Benefits of ‘Wait Marketing’: Higher Impact, Lower Cost

Advertising bothers consumers ... Except while they are waiting. A European study
confirms that traditional advertising is rejected by consumers. TV commercials annoy
three consumers out of four. Mailing, Internet banners, and radio spots are
considered as disruptive by half of the consumers. Ads in magazines and at the
cinema bother one consumer out of four, and ads in newspapers and on billboards
one consumer out of five. At the same time, advertising displayed while consumers
are waiting (‘wait marketing’) is welcomed by nine out of ten consumers.
Research performed in the US and in Europe confirms that consumers are twice as
receptive to communications while they are waiting.

1 This is because consumers consider advertising in that specific context as entertaining. A TV commercial, for instance, will be remembered by 17% of the consumers. The same ad will be remembered by 27% of the consumers when they see it in the doctor’s waiting room.

No wonder that Toyota, for example, advertizes more and more at the family doctor
to better reach the target audience for its Corolla Verso model – mothers with young
children.

‘Wait marketing’ is about communicating at the right moment at the right place. The most relevant benefit for firms is that they can increase the impact of their message while cutting their communications costs. Jaguar saved 30% of its budget thanks to a well targeted ‘wait marketing’ campaign in the US and in Europe on websites such as The Financial Times and Les Echos. The target customers – top businessmen and women – regularly visit those websites between meetings. The results were outstanding: the click-through rate reached 45.1%, considering that the average click through rate on the Internet is around 0.5%.

1 Source: Prof. Diana Derval, Wait Marketing: Communicate at the Right Moment at the Right Place, DervalResearch, Amsterdam, June 2007. Book available on Amazon.com
© 2008 DervalResearch Page 2/3