This find of a subway-car meat market by Adfreak’s David Kiefaber is the ultimate example of the Place “P” of the marketing mix. Although it isn’t clear whether this car is part of a moving train or perhaps a stationary one, it does open up a world of possibilities. Public transit stations—at least in Vancouver—seem to be an underutilized resource. Even train stations that are not in commercial locations still  serve many people, especially in the mornings and afternoons when many crave a snack or beverage. This is an opportunity for a fast food restaurant or grocery store to operate with little competition—Jugo Juice franchises have in fact taken advantage of this at several locations along the Canada Line, such as at Oakridge 41^st. It’s interesting that this isn’t taken advantage of more—TransLink would earn some apparently much-needed revenue by leasing the space and could even stipulate that businesses on Translink property operate bathrooms to make the Canada Line more user-friendly.

One drawback to this setup in terms of selling to consumers it that many people using the train stations are in a hurry and thus not inclined to wait in line. That’s where in-train stores are particularly ingenious. Busy urbanites could grab dinner as they commute—a perfect solution in our time-poor society. The compromise, of course, is that a train car would have to be permanently sacrificed in order to make room for food prep and storage equipment. For the Canada Line, perhaps an extra car that extends beyond the platform—and thus would be unsuitable for passengers as it does not allow boarding or disembarking—could be added for food cars.

David Kiefaber’s post on a new GoPro ad touches on an interesting point regarding the advertising of video cameras—the advertisement, in addition to simply raising awareness of the product and trying to keep it in the customer’s evoked set, demonstrates the product. The ad itself shows the quality of the camera—its high definition, stability, wide-angle, light weight, small size, durability—in other words, its suitability for the job is a direct reflection of the quality of the advertisement—it’s up to the consumer to decide if it’s up to par.

On the internet, more than anywhere, it is important for advertisements to be stunning, memorable and worth watching in and of themselves. This is for two reasons: firstly, there are numerous programs—like Adblock for Firefox—which enable users to block almost all forms of advertising from their internet browsing, including popups, YouTube advertisements. The web is not a medium where you can pay a fee for the attention of thousands of people for the duration of your ad, as with cable TV. Secondly, instead of choosing from amongst the city’s 10 papers or the 100 channels available on TV. There are millions upon millions of websites. The internet does have great possibilities for advertising by way of viral videos. Viral videos are characterized by voluntary sharing by the public. According to YouTube statistics of the GoPro ad it has been watched over 6,000,000 times—by people who were intrigued enough that they watched of their own volition, as opposed to people tolerating it as background noise. While the internet has introduced a number of advertising methods that are unsurpassed in their obnoxiousness (pop up ads come to mind), it has also brought the most consumer-friendly form of advertising, in which the advertisement’s success depends more than ever on its ability to captivate consumers.