you can focus your strategy on influential cities like Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, targeting core consumer groups. Even with a limited budget for a single city, you can focus your spending on key areas where your brand's potential consumers are concentrated.

Elevator advertising can exert a large-scale impact, capturing consumers’ daily routines and creating brand explosions, embedding the brand in users’ minds and securing a leading market position. If your budget is limited and cannot accommodate extensive coverage, you should opt for precise targeting.

For instance, you might choose buildings within a 3 km radius of your sales point. For premium products, focus on high-end buildings. For mother-and-child products, target areas with high purchasing rates of such products within Chicilon’s network. While this approach may not achieve explosive effects, it effectively influences those most likely to use your product.

4. Focus Primarily on Major Cities, Not Reaching Provincial Markets

Your initial impressions of Chicilon Media’s advertising might lead you to believe it primarily covers major cities, targeting mid-to-high-end consumers and building brand presence, making you think it is unsuitable for enhancing brand visibility in provincial areas.

In reality, you can view elevator advertising as an aircraft, offering first class, business class, and economy, but it will always get you to your destination.

This capability stems from Chicilon Media’s ability to reach 40 million target consumers daily. Chicilon connects with 99% of individuals aged 18-47 with a monthly income of 7.5 million VND or more. Furthermore, 89% of Chicilon viewers have an education level of secondary school or higher. They all live and work in major cities. This demographic represents the primary consumer group in society, capable of leading trends and influencing the consumption of those around them. However, aside from a minority from large cities, 75% of them come from other provinces and rural areas. As we know, the general trend of brand influence flows from high to low; international brands can impact local ones, consumption in major cities can influence smaller cities or rural areas, and primary consumers can affect secondary ones. Advertising targets the 20% of influential consumers; the remaining group follows trends. Thus, brands must first penetrate the dominant layers of society in major cities, as they are the trendsetters and brand identifiers.

5. My Brand is Already Well-Known; No Need for More Exposure

Once a brand is entrenched in consumers' minds, it can be difficult to erase. However, as times change, stagnant brand recognition can lead to brand aging.

For example, Hải Hà candies were once a top choice for consumers. Although the brand still holds a place in consumers' hearts, how many consider it their first choice in daily consumption?

Sometimes, older brands are more susceptible to becoming outdated in consumers' minds.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Bosideng was considered the national down jacket brand but also perceived as an aging brand. Starting in 2018, Bosideng rebranded as "the down jacket brand for 42 years, sold in 72 countries," enhancing product quality, recruiting global designers, participating in major fashion weeks, and launching a robust advertising campaign on elevator media to promote its new positioning. As a result, the brand quickly regained market dominance, appealing to urban, middle-class office workers, with revenues surpassing billions of RMB, outpacing international brands like Canadian Goose.

What Chicilon Media offers are advertising screens, but the content displayed on those screens is constantly evolving. If you fail to innovate timely, you will be left behind.

6. Elevator Advertising is Only Suitable for Brand Advertising

This misconception mainly stems from doubts about whether online and offline can create a closed-loop media ecosystem. Traditionally, online media channels were believed to drive conversions or generate revenue, while offline channels served to amplify brand visibility.

In the era before internet data, this perspective was valid, but today it no longer holds true. As technology advances and elevator advertising receives more investment, a closed-loop system connecting online and offline traffic is gradually forming.

With the progress of new infrastructure, our entire social life is entering the 4.0 digital era, and elevator advertising is also being digitized and internet-enabled, combining audience analysis with digital platforms to create consumer transformations. According to Chicilon Media representatives, the company has researched and will soon launch this integrated system in the market, enhancing service quality and improving advertising effectiveness for its clients.