Coinstar recently announced its new digital advertising platform, adPlanet, that sits atop Coinstar’s kiosks which can be found in grocery stores across the United States. To learn about this new platform and how Coinstar is connecting brands to consumers to influence purchasing decisions, we caught up with Bob Corkery, Head of Advertising Sales at Coinstar. 

Could you describe your business and what your network offers brands?

“adPlanet™ is a flexible digital advertising platform that sits atop Coinstar® kiosks in grocery stores. The Coinstar adPlanet network delivers powerful reach, dynamic visuals, and tailored message capability by geography, demographics, brand behavior and interests. It allows advertisers to reach their consumers with the right messaging exactly when and where they are most likely to make their purchase decisions – in a grocery store. adPlanet is currently in approximately 4,000 grocery retail locations in 35 of the top 50 U.S. DMAs and is continuing to grow. Retailers include Albertsons/Safeway, Ahold/Delhaize, and Tops.”

What sets adPlanet apart from other digital channels? (audiences you reach, use cases for brands)?

“adPlanet offers four major benefits that other digital channels cannot:

1. Delivers digital ads to consumers in approximately 4,000 major retail locations.  adPlanet’s dedicated platform breaks through the visual and mental noise of retail.

2. Gives advertisers the power to speak to the right consumers at the right time.

3. Works seamlessly with existing campaigns and systems and it is simple to track content’s play and performance. Plus, advertisers can easily change their creative within hours, not days.

4. Demonstrates return on investment via foot traffic and sales lift analysis.”

Where do you see the digital out-of-home industry moving in the next 12 months?

“We see a positive outlook for the digital out-of-home (DOOH) marketplace. DOOH offers the flexibility of online advertising but without all the clutter. DOOH is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the fact that Americans normally spend 70% of their time away from home.  Even during the Covid crisis, DOOH has been able to take advantage of the fact that the majority of consumers are still getting in their cars and driving to places to meet their essential needs. Digital place-based advertising that exists in such frequented locations as grocery stores and pharmacies can reach those consumers as well as the digital billboards that reach these consumers in transit to these places. Many behaviors are changing during the pandemic and the screens that are still able to reach Americans during this crisis will help brands continue to connect to these consumers.”

What has been Vistar’s most valuable contribution to your business?

“We found that Vistar’s unique technical stack and its roadmap to product improvement have enabled us to grow rapidly. This growth has been essential in helping us meet the needs of our valued advertisers.”

What Vistar software capabilities do you find most useful?

“We have found the Ad Serving platform most useful. It gives us one place to track and manage every ad which has made our workflow very efficient.”

What is the one thing that you wish more digital buyers knew about out-of-home?

“If there is one thing we wish more buyers knew, it would have to be that OOH can be an integral part of their marketing communications plan. OOH has made leaps and bounds in its ability to reach the right consumers through audience tracking. Unlike other digital offerings, there is 100% viewability meaning there’s no chance of ad fraud/bots, and if you place an ad on adPlanet, it will be seen by shoppers when they are making purchase decisions. According to Nielsen research, 70 percent of consumers make their decision on what products to buy while at the store, and over 40 percent of shoppers say that digital displays close to the point of purchase can change what they buy.”

Why did you choose Vistar as a partner?

“Vistar is the full package. From deployment to ad trafficking, Vistar allowed us to streamline our rollout with a limitless scale.”