Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
A recent story on CNN featured a new company, Free ATMs NYC offering non-bank ATM services without fees. In exchange, customers view ads during the transaction and receive a reminder ad printed on the receipt. The story generated considerable buzz in New York with mentions in “New York Magazine”, “The Village Voice”, “The New York Observer”, and “The Gothamist”.
The marketer and Media Buyer/Planner in me says, “Wow! Why didn’t I think of that?” What’s not to like? I have a captive audience for my message combined with a trackable offer printed on the receipt. The urban ATM customer in me says, “Are you [random expletive] NUTS?”
I did some crowd sourcing across my Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook networks to provide a wider variety of life experience and points of view.
The results are not scientific, but they do provide a good insight to the willingness to submit to advertising in exchange for a fee for use. They also echo the opinion of “The New York Observer” and “The Gothamist” in their concerns about long and short term wisdom of this endeavor. Unfortunately, I can’t post all the responses, so I’ll post a representative one from each choice – “Yes”, “No”, “Maybe”.
Not surprisingly, the majority would not watch an ad to have a fee waived, but the reasons varied greatly.
- Safety concerns involving situational awareness
- Too many ads in the world now
- Ads get lost in the noise machine
- Don’t use ATM’s
- Use Store POP/Credit Union machine
- Takes too long when others are in line
- Just emphatically NO!
“Ugh No. I live in NY and why would I want to give a potential mugger 30 MORE Seconds to rob me. BAD IDEA. Also, what about the person behind you. Secondly, What about ATM’s accessed by cars?” – Vincent, New York City
For those who answered “Maybe”, the common qualifier was the length of the ad.
“A short clip might work – 10-15 seconds – How about audio while you conduct your transaction? – captive audience” – Craig, Springfield, Massachusetts
As with video pre-roll on websites, there is a threshold of pain and it seems to be about 10 to 15 seconds. Any longer and you risk losing your audience and maybe driving them from your brand, website or ATM entirely.
The “Yes” category is more difficult to judge due to the small sample size and the absence of reason given. It also produced the best answer in my opinion for raw honesty.
“I sometimes spend more than $2 on Gas to avoid a $2 fee, so Yes.” – Ed, Tampa, Florida
Thanks for reading and please take a moment to answer the poll. Please post your reason in the “Comments” section. I look forward to expanding my research and if I receive enough results, I’ll republish the article with the updated data.
Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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