Graham's Blog

Robbie Ward – BPM Media

Robbie Ward came in to talk to us about his company BPM media.

BPM specializes in advertising in pubs abd other venues like shopping centers. Robbie told us how they use video and sound to advertise and create certain moods that can influence the consumer.

It all seemed a bit “1984″ to me, George Orwell certainly wouldn’t be happy with the whole thing.

He told us how they play certain music or music at a certain tempo and how it can have a huge effect on the consumer. It is not something that the consumer realizes  but the could be influenced into buying something or staying in a certain place e.g a cafe for a certain amount of time all depending on what they hear.

He then talked about how he helps his clients advertise in pubs and clubs using screens. His company makes the advertisements seen on screens in pubs and clubs that i’m sure we have all seen at this stage. They usually display drinks that are on promotion or even show music that Robbie’s company edits into videos.

He told us how important it was to know your audience. This is how he actually got the idea for the company. One night he was in a bar and the bar was playing music that did not match the crowd that was there.

He talked about the advantage of using digital media over the likes of print. His advertisements can be changed within minutes and can be changed off site therefore making it easy to push certain products that for example aren’t selling well that night. Put an add saying they are on offer and they are bound to sell more. This is a very smart way of advertising and will eventually make print advertisements out dated and not relevant. They simply just cant keep up with digital advertisements that can be changed within minutes.

throughout the whole lecture Robbie talked about the importance of audio and he even runs a service that effectively replaces DJ’s, he provides a service that shows video and audio to the pub/club.

It is a great idea for a company as I can see advertising going this way in the future. Print media will soon be out dated and replaced with the likes of screens. I also audio playing a bigger role in advertisements. I’m not sure if this is a change that I will enjoy. being told what to buy by a voice on a speaker seems very 1984 and I dont think that is a good thing.