I got a cold call last Wednesday morning (from an “03” Victoria phone number) from a representative of AdSmart media

As usual, I thought “here we go again”. As usual, he had a thick foreign accent

As usual, I listened politely. However, what was offered sounded interesting at first: Advertise a 30 second video of my business at selected retail outlets.

They would produce, for free, the video, which he said could cost up to $3000. I doubt they would spend more than $100 producing a video, but I decided to listen, as I’m always open to new ways to advertise Computer Aid.

After a few questions, it turns out it was actually a 13 second video, which is rotated with about 40 other videos… so my video plays about once every 8 – 9 minutes, or 2.5% of the time… based on prior experience, this should be dirt cheap, but I suspect it won’t be. There’s bound to be a high markup due to the costs of cold-calling to drum up advertisers

Anyway, their website looks nice, except its one of those awful “pretend singe page” layouts that seem popular at the moment, and I can see the costs are a bit higher that I would be prepared to pay: $22 per week for 1 location, $33 for 2 locations, $44 for 5 locations, $66 for 10 locations, etc

The nice part, is that there is no long contract: 1 or 2 months, then you can cancel

Plus you get to keep the video they produce

So, AdSmartMedia can make up to $22 X 40 = $880 per location, on 1100 locations Australia wide

Since I’m vaguely interested (except for the cost), I’m transferred to a “supervisor”

Now, a transfer to a supervisor also makes me suspicious. Its just that she is more experienced in convincing reluctant prospects (like me) to sign up

I tell her I need to do some research before I commit. She offers to call back that afternoon, I say: call tomorrow, as I’m busy the whole afternoon

She gets me to commit to being available to accept a call between 10 & 11am on Thursday… fine, I put it in my calendar

In the meantime, I have some spare time between customers, so I decide to check out these “locations” (they have the addresses on the website)… most seem to be small convenience stores, fishNchip shops, newsagents, bakeries, etc

I had time to have a look a 6 locations as follows:

• Guy behind the counter didn’t know what I was talking about, & there was no advertising screen that I could see
• Fast food place had a display, showing adverts for “MadAds.com.au”
• Store had display (but it was off because the remote had been “stolen”)
• Store had display working correctly (but given the loud environment, no sound could be heard)
• Store had a display “frozen” … displaying some snickers bars
• Another store had the display off… checkout lady didn’t know what the display was for & the owner wasn’t there (but he would be there “tomorrow”)

So, from what I saw, it looks like my money would end up in a black hole, with nobody calling me, because very few people would see my ad

So what happened on Thursday?

Nothing. Nobody called

But they did try to call on Friday morning (9:42am), but I wasn’t able to take the call

The only way I could see this working for myself, would be to visit all 25 nearby stores & pick the ones that actually have operating displays (and I won’t bother having any sound in the video, as its unlikely anyone will hear it)

I’d also have to regularly visit the stores to make sure the displays are not “accidentally” turned off

Otherwise, this could be an inexpensive way of producing a 13 second promotional video of my company

I won’t be using this particular product, but your mileage may vary… I’m sure there are others that found this product effective, but its just suitable for me