A couple of days ago Madrid allowed firms to sponsor their own metro stations – for example the Puerta del Sol stop has been purchased and named the Sol Galaxy Note by Samsung for a period of one month. This is obviously a huge opportunity for marketers, but one month??
Marketing Benefit
I assume for maximum benefit marketers would want to have their brand become ingrained in day to day life, much like how many people called a vacuum cleaner a Hoover, if a rail line was called the “Coca Cola line” that may become ingrained in peoples day to day lives and have a huge imact if people indeed started calling it the Coca Cola line, but that would take a hell of a lot longer than a month. If a stations name changes on a bi-monthly basis I simply cannot see the overall marketing success in the long run. There are obviously short term benefits for the first to jump on this opportunity because it would be fresh and different to the target audience.
Saturation
So, if these stations change on a monthly basis, what are the target audience likely to do? If the signs are creative, it could become day that people look forward to such at the ad space on the Superbowl perhaps? But more than likely it will be a standard, boring logo that changes month in month out that after 4-5 month will no longer have the desired marketing effect because it will be known as a “station sponsor” rather than the station. I really think that this is an awesome opportunity for marketers, but it needs to be done right.
Tube Sponsorship in the UK
So would this catch on here in the UK? In an article in the Guardian, a London Underground spokesman came out and said that they had indeed considered it, but had no plans at the moment to sponsor tube stations. But they are likely waiting to see how their canary down the mine does over in Madrid, if its a success they might well consider it again and implement it in a few stations. But in order to get the maximum benefit and in turn make marketers spend the most amount of cash! I can’t see any other way than brands buying the tube stations for blocks of well over a year at a time much like Barclays’ and Carling’s sponsorship of the Premier League and the League Cup. It will be very interesting to see how this develops and how these amazing opportunities will be taken over in the Spanish capital
If you have any thoughts or think I’m full of it just comment below 