Flat screens offer ad platforms for local businesses

Unlike other similar screens located in gas stations and supermarkets, these televisions are locally owned and operated, and feature only local businesses.

Needham resident David Koplan, who runs Localdrumadvertising, the company behind the screens, said he started working on the plan six months ago and finally installed the first ones in early February. There are now 17 screens up. The idea for the project, he said, came from research he did after he got laid off from his job in financial services.

“I just watched the ad landscape and recognized that there isn’t something like this that would be helpful to promote local businesses,” Koplan said. “They do this on a national level, but they advertise for the big box stores and leave out the smaller local businesses.”

Koplan runs the business alone, but uses a contracted graphic designer who creates Flash animation and movie advertisements for the businesses.

Gold’s Gym in Natick, Needham House of Pizza, and Direct Tire are a few of the first vendors to use the screens.

Barry Steinberg, president of Direct Tire, said the screens haven’t been installed in his stores yet but he has already seen a boost in sales from his ads being on screens in other stores.

“This guy came in, a first-time customer, he went to my Natick store and said ‘I need an oil change, I heard you do oil changes. I saw your name at this bagel place,’” Steinberg said. “It’s great!”

“We try to do a lot of exit polling of people to try to track our marketing and advertising, and a lot of people have mentioned this,” he added.

The ad screens in Direct Tire stores will be installed this week. In addition to promoting his own stores and local businesses, Steinberg said the screens will also show educational facts to people in showrooms and waiting rooms.

“I think what we’re going to do is put some educational stuff on a loop about auto repair and how to make a determination about what you need,” he said.

Koplan said the screens will also soon appear in the waiting areas of Honda and Toyota dealerships.