The Circle K Digital Network
Digital video walls above the merchandise, in convenience stores. 33 Degrees handled the deployment, the installation and the advertising sales.
The product
One network, three partners
The company described itself as “responsible for the deployment, installation, and advertising sales of The Circle K Digital Network” — and called it “the largest digital video walls to ever be installed in a retail environment.”
- Retail hostCircle K
- FormatIn-store digital video walls
- CreativeShort spots — a :15 in the documented test
- FrequencyAverage 21 airings per hour
- Smallest documented buy3 stores, 52 weeks
- MeasurementScreens vs no screens
Recovered from the web archive at 33degreescc.com/video/home-vid.mp4.
Footprint
Every reach figure the company published
Seven figures, four sources, four years. They do not agree with each other.
| Figure | As published | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| 3,000 | “will be active in 3,000 Circle K locations nationwide by the year 2018” | Home page, Apr 2017 |
| 57 | “will be in 3000 Circle K stores by September 2018, covering 57 US markets” | About page, Apr 2017 |
| 2,000 | “will be active in 2,000 Circle K locations nationwide by the year 2019” | Home page draft, Aug 2019 |
| 34 / 600 | “34 markets”, “600 stores”, with a Current/Future Deployment legend | Coverage map, Aug 2019 |
| 108m | “over 108 million impressions a month” for one national client | About page, Nov 2016 |
| 22m | “22 Million Monthly Impressions” | Metrics graphic, Aug 2019 |
| 6,500+ | “With 6500+ locations, we have assembled the first ever, true convenient store digital network” | LinkedIn profile, read 2026 |
Two things do not add up. The store target went down — 3,000 by 2018, then 2,000 by 2019 — and the impressions figure fell by a factor of five, from 108 million a month in 2016 to 22 million in 2019. The company never explained either. All figures are shown as published.
Coverage
Where the screens were
Three coverage maps survived on the company's last home-page drafts. They disagree about the size of the network.
Recovered as image files from the company's own asset library. City names and figures were read from the images; where a label could not be read, the page says so rather than guessing.
Performance
The company's own numbers
From the company's animated metrics graphic on its 2019 home pages. It published no definitions for “acceptance” or “dwell time”, and no source for any of the four.
What an advertiser could buy
Five specialties, as listed
Digital Out-of-Home
Screens in public and retail spaces, sold as advertising inventory.
Marketing & Advertising
Campaign planning with the advertiser, not just the sale of a slot.
DOOH Campaign Recommendations
Advice on which stores, markets and creative lengths suit a product.
National, Regional & Local
From three stores for a local business to ninety-eight for a state lottery.
Demographic Targeting
Choosing where a campaign runs by who shops there.
“Hyper-target”
The company's word for local buys: reaching “people that live and work within their business area”.
The five specialties are quoted from the company's LinkedIn profile; the last line from its 2019 home page.
Partners
Who built and ran it
The three founders
- OTT CommunicationsAgency of record for Circle K
- MPG MediaOut-of-home buying, large-format print
- Conexus WorldVideo wall design and installation
“Founded in 2015 by 3 partner companies.”
Technology partners
From the company's 2016 case-studies page, which listed them with no descriptions.
“Our Clients”
Twenty brands, shown as logos on the company's 2019 home page. They are listed as text here: those marks belong to other companies, and a logo wall is a marketing document rather than an audited list.
An earlier version of the same page used more careful wording: “a few clients our management team has worked with”. Four of the twenty have a case study on this site.
Summary
At a glance
- MediumDigital out-of-home — in-store video walls
- Retail hostCircle K
- Published target3,000 stores · 57 markets · Sept 2018
- Revised target2,000 stores · 2019
- Coverage shownUp to eleven named cities
- Creative format:15 spot, average 21 airings per hour
- MeasurementScreens vs no screens
- Advertiser loginportal33.devwebdesigns.com