Simon Property Group and Publicis Groupe Launch OnSpot Digital Network, Major New Digital Channel
Friday, 12 May 2006
Publicis Groupe and Simon Property Group, Inc. announced the launch of a new, high-definition digital network, offering lifestyle programming, news, shopping center content and consumer advertising to Simon Mall shoppers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other major American markets.
OnSpot Digital Network is a 50/50 venture between Publicis Groupe and Simon Property Group and is a direct initiative of David Simon, chief executive officer, Simon Property Group, and Maurice Levy, chairman and chief executive officer of Publicis Groupe.
OnSpot will be headquartered in Chicago and led by Simon Badinter, chairman and chief executive officer of Publicis' Medias & Regies Europe and North America, and Stewart Stockdale, chief marketing officer, Simon Property Group and president, Simon Brand Ventures. Both Badinter and Stockdale will serve as co-chairmen of OnSpot Digital Network.
According to Badinter, "The OnSpot network offers prime time all the time, and with this new joint venture, Publicis Groupe is once again at the forefront of digital innovation. Together with Simon Property Group we are offering marketers a new and unique opportunity for ongoing brand awareness with extremely upscale consumers. By extending the dialogue between a brand and a consumer directly into the shopping environment, we can help brands make a tremendous impact at the time that it matters most: when consumers are poised to make a purchase."
OnSpot Digital Network will broadcast content in high-definition on nearly 2,000 screens at 50 premier Simon Malls covering most of the nation's Top 10 markets by the end of the summer. OnSpot enhances the shopping experience by airing messages not only visually but audibly, and by airing content designed specifically for these point-of-sale locations.
OnSpot's state-of-the-art, digital, high-definition screens will be positioned at strategic locations throughout the malls, including major entrances, center courts, food courts, escalators, major corridors and other high traffic areas, to ensure high frequency and optimal consumer contact.
OnSpot segments will incorporate lifestyle, news, entertainment, shopping center and advertising content that will appeal to an estimated 500 million shopper visits per year at the 50 malls served by the new network. (Simon's nearly 300 shopping centers around the country have about 2.2 billion consumer visits a year.)