Zoom aggressively rolling out digital screens in US

December 13, 2007 by Dave Haynes

The static poster business seems a natural to migrate to digital, and I know one company that builds the fixtures for this business that is seeing the majority of its work going digital.

Zoom Media is a good example of an early mover, having rolled out hundreds of digital screens in Canada and now the US wing (disclaimer: my company’s client) has announced it is dramatically expanded its digital billboard footprint overthe next three months to  include the top 10 DMAs in the US, and 500 locations in all.

The announcement was made last week at Zoom’s official digital launch party held at Libation, the popular New York City club, reads a press release. With close to 200 media buyers and planners attending the event, Zoom used the party to showcase the power of its expanded network including giving away two round trip tickets to London – with four nights of accommodations – to attendees who accessed a specific Web site advertised on the digital network.

“We are very excited that advertisers have been so receptive to our digital initiative and look forward to giving them even more national reach,” said Dennis Roche, President of Zoom Media & Marketing. “It’s clear they see the value of the network – which is in some of the hottest locations in the country including the East Village in Manhattan, Lincoln Park in Chicago, and West Hollywood in LA – and understand its impact in reaching the highly prized 21-34 year old demographic.”

Roche noted that while Zoom announced last August its intention to have 50 popular nightclubs and restaurants installed with digital billboards by November, the company doubled that number due to client interest and venue adoption. To date, Zoom has signed over 250 contracts with venues across the top 10 DMAs, and has begun installing in Philadelphia, Dallas, and Houston, with Miami, Boston, Washington, and San Francisco to quickly follow. Zoom also expects the pace of contracting and installations to continue to increase in the coming weeks.

Zoom already has over 10,000 fixed billboards in over 2,000 bars and restaurants nationally, as well as an extensive experiential business that conducts hundreds of promotions each year. “The combination of our digital billboard network with our other marketing assets has established Zoom as the dominant player in the nightlife media industry,” commented Roche.