With all the "wait time" experienced during fueling at the gas station, it was inevitable that marketers would want to provide video entertainment -- and marketing messages -- to consumers as they pumped their gas.
plan to broadcast Web-based media into the fuel island. "The dispenser technology has reached a point where it is Internet-ready," he said. "We're talking about projecting images on VGA [video graphical application] monitors. A lot of idle time is available for advertising."
Dickson Perry, president and chief executive officer, CCIS Tech, Irving, Texas, said his firm has installed VGA screens on a test basis, but the focus now is getting fuel sites up and running, and then integrated. VGA is the next wave, he said, predicting more new sites with VGA screens this year, as well as some sites retrofitted with them.
"But you've got to have an integrated platform," he stressed. "The fuel dispensers are really just self-checkout lanes. We put these integrated platforms in place for customers so their marketing departments can have a new tool kit."
According to Patrick McGraw, senior business development manager, Dresser Wayne, Austin, Texas, the technology in his company's gasoline dispenser has evolved to where it can be a marketing tool. The company's customers include Albertsons, Kroger and, Safeway.
"Just one example is the screens that are available on our dispensers for communication to the customer," he said. "In the past, it was a simple display. But now in its standard form it's a 5.7-inch display. It can be upgraded all the way up to a 10.4-inch display. So the capabilities and possibilities for communication with the customer are much more advanced.
"This dispenser can be built to support Ethernet communications so that, for all practical purposes, the gasoline pump begins to behave as much as a personal computer as a gas pump," McGraw continued. "Once you've taken that step of making the dispenser more of a marketing tool, as opposed to just a hose and a nozzle holder, the possibilities for what you're going to do to attract customers and influence their behavior is much greater than it ever was in the past."
