1. Why are advertisers turning toward mobile messages delivered by digital transit shelters?

Technology advances similar to those we saw earlier with billboards have occurred with transit shelters in major Canadian cities; notably, there has been a transition to digital message delivery and the opportunity to take advantage of near field communication. Outdoor media companies Astral and Quebecor both made other advances in their respective markets of Toronto and Montreal/Quebec City. In time, we may see downtown core and other high traffic areas using only digital transit shelters as the technology advances and advertisers learn how to customize messages.
。Sam Dao / Alamy Stock Photo Quebecor signed a 20-year deal for the 2,700 advertising faces in Montreal and initially equipped 50 shelters with large screens and planned many more in the coming years. The company reached a similar deal in Laval and instituted digital technology in some shelters as well. The shelters all featured near field technology and Quebecor planned to add beacons for additional interaction allowing consumers to receive messages. Other advanced features with Quebecor's transit shelters included a code to scan to receive news, weather, and live bus schedule information, and touch screen and gesture recognition to offer creative message delivery for advertisers.
In an example of implementing a campaign with the new Quebecor transit shelters, Febreze ran a message requesting people to select words and then played corresponding music to create an ambient environment within the shelter. Another brand displayed a virtual catalogue of winter coats.