Crain’s Detroit Business Names GSTV to 2022 Cool Places to Work in Michigan List
DETROIT, MI (August 22, 2022) – Today, GSTV, the national video network entertaining targeted audiences at scale across tens of thousands of fuel retailers, announces that Crain’s Detroit Business has named it to the publication’s 2022 Cool Places To Work in Michigan list. This moment marks the second time in three years GSTV has received this honor that recognizes 100 top companies throughout Michigan judged on company practices, programs, benefits, and employee surveys.
“We’re thrilled to have Crain’s once again recognize us as one of the top companies in Michigan,” said Sean McCaffrey, President and CEO, at GSTV. “Our roots and heart remain firmly in the Detroit market, and I’m thrilled to see our talented team get recognized for driving our company success and continued innovation – all while fostering and maintaining a positive and thriving culture.”
Throughout the past year, GSTV has built on its strong foundation and culture, to continue improving the team member experience. From expanding the employee benefit offering to recruiting and integrating new team members to empowering active team engagement remotely and in office, GSTV constantly collaborates to drive workplace innovation and ensure all team members grow and thrive. “Cool” workplace perks include closing the office on the first Friday of each month for the team to recharge, holding a quarterly speaker series that addresses mental health and wellness topics, and introducing opportunities for the team to collectively give back by partnering with local and national nonprofit organizations.
Cool Places to Work in Michigan is a research-driven program from Best Companies Group, an independent research firm that ranks companies based on stablished research methodology. It examines each participating company’s practices, programs, and benefits, while also surveying its employees for their perspective.
This honor also comes on the heels of GSTV receiving Crain’s Detroit Business’ Excellence in HR Award for Employee Experience this past June.
With a focus on growth, accountability, and tenacity, GSTV remains dedicated to building an inclusive team and culture reflective of the communities that its team serves every day. To learn more about career opportunities at GSTV, visit gstv.com/careers.
GSTV Wins Crain's Detroit Business Excellence in HR Award
by Leslie Green, Crain’s Detroit Business
Winner: Employee Experience
“When torn between paths of whether we follow the best interest of GSTV or the best interest of the team member, where we can, we’re always going to side with a team member. It may not always be the best case for GSTV, but we’re going to support our employees,” said GSTV Vice President of Human Resources Amy Ratliff.
GSTV, a national video network serving 28,000 fuel retailers, employs 124 people. When Ratliff joined the company, it wasn’t focusing on employee engagement or open communication. Since then, she said, it has become “high-touch, high-value and high-tech.
“Our CEO (Sean McCaffrey) really wants to understand the thoughts and feelings of our employees and what we’re not doing and should be doing or things we are doing that we shouldn’t be doing so he can make changes,” Ratliff said.
Changes might be improved technology, additional staff or how the company operates “day in and day out,” she said.
Improving the employee experience also meant overhauling GSTV’s benefits package.
The company increased its 401(k)-match program and PTO and added paid parental leave for anyone having a baby, adopting or newly fostering a child. It also added departments, increased staff by 26 percent to alleviate employee strain, developed an open-door policy and began holding one-on-one meetings between employees and Ratliff.
In addition to four weeks of PTO and 12 federal holidays off, the HR department began emphasizing the importance of downtime and self-care by shutting down the office on the first Friday of every month.
“Everyone is so grateful for those self-care days when they can disconnect for a little bit,” said GSTV HR Manager Destiny Crawford. “We exceed our goals because of our teams.”
To further engage employees, the HR department has held fun social events, such as co-worker feud and virtual bingo, and developed quarterly social responsibility programs, such as fundraisers for Black Girls CODE and Susan G. Komen for the Cure and a food drive for Feeding America.
“Our Human Resources team has worked diligently this past year in helping to grow our business, increase our engagement and drive GSTV’s culture. The team has created a culture of empathy, caring and openness that allows our team members to feel like family. Their efforts have led to a significant impact on the growth of our business and overall experience for the GSTV Family,” McCaffrey said.
GSTV was named one of Crain’s Cool Places to Work in 2020.
