PC on a pump gives Chevron station a 40-percent lift

The players
Chevron, based in San Ramon, Calif., conducts business in more than 100 countries and is engaged in every aspect of the crude oil and natural gas industry, including marketing its gasoline products at about 10,000 Chevron- and Texaco- branded stations across the United States.

PumpMedia, based in Costa Mesa, Calif., installs specifically designed media equipment at fuel dispensers to display high quality multimedia. Their program delivers entertaining and informative content to refueling motorists. PumpMedia also manages the installation and implementation of its “Pump Top Video” systems, advertising sales and network management.

UCView Media Inc., based in Chatsworth, Calif., offers a comprehensive set of digital signage solutions, including online management tools and robust servers and players tailored to the needs of virtually any industry. The UCView network-management software administers digital content distribution from a Web-based centralized console; creates and updates separate schedules for each display to allow targeted ads at each terminal or location; and
delivers multiple, high-definition video and audio formats, Flash and PowerPoint presentations, RSS feeds and image slideshows. UCView also provides digital signage and interactivity by touch, as well as cell phone SMS.

The problem
Drivers appreciate the convenience of pay-at- the-pump technology, but deployment of the technology has done little for gas station operators in the way of giving the a competitive advantage or increasing sales of products other than gasoline. Research from 2007 found that about 70 percent of drivers pay at the pump, which means that up to 70 percent of potential customers have no need to enter the store. That loss of floor traffic significantly hampers station operators’ attempts to sell impulse goods and services.

The solution
Chevron Products Company selected PumpMedia in 2007 to burnish its brand image by providing a “video at the pump” program, aimed at entertaining motorists while they refuel and at driving traffic into the convenience store. PumpMedia’s LAN, operating as a network of individual pump-top displays, was rolled out to independent service station owners to influence consumer behavior by affecting both non-fuel and off-site sales. The technology allows gas station owners to connect each pump-top unit to the convenience store without running wires or installing a non-secure wireless networking system, reducing both installation and security costs. It targets specific, captive and demographically desirable audiences using daylight readable 19-inch LED back light LCDs.

Recently, PumpMedia upgraded the Chevron pump-top units with glass-front touchscreen technology. The upgrade also included installing UCView software that allows individuals to interact with each pump-top unit, delivering up-to-the minute digital signage content over wireless and TCP/IP networks — thereby bridging the gap between pump-top kiosks and interactive digital signage. The content features news and entertainment interspersed with advertiser messages.

The UCView network management distributes content from a Web based console. Also, gas station owners can section the screens as desired, providing advanced playlist scheduling, change of layouts and ad rotation and sequential or random play lists.

The UCView software infrastructure facilitates the industry’s first synchronization of media across all screens at a single station. The technology coordinates downloads and playlists so audio and video content is presented simultaneously, without echo, with concurrent execution to the millisecond.
The basic system in a participating Chevron station includes an off premise server and several on-premise UCView smart media players. The players are encased in pump-top displays from PumpMedia. Installation is nondisruptive, taking less than 30 minutes per fuel dispenser and not requiring the station to close during the process.

The results
The gas station industry’s first interactive, pump-top digital signage kiosk, now installed within Chevron’s nationwide network of c-store/ gas station sites, has generated an average 40-percent lift on c-store items advertised on the units for at least one station, according to station owner Pratap Gandhi of Orange, Calif. Described by Gandhi as a “PC on a pump, a cross between a kiosk and digital signage,” the units provide customers with Web-based information such as promotional specials and in-store coupon printing; news, weather and traffic updates; a restaurant finder; printable directions; current lottery jackpot data and more, with just a touch of the screen. Consumers also can interact with the Web sites of third parties who advertise on the network.
“Since installation, we’ve seen increased non-fuel and car wash sales, as well as an upsurge in frequency of visits,” Gandhi said. “More customers are moving to us from nearby competitors because we have these touchscreen, interactive portals.”

By Lorna Pappas,
Contributing writer Digital signage Today