POP advertising: at the right time, in the right place.

• Author: Beers, Heather
• Position: Techtalk - Point-of-purchase - Bluepoint Technologies offers web-based solutions

IN THE WORLD of point-of-purchase (POP) advertising, it's critical to maximize the opportunity to win consumers' attention by targeting them at the cash register, in the lobby or at the kiosk.

Bluepoint Technologies is revolutionizing the way companies reach their target audiences with turnkey, web-based solutions that make POP advertising really pop.

"Instead of the traditional poster, imagine an LCD or plasma screen displaying ads in a store, at a bank or on a billboard -- our technology allows people to create electronic signs and control a network of those signs using Internet protocol," says Kelly Struhs, Bluepoint Technologies president.

Struhs explains that Bluepoint's customers are drawn to the web-based technology for its efficiencies and flexibility.

"With paper methods of POP advertising, you've got to design the ad, print it, ship it, hang it and throw it away when it's obsolete. Subsequently, most retailers change their POP advertising once a quarter or once a month. With Bluepoint's system, they can change their POP advertising every hour, put multiple messages in the same space and customize the messages for different demographics throughout the day," says Struhs.

While the idea of POP advertising isn't new, the patent-pending technology pioneered by Bluepoint is. The Salt Lake City-based company was founded in 2000 by Struhs and Chris Dansie, after Struhs had spent several years as a vendor for major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Struhs had grown tired of pleading with stores to get the right POP advertising at the right time in the right space. He figured...