Since You're Stuck Here Pumping Gas

Last week I was pumping gas at the same gas station I've been going to for over ten years, but this time there were video monitors above each pump telling me about the benefits of the gas I was already putting into my thirsty minivan, and also telling me about the great new shows on NBC. What the heck was this all about?

I had never heard of this practice before, but it struck me as the latest tactic in the long history of interruption marketing. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, marketing guy extroardinaire Seth Godin in his book "Permission Marketing" describes interruption marketing as the old-school marketing approach of getting people's attention by interrupting them while they're busy doing something else. The most obvious form of interruption marketing is TV advertising. When you're watching the latest episode of Lost or House, at least 2/3 of the show's broadcast is commercials designed to get your attention, with the aim of getting you to buy something. And this approach has worked for as long as there's been TV (or radio, magazines, and newspapers, for that matter). But our attention is waning, and the TiVo revolution has given many of us the power to avoid TV interruption. So the marketing folks are always looking for new mediums where they can get our attention.

That brings us back to my gas station. When I pump gas, I'm truly a captive audience. Sure, I could go sit in my car and wait. But I avoid that based on some (ahem) unfortunate incedences in my past. So I stood there at the pump watching commercials, trying not to get distracted from watching the price gauge on the pump (is it really that much?).

After a little research, it turns out this is a growing business. A quick search on Google pulled up three ads for companies offering this service, including Gas Station TV, Pump Media, and Octane Media Group. And none of these companies were the ones offering service at my gas station, so there are probably many more firms offering this service.

Now I need to say that I'm a marketing guy myself, and I understand the necessity a company has to get your attention and convince you to buy something. Marketing isn't inherently evil--marketing is how businesses (or any organization for that matter) operates. It is at the heart of the products and services businesses sell, as well as the means for selling them. But I was definitely put off by video screens. This isn't like TV advertising where at least I'm getting something for my attention. At the gas station, I'm paying them for the privilege of watching ads. This is a slippery slope for advertisers, in my opinion. But given that we're not watching commercials on TV any more, we'll probably see more and more interruptions like this.

What do you think?