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Yet again, another effort by the MBTA

What's now missing here?

to "maximize " non fare revenue has apparently failed. Waiting at North Station tonight, I noted that the overhead LED billboards have been removed, and that the backlit post-mounted ones have had the ads removed and are shut off.

Wonder if the new GM has already figured out it's a futile effort to hire a contractor that sells ad space to companies (Qualcomm and Shire) to promote products that your patrons can't directly buy.

Or perhaps he knows that selling your ad space through a third party is not the way to maximize revenue. Hope he takes a hard look at the leases with Clear Channel for using the T's land in Somerville then.

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for some reason the ads on the T (busses in particular) have always been some special kind of cringeworthy- are you HIV positive? wanna be in our study?- safe and low cost tattoo removal- posters for last years walk of hunger well into November- weird poster with nothing but bible verses- and who could forget the bernie and phyls fiasco.

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Why should the MBTA care who advertises provided the ads aren't offensive? How do you know they aren't just upgrading the billboards?

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common sense states you would want to target advertisers who would be likely to give you repeat business. And that's why "station domination" and "train domination" programs have failed - when's the last time you've seen the same advertiser more than once.

If the T wants to get serious about maximizing revenue, they should ditch the use of outside contractors to sell ad space. Instead, hire a director of advertising, an assistant, and an office manager. Give them basic benefits and a minimal base salary, and have them work on commission for the bulk of their pay.

Then sit back and see how much more ad revenue the T collects and how much quicker the ad spaces turn over.

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Maybe, but it's usually tough for a business to run important functions that aren't its core mission. You have to set up things like commission plans and ad management/CRM systems and you have to be willing to hire and fire ad reps when they don't perform. It's easier to manage an outside vendor who has the expertise in the function and an incentive to sell more ads.

But that doesn't mean they don't need to do a better job of managing that vendor.

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And that's why "station domination" and "train domination" programs have failed - when's the last time you've seen the same advertiser more than once.

This morning. The aquarium buys up Park Street every year. So suck my denticles. (Hey, that is exhilarating!)

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So now you're an expert in how to maximize advertising revenue in transit stations? Shouldn't you get on that and make some money, instead of spending all this time here?

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but it's really a shame they have decided that every single surface of South Station is just an opportunity for advertising. They did a beautiful job with it when they rehabbed it in the 1989, and now nobody can see any of it anymore.

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I'll never understand why these companies think that if they plaster their name over every surface of the station that it'll encourage us to....buy more of their product/use their service? No, the display of desperate marketing frankly disgusts me. I want to be able to live my daily life without my eyes being constantly assaulted by disingenuous advertising like I'm in an episode of Black Mirror. I get enough of that on TV as it is. If anything, it makes me want to AVOID buying/using their product/service. Leave us alone.

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Was that photo taken with a spy camera or something? I know the MBTA has a history of frowning upon photos, is that why it looks like a secret snap?

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I still hurt my neck looking at that one. Rotate 90 degrees, please.

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I know people try to pooh-pooh that, but try filming something incognito, especially with your phone in a shirt pocket, while in landscape. This, though, I dunno...

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At Harvard station a couple of weeks ago, they shut off all the electronic billboards too, then covered them up and ultimately removed them. Lo and behold, a couple of days after that, new electronic signs were installed and activated, in the same locations, but bearing the logo of a new vendor. (Now "Outbrain" I think, I forget what the old ones were.)

I wonder if the same thing is happening at North Station.

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clueless when it comes to selling ad space. When you have a "it's my ball and I'm taking it home" situation when you change vendors, it's wasteful and results in unnecessary down time.

The ad racks in trains and buses aren't removed and replaced every time the ad vendor is changed. So why are the billboards in stations?

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T does not control the ads at North Station, Delaware North owner of TD Garden does.

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at North Station, it includes both the subway station and the commuter rail concourse. Hence the backlit billboards.

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