A new way to catch shoppers' eyes

A new advertising device is being piloted locally.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
NILES -- Eastwood Mall has a new, high-tech attraction: a 360-degree digital display device designed to catch consumers when they're in a buying mood.
Two young entrepreneurs, one of them a grandson of Cafaro Co. founder and Youngstown native William M. Cafaro Sr., are launching the circular screen video technology they call ExPOSA at the Niles mall.
They plan to roll out the marketing devices at 16 enclosed Cafaro Co. malls around the country before making them available to other large shopping center developers.
Jon Ferraro, 22, son of the late mall magnate's daughter Flora M. Cafaro, said he and his partner Rob Covino, 25, have been looking for a product to anchor their Chicago-based marketing company, ExNetto Communications.
They have the exclusive shopping center distributorship contract with the Taiwan-based manufacturer, and they're convinced that ExPOSA -- which stands for ExNetto Point of Sale Advertising -- will become commonplace at malls nationwide.
"We've tried a lot of different ventures, and a lot have them have failed," Covino confided. "This time, we're very confident we've got something that will be a success."
How it works
The device looks like a large, circular television on a pedestal, with three screens, each one 76 inches in diameter. Covino and Ferraro plan to sell advertising in 15-second increments to mall stores, businesses outside the mall, and national vendors like Coke and Pepsi.
As part of their deal with Cafaro Co., ExNetto is providing free, wireless Internet service accessible to shoppers anywhere in Eastwood Mall.
The mall will get free ad space to publicize sales and events. Mall officials can also use ExPOSA to notify shoppers immediately if a child is abducted from the mall or a weather warning is issued for the area. The device can be controlled remotely from ExNetto's Chicago offices.
Ferraro and Covino first spotted the device at a shopping mall convention in Las Vegas earlier this year. The manufacturer had set up a display in the hope of breaking into the North American market.
Devices like ExPOSA are in use in some European cities, Covino said, but there are only two others in the United States: one in a Las Vegas casino and the other set to debut on the "Wheel of Fortune" television program this fall.
Pilot program
Ferraro said there's no financial connection between Cafaro Co. and ExNetto, but the mall development company is helping him and his partner to make contacts with national retail decision makers.
He and Covino decided to pilot the device at Eastwood Mall because the Cafaro Co. is based nearby in Youngstown, he said, and because the Niles location is central to several other Cafaro malls. Eastwood averages 22 million shoppers a year, Covino said, and 1.8 million shoppers a month.
Cafaro Co. is a privately held real estate developer that operates 34 million square feet of retail space in more than 80 shopping centers in 13 states.
vinarsky@vindy.com