A new advertising vehicle: gas pumps | New Business Profile

Want to watch a news update, with ads, while filling your tank?

Entrepreneurs Collin Bartels and Jamie Reed have created a new marketing service that uses video displays installed above gas pumps around mid-Missouri.
The PumpTop Network’s system of advertising displays, which feature 22-inch LED screens and high-definition video and sound, have replaced old-style cardboard ad easels at five Break Time convenience stores in Columbia. Four more are being installed in Jefferson City this month.
Bartels and Reed established Media-Outlook in January, and the PumpTop Network is their first digital product to launch. Within the next two years, Bartels and Reed plan to have the PumpTop Network extend throughout Missouri and into other Midwest states.

The idea for Media-Outlook and the PumpTop Network began when Bartels, whose professional background is in his family’s construction business, traveled to Orange County, Calif., and noticed the displays. He visited the companies that owned the displays and then traveled to Seattle to visit more. What he found at both locations were displays that featured “canned,” nationally syndicated entertainment among the ads for national brand goods.
Bartels wanted to bring the idea to Columbia and decided that a better fit for this area would be to feature local news, weather, sports and entertainment along with local and regional banner ads and commercials.
The PumpTop Network starts with the main servers in the company’s office on Bernadette Drive. “Everything works from here,” Bartels said. A remote server is at each location, and it operates the displays at the gas pumps. It is connected via the Internet to the main servers. The displays are connected to the server wirelessly.
Displays are weatherproof and rugged, and, along with the remote servers, they are always connected to battery backups. “We chose the best equipment available because we didn’t want to waste our customers’ time and money or have to worry network downtime,” said Reed, whose professional background is in real estate.
“During a recent storm,” Reed added, “I received word from a friend who went to one of our locations and saw that although the convenience store was without power, the displays were still operating as usual. That was a good feeling.”
Every pump at a location plays the same five-and-a-half-minute loop, which is the average amount of time it takes for people to fill their auto’s gas tank. Two and a half minutes of the loop are devoted to news, weather, sports and entertainment features from a local or regional television station.
In early May, PumpTop Network began a working relationship with KOMU-TV. “This was a fabulous undertaking,” said station manager Marty Siddall. “It will bring our news, weather and sports into new markets, and that’s always exciting.”
Siddall said the relationship was several months in the making, and there are further refinements planned as PumpTop Network grows. The news, weather, sports and entertainment loop is a specifically produced package, and it’s updated several times a day. Paid staffers are responsible for producing the package. The entertainment section is produced by an advanced student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, which owns and operates the station.
Reed said the PumpTop Network’s customers include attorneys, restaurants, insurance agents and lawn care businesses. There are currently 20 advertisers signed up, and because the business is so new, Bartels and Reed expect the number to double within a few weeks. The cost to advertisers is based on the total number of fuel transactions at each location per month, which they said shows the average audience for each ad.
Some of the ads and commercials feature QR (Quick Response) codes, which contain URLs, text or other data that are readable by smartphones with cameras. With this technology, coupons or websites can be instantly sent to a convenience store customer’s phone. In the lower right corner of the screen is the time-stamp area, which contains a QR code that links to PumpTopdeals.com for daily special offers provided by the Add Sheet.
The creators said that one unique feature of the PumpTop Network is its dynamic video distribution system, which provides nearly unlimited creativity in customizing commercials or banner ads. They can be scheduled to play only at specific locations — perfect for advertisers who want to target a specific area of town. A landscaper in Columbia uses the PumpTop Network to advertise mowing services in the south part of town, a service that comprises most of his business there, and hard landscaping such as retaining walls in the north side of town.
Commercials and ad banners also can be changed or updated several times throughout the day. For example, a restaurant that’s open all day could advertise breakfast specials in the morning and then change the ad to lunch or dinner specials in the afternoon.
The information technology for PumpTop Network is provided by ISG Networking. Mid-State Petroleum of Hallsville services the displays because it is certified to work around the gas pumps.