Jason Hancock | Jun 13, 2007 | 7:15 pm |

4 min read time

| 843 words | Archive |

Cutting-edge technology that will be installed by Sept. 1 will make it possible for advertisers to send information via text message to travelers when they pass by DSM International’s Reservation and Information Center. Rendering submitted

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The technology, available to anyone who has Internet service on their mobile phone, also will allow companies to deliver video advertisements to passengers’ phones.

The high-tech marketing ap-proach, which will include ads displayed on 70-inch flat-screen televisions and touch-screen information kiosks, is among the first of its kind in U.S. airports, said Ernie Dojack, marketing consultant with Interspace Airport Advertising, a division of Clear Channel Outdoor.

“Des Moines, Cleveland and San Antonio will be the only airports in the country with this type of technology,” he said. “This is the cutting edge.”

Interspace was selected last month to partner with Des Moines International in the creation of a new “Community Showcase” program that will be featured throughout the terminal.

“They wrap the advertising together around a theme,” said Roy Criss, an airport spokesman. “The theme is unique to each community they are involved with. It adds a lot of great features to the terminal, and it also makes the terminal look nice.”

Dojack said his company tries to learn as much as it can about the cities it works with in order to customize a design for that specific airport.

“I pretty much live in Des Moines this summer,” he said. “The next few weeks we are meeting with current clients who advertise in the airport to give them the first opportunity in the redesign. It then opens up to the public with everything installed by Sept. 1.”

Airports have seen an increase in advertising in every market Interspace has entered, Dojack said, ranging from 20 percent in some to more than 400 percent at Hewanorra International Airport on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

“There is a minimum guarantee we pay to the airport every year for the rights to install the advertising,” Dojack said. “But they also get a percentage of the advertising revenue. So this is making money for the airport and the community.”

The exact terms of the financial agreement between Interspace and Des Moines International are not yet available, Dojack said, but Interspace usually makes significant investments in the airports that it works with.

“We bring in a large amount of the most cutting-edge technology available,” he said. “But everybody makes money in this situation: the airport, the advertisers and our company.”

The ease with which visitors can use the technology will come as a surprise to many, Dojack said.

“The airport’s new technology will help visitors become more familiar with Des Moines and encourage them to come back,” Dojack said. “It will be like a digital brochure of the city sent to your cell phone.”

Using three delivery channels – e-mail, mobile Web sites and Bluetooth – advertising messages will be transferred to the passengers’ cell phone. Digital or traditional signs will prompt passengers to direct their phone’s browser to www.myVguide.net or send an e-mail to DSM@myVguide.net on their mobile device. Passengers with Bluetooth-compatible phones will have the option of receiving the myVguide.net content in a single download to their phone.

“You get a text message, and as quick as that, you now know about a ton of restaurant and entertainment options,” Dojack said. “Phone numbers, addresses, everything you need.”

Technology is also being used to improve travelers’ access to the latest weather forecasts.

An AccuWeather Display Unit will be positioned in the airport lobby to give travelers up-to-the-minute weather news about Des Moines and any destination.

Utilizing a seven-foot scrolling display and two 32-inch LCD monitors, weather information will be updated every 20 minutes.

The term of Des Moines International’s contract with Interspace is 10 years, and as technology improves, updates will be made throughout the airport, Dojack said.

The airport will also be adorned with 20-foot murals depicting scenes from Des Moines to let travelers “see a part of the city as soon as they step off the plane,” Dojack said.

“We want to give the airport an all-around face lift,” he said.

Interspace, which is based in Allentown, Pa., handles more than 190 airport programs throughout North and Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Rim.