How to Advertise in Service Stations
How to Advertise in Service Stations
Key Takeaways:
Capturing the "Refuelling" Mindset: Service stations provide a unique pause in the consumer journey where travellers are actively seeking convenience, sustenance, or distraction. This creates high dwell times averaging over 15 minutes which are perfect for both impulse buys and deeper brand messaging.
Diverse Format Mix: The environment offers scalable options ranging from 6-sheets at the pump and digital screens (DOOH) in the food court to large-format banners and Washroom Panel Advertising. This variety makes it accessible for local SMEs needing directional signage or national brands seeking high-frequency exposure.
Strategic Agency Buying: Navigating the complex network of Motorway Service Areas (MSAs), which is dominated by operators like Moto, Welcome Break, and Roadchef, requires specialist knowledge. An integrated agency like One Day leverages aggregated buying power and audience data to plan campaigns that seamlessly connect your motorway presence with broader geographic and digital strategies.
Motorway Service Areas are the unsung heroes of the Out-of-Home (OOH) landscape. With millions of motorists passing through weekly, they offer a rare blend of high dwell time and a captive audience in a spending mindset. This guide examines the strategic value of service station advertising and explains how businesses of any size, from local attractions to national retailers, can leverage this high-traffic environment to drive tangible results.
How to Advertise in Service Stations: The High-Traffic Opportunity
In the world of Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising, the Motorway Service Area (MSA) is often undervalued. Yet, for the savvy marketer, it represents a potent intersection of high volume, high dwell time, and a specific consumer need state.
When a driver pulls into a service station, the journey is paused. The "highway hypnosis" breaks. They are stretching their legs, grabbing a coffee, or refuelling. This shift in mental state from navigating to resting opens a window of receptivity that is difficult to find elsewhere on the road network.
At One Day Agency, we view service stations not just as pit stops but as pivotal touchpoints in a consumer's physical journey. Whether you are a challenger brand looking for regional dominance or a national enterprise seeking broad coverage, service stations offer a flexible canvas for businesses of all sizes and budgets.
The Fundamental: Context and Dwell Time
Marketing fundamentals dictate that context is king. In a service station, the context is almost always one of "need" or "reward." The audience is hungry, tired, bored, or needing a break.
This environment naturally extends dwell time. Unlike a roadside billboard passed at 70mph, ads in service stations are consumed at a human pace. The average dwell time at an MSA is significantly higher than high street OOH and often exceeds 15 minutes. This allows for more complex messaging. You are not just flashing a logo; you have the time to communicate a value proposition, a limited-time offer, or a directional prompt.
For a local theme park, this is the perfect moment to say, "You are only 20 minutes away." For a national B2B software company, it is a chance to reach the business traveller grabbing a coffee before a meeting.
The Landscape: Formats and Targeting
Advertising in service stations is not a monolith; it is a diverse ecosystem of formats that can be tailored to specific budgets and objectives. The UK network is dominated by major operators like Moto, Welcome Break, and Roadchef. Navigating their media inventory requires understanding the different zones within a station.
The Forecourt (The Pump)
This is high-frequency, short-interruption territory. The Nozzle Ad or Pump Top digital screen captures the driver for the few minutes they spend refuelling. This is an undistracted one-on-one moment.
Strategic Use: Ideally suited for automotive products, insurance, or FMCG snacks available in the kiosk. It serves as a highly effective point-of-sale trigger.
The Concourse and Food Court
Here, the audience is relaxed. Digital 6-sheets (D6s) and large-format banners dominate these high-footfall areas.
Strategic Use: This is where you build brand equity. With full-motion digital capabilities now common in these spaces, brands can tell a visual story. It is accessible for national campaigns but equally viable for regional businesses wanting to "own" a specific route, such as the M6 corridor.
Washroom Panel Advertising
Often chuckled at but undeniably effective, washroom panels offer 100% gender targeting and arguably the most "captive" audience of all.
Strategic Use: High engagement for health campaigns, financial services, and entertainment. It is cost-effective and delivers unmissable viewability.
The Role of an Integrated Agency
This is where One Day Agency adds value. While the inventory exists, buying it effectively is a different matter. You cannot simply "buy a service station"; you buy networks, loops, or specific panels managed by various media owners such as Admedia or i-media.
As an integrated agency, we handle the planning and buying to ensure efficiency.
Route-Based Planning: We do not just pick random stations. We look at the flow of traffic. If you are a logistics company, we target the major haulage routes. If you are a tourism board for Cornwall, we target the M5 southbound during key holiday periods.
The "OOH + Mobile" Multiplier: We treat service stations as data hubs. By geofencing the MSA, we can serve mobile display ads to users' phones while they are connected to the station's Wi-Fi or browsing on 5G. This reinforces the message seen on the digital screens and increases conversion rates.
Scalability: We work with varied budgets. A local farm shop might need just two panels at the nearest junction to drive immediate footfall. A national car leasing firm might need a six-week takeover of every major MSA in the South East. We structure the buy to match the ambition.
Tools and Measurement
Gone are the days when OOH was unmeasurable. We utilise sophisticated tools to ensure your service station campaign is backed by data.
Route (and similar audience measurement systems): These provide verified data on traffic volumes and demographics passing through specific MSAs. We know not just how many people stop, but who they likely are.
Mobile Location Data: We can analyse anonymised footfall data to understand where visitors to a service station go next. Did they visit your store? Did they head into the city centre? This attribution modelling helps prove ROI.
Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) Platforms: For digital screens in service stations, we can now buy programmatically. This means we can trigger ads based on real-time data such as weather conditions, where we might advertise hot coffee when it is raining, or traffic density, perhaps advertising a podcast when there are jams ahead.
Why It Resonates with All Budgets
Service station advertising is a leveller.
For the Small Business: It acts as a giant signpost. It captures impulse traffic that is literally passing your door. The cost of entry for a washroom panel or a local 6-sheet is surprisingly accessible and offers big-brand visibility on a small-business budget.
For the Big Brand: It offers saturation. You can dominate a consumer’s journey from London to Edinburgh and create a "corridor of influence" that feels omnipresent.
Conclusion
Advertising in service stations is about capitalising on a pause in a fast-moving world. It allows you to speak to consumers when they are stationary, receptive, and often ready to spend.
At One Day Agency, we understand the nuances of the motorway network. We ensure that your campaign is not just "placed" but planned. We integrate it with your wider marketing mix to ensure that every stop counts. Whether you need to drive immediate direction or long-term brand recall, the service station is a powerful tool in the modern marketer's kit.
Learn more about Out-of-Home Advertising, and Programmatic DOOH!