Adweek: How GSTV Works With Music Artists and Film Companies
by Meseret Ambachew, Adweek
GSTV's chief executive officer and president Sean McCaffrey says his company reaches 40% of people across the U.S.
The digital OOH company invited MGM Studios' CMO during its NewFronts presentation to talk about the success of its content partnership
Retail digital display company GSTV presented at the IAB’s NewFronts for the third time on the event’s final day, held virtually.
The company touted its reach of 105 million people across the U.S., mainly through displaying content at gas pump stations, which is 40% of adults in the country, according to company chief executive officer and president Sean McCaffrey. With the average consumer pumping gas at least three times a month, the company chalks that up to 15 minutes of time spent with its display.
“The experience itself is outside the home when you use that three to four minutes of dead air,” McCaffrey told Adweek.
Gas prices are at an all-time high, but the alarming numbers haven’t appeared to limit GSTV’s ability to cut content partnership deals, driving its ad business and audience growth. And it’s becoming defter at showing the impact of those deals. Through GSTV’s recent partnership with insights company Affinity solutions, the company found it is 50% more efficient than digital video for campaigns like consumer packaged goods.
Raising the volume on music artists
PG County, Maryland native music artist, Reggie Becton, was invited to speak at its presentation. Becton is in a partnership with Live Nation Entertainment, which currently displays four-minute-long content through GSTV.
Artist Reggie Becton saw his listenership almost triple after his Live Nation video featured at Shell gas stations.
The music artist said he received an influx of messages from friends and fans on his Live Nation spotlight video displayed at Shell gas stations. “It was just like wildfire after that,” said Becton.
According to Becton, within two months Becton’s Spotify listenership nearly tripled, his followership on the platform is now over 255,000.
From small screens to big screens
GSTV also highlighted a partnership with film company MGM Studios, where the company used GSTV’s in-house content studio, Ignite, to create content campaigns for its films.
According to GSTV executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Steve Ochs, after MGM’s video takeover campaign to promote The Addams Family 2, MGM tapped GSTV again in February for its Channing Tatum featured film, Dog.
MGM Studio chief marketing officer, Stephen Bruno, noted the current difficulty of encouraging viewers to go to the movies, but GSTV’s method of unexpected creative—plus the time and place—”helped MGM break through the clutter,” said Bruno.
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.
GSTV is using the Amplify launch to position itself as an alternative retail platform.
GSTV claims to have a larger US footprint than McDonald's and Starbucks combined.
It cites Comscore research showing consumers pay more attention to ads at the gas station display than on CTV.
GSTV says it can help advertisers boost sales at gas station convenience stores and nearby retailers.
GSTV partners with thousands of franchisees that can provide brands with their own first-party consumer data.
GSTV claims to be the only platform that lets advertisers reach consumers right before they enter a store.
GSTV says it works closely with CPG brands.
A key part of GSTV's pitch is data showing that people tend to combine gas station visits with shopping at other retail locations.
CEO Sean McCaffrey said the platform is in talks with big-box retailers to combine their data and advertising products in a package deal for brands and buyers.
GSTV says it can offer advertisers proximity to major retailers.
GSTV claims to deliver bigger returns for advertisers than other retailer platforms.
A big part of GSTV's new pitch involves partnerships with analytics companies including IRi and Catalina that help brands measure campaign results.
GSTV claims its new analytics offerings can measure things like units sold.
MediaPost: Pumping Sales: Q&A With GSTV's Sean McCaffrey
by Todd Wasserman, MediaPost
Now that the amount of time people spend in front of the television has been declining over the past decade, traditional TV is no longer the sure thing it used to be for getting in front of viewers.
One alternative is GSTV, a network of programming at the gas pumps. GSTV claims an audience of 104 million monthly unique viewers. For three to five minutes, GSTV gets access to consumers while they have not much else to do but pump their gas.
Since launching in 2005, GSTV has expanded to 25,000 locations at 7-Eleven, BP, Chevron and Gulf, among others. GSTV viewing has also soared during the pandemic, as PepsiCo and other major advertisers came on board.
