Insider: A gas station video platform that works with brands like PepsiCo and Heineken is trying to grab retail media dollars — here's its pitch to advertisers
by Patrick Coffee, Insider
GSTV has repositioned itself as a complement to big retail ad platforms like Amazon and Walmart.
The company places ads for the likes of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola at gas stations and has been growing in the pandemic.
Its new pitch deck focuses on how its ads can drive sales at convenience stores and big-box chains.
Scores of retailers and other sorts of companies have jumped into digital advertising to chase some of the $31 billion in ad revenue that Amazon pulled in last year.
GSTV, or Gas Station TV, is a digital video network that places ads for the likes of PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Mars Wrigley, and Johnson & Johnson at more than 28,000 gas stations. As retail media attracts billions from brands and investors, the company is pitching a new ad product called Amplify that connects ad spending to retail sales.
Rockbridge Growth Equity-backed GSTV works with franchisee-owned locations of convenience store chains like 7-Eleven and BP, which lack the scale and resources of giants like Walmart and Target. So GSTV has begun representing them collectively in negotiations with advertisers, ad agencies, tech, and retail companies, GSTV CEO Sean McCaffrey said.
With retail media heating up, GSTV is pitching itself to advertisers that already spend with bigger players like Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart.
GSTV grew revenue at a double-digit rate in 2021 and hired Kristal Walton, a former marketer for SC Johnson and Sam's Club, to build on that growth by focusing on targeting and measurement capabilities as well as the platform's proximity to big retailers, said McCaffrey.
"We reach 40% of US adults as they are spending money and likely to spend more," McCaffrey said. "We show them the last TV ad they see before they walk into retail doors."
McCaffrey said the company avoids data privacy issues by letting its retail partners handle their own first-party consumer data for advertisers.
Below is GSTV's latest deck, which it's using to pitch a variety of companies.