New Floor Ads

I’ve seen ads for events chalked on the paths at college campuses,  and some sidewalk marking in my city, but I recently saw floor ads at the supermarket. Outside of Philadelpia the 2 foot square graphics are laid out in the aisle so that a shopper standing and facing them would see the item advertised at about eye level on the shelf. I stood in front of several and easily found the package that exactly matched the frozen lasagna and cookies. I’m sure kids would love this! Then I visited the dairy case. I could match the soy milk to its ad, but had trouble with the calcium supplement ad. It said: “Find the product in the vitamin aisle.” Clearly, the target audience is expected to be buying dairy for the rest of the family and this “location-based ad” is supposed to get them to think about themselves and take a walk to get the pills.

Non-compete News

If you have, or may someday, sign a non-compete, do yourself a favor and read this article (free registration required) in the New York Times. My advice to you? Don’t sign one if at all possible.

Another Editor Looks at the LTBI Conference

O’Reilly & Associates Associate Book Editor Simon St. Laurent blogged some of his thoughts after attending our conference last week. There’s a plug for O’Reilly’s upcoming mapping books and the statement we in this space hear all the time: data is a limiting factor in most of the world.