We spoke with Sean McCaffrey, president and CEO of GSTV, about the network. Below are some excerpts from that conversation.
Marketing Daily: Do you have stats on how many people pay attention to GSTV? I assume it comes on when they start pumping, but how do you know they’re not looking away or listening to their own devices?
Sean McCaffrey: We take the time we have with our viewers while they are fueling up very seriously. In those three to five minutes, we want to supply our viewers with an entertaining and informative respite in their day, and the content experience that we’ve programmed reflects this.
From our 2021 Audience Insights study, we know that 89% of consumers watch and listen to GSTV. That amounts to 104 million unique viewers each month giving GSTV their 1:1 attention, or 2.5x more attentive to ads on GSTV than ads on linear TV, and 3.2x more attentive to ads on connected TV.
Marketing Daily: What are the products that you find get the best pickup when advertised on GSTV? What are some opportunities you see that are so far unexploited?
Sean McCaffrey: We work with advertisers across a wide array of categories, some that one would expect to see on GSTV, and some that may be more unexpected, but perform equally well. The success of our advertisers is leveraging GSTV to capture consumers who are not just fueling up, but out and about and in the mindset of making their next purchase decision for today’s lunch, this afternoon’s activity, tonight’s show to watch, next month’s vacation, a new car this summer, and beyond.
Being steps away from convenience stores, packaged foods and bottled beverages make a lot of sense for GSTV. However, we also know that on the day that consumers are fueling up, they are often making other stops as well -- and GSTV is one of the last full sight, sound, and motion screens they are paying attention to in the last mile of their consumer journey.
Because of this, we’ve found success for CPG brands looking to drive purchase decisions across retail channels, whether it be grocery, drug, or big box. We also know that our viewers eat and drink a lot, so QSRs have found success partnering with GSTV.
Likewise, automotive (our viewers are drivers), entertainment, financial services and travel are also categories that are unexpected but have performed well on GSTV because our viewers are in the right mindset.
Every ad impression, for example, is also a payment transaction, so for a financial advertiser, say, it’s a highly contextual moment to talk to consumers about their relationship to their money, household budget, financial wellness, etc.
Marketing Daily: What do electric cars mean for the long-term prospects for GSTV?
Sean McCaffrey: Regardless of the type of fuel, we are in the business of following the consumer journey. We know that electric cars are on the rise, and we’re keeping pace with consumer adoption.
We’re a partner alongside those who are fueling the evolution of transportation -- retailers, auto OEMs, major energy companies. We all know this is a rapidly evolving industry and we look forward to what’s to come for the intersection of consumer transportation and media.
Our business has been growing over the past few years -- not only in the footprint of our network and size of our audience, but also in the variety of brands partnering with us and the success of delivering on outcomes -- and we will continue to innovate around reaching consumers at the right time, right place, and right moment.
Marketing Daily: Gas prices have spiked recently. Do you find that rising prices makes GSTV consumers less receptive to ads? Why or why not?
Sean McCaffrey: We have not found a connection between the price of fuel and a consumer’s receptivity towards what’s on the screens. Our content experience is designed to entertain and inform based on audience insights, and that does not fluctuate with changing consumer prices.
Marketing Daily: What about when someone walks into a convenience store/gas station that has GSTV? Are there reminders in-store? How do they work?
Sean McCaffrey: According to our Audience Insights study, 62% of fuelers visited the C-store on their most recent visit to the gas station. Our primary aim is to entertain, inform and connect with our audience of drivers filling up at the 28,000+ fuel retailers with GSTV screens across the U.S., and also to best serve the advertisers and retailers who partner with us.
We do this best by partnering with brands, agencies, and retailers to reach consumers at the right time, right place, and right moment -- and in that right mindset -- about their next stop post-fuel-up. We work with our fuel retailer partners to use messaging that shares their latest promotions on our screens to drive customers into the C-store, and we work with brands to direct consumers with creative best practices and calls-to-action relevant to their campaigns.
Sean McCaffrey, of GSTV: QR Codes Are Here To Stay
By Kevin Lee, eMarketing Association
Outdoor advertising both traditional and digital has seen a surge in QR code use. Even the Superbowl had a major advertiser (Coinbase) feature exclusively a QR code. Love them, or hate them as a consumer or as a marketer, they are priving effective.
I recently had an opportunity to interview Sean McCaffrey, President and CEO at Gas Station TV (GSTV), a data-driven, national video network delivering targeted audiences at scale across tens of thousands of fuel retailers. Sean and I discuss whether QR codes — whose use was stimulated by the pandemic — are here to stay. Sean observes that the correct use of QR codes in video ads on the GSTV network can cause a marked improvement in response rates.
GSTV is a fascinating platform which shares elements of outdoor advertising and place-based video advertising. I recommend the full interview. We discuss how marketers and brands are using it, the degree to which the GSTV network is hyper-personalizable, the mix of DR and brand advertisers using GSTV, and other opportunities relevant to Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising.
We also discussed one of my favorite topics, the importance of ad creative. Clearly, skippable/front-loaded ad creative differs from cinematic, storytelling-oriented creative, the types of ad creative that perform on GSTV. Great creative can make media more affordable due to higher performance on brand and direct response KPIs.
GSTV Launches Retail Media Network
GSTV, a national video network engaging targeted audiences at scale across thousands of convenience retailers, has launched a retail media network dubbed GSTV Amplify.
Through Amplify, GSTV now offers a centralized convenience store media network. Operating as part of GSTV’s full sight, sound and motion national video network, Amplify aims to help retailers access an engaged audience “steps away” from convenience stores and moments from a purchase, according to a news release from the company. Amplify provides one-stop access to over 28,000 top convenience chains and independent operators, giving brands the opportunity to engage attentive viewers primed to spend.
In addition, the Amplify network offers CPG marketers the ability to complement and amplify existing omnichannel brand plans and strategies. Amplify’s audience spans 104 million unique monthly viewers, according to the release. Its ability to work together with existing brand plans aims to influence purchase decisions immediately at convenience and impact decisions directly prior to purchase at top retailers across big box, drug, dollar and grocery chains. Two in three GSTV viewers will shop on the day they fuel up and spend more than on a non-fueling day, according to the retailer.
“In today's oversaturated media environment, catching a consumer's full attention has become rare, but GSTV has spent years delivering demonstrable outcomes for advertisers. We offer a highly engaged environment that leads to sales lift, increased store visitation, brand lift and intent to purchase,” said Sean McCaffrey, president and CEO of GSTV, in the release.
In the wake of its launch, Amplify supported a recent campaign from ice cream brand Nightfood. The four-week test campaign with GSTV included a custom video ad with the objective of driving product awareness and sales lift. Nightfood saw a sales lift of over 20% at a top regional grocery retailer compared to the eight weeks of store sales prior to the GSTV campaign, according to the release.
“Amplify gave us the ability to target specific markets, lend incremental support to existing promotions and drive consumers to purchase our products at various retailers within proximity of GSTV’s thousands of locations," said Simon Dang, marketing manager of Nightfood. "We believe this is a great solution to target consumers who are already out and about to retail.”
To build its retail media offerings and provide more customized features for CPG partners, GSTV hired Kristal Walton as vice president of CPG, who most recently worked in shopper and omni-customer marketing at SC Johnson. Walton said in the release: “We know retail and CPG marketers are looking to support sales lift, product launches, promotional support and brand lift, and Amplify is the perfect media partner to connect with consumers and drive purchase intent before they visit a retailer, whether it be influencing purchase near immediately specifically in the c-store or increasing return on advertising spend across top retail channels in proximity to GSTV.”
This news comes on the heels of GSTV joining forces with shopper intelligence and omnichannel media provider Catalina last fall. The partnership provides retailers and CPG brands with enhanced measurement metrics that demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of advertising on the platform, proving the impact of specific GSTV ads on in-store sales.
In combination with the Catalina partnership and long-standing partnership with IRI, the Amplify network now allows GSTV to deliver a full-service marketing advertising solution for the CPG category.