Advertising Pushes Into New Territory Pesky Ads Showing Up On Turnstiles, Golf Course Holes, Restaurant Menus

If you thought advertising already was everywhere, permeating each pore of human existence, think again.

Advertisements are sneaking up on you from at least three new directions. They may surprise you. They may infuriate you. But they will reach you, making it a little harder to dodge advertising than ever before.

Perhaps the oddest advertising innovation comes from a Los Angeles company called Ad in The Hole, which puts ads in golf holes. After sinking a putt, a golfer bends down to retrieve the ball and bingo - “Eat at Joe’s.”

Ad in The Hole has installed ads at 600 golf courses across the United States.

“The biggest problem with advertising today is all of the clutter,” said Ken Sorensen, marketing director for Ad in The Hole. “There is intense competition for our attention.”

It’s the clutter that drives advertisers to try new approaches, which often turn into the clutter of tomorrow.

Because there are no billboards on the fairways - not yet, anyway - Ad in The Hole can promise clients their messages will come through loud and clear. The ads cost roughly $1,000 per year per hole. The company estimates 50,000 golfers will see each ad annually. That works out to about two cents per golfer.

“This form of advertising is unique and reaches a most desirable consumer,” Sorensen said. “It’s not obnoxious, because we’re not beating anyone over the head with this. It’s relatively subtle.”

To shoo competitors off its turf, Ad in The Hole has filed for a patent on its ad-bearing contraption, which snaps into a golf cup. It also seeks to patent the very idea of putting ads in golf holes.

“That includes Putt-Putt courses,” Sorensen warned copycats.

The second commercial innovation - slapping commercials on turnstiles - comes from Orlando businessman Martin Hering. The idea came to him three years ago while he was attending an Orlando Magic basketball game.

“I saw all these people who looked down at the turnstile before they touched it and thought, ‘This is it!”’ the 35-year-old Hering recalls.

So Hering invented a patented plastic sleeve that fits over turnstile arms. He sells his Turnstile Adsleeves to sports arenas, which rent the space to advertisers.

Hering has sold his idea to 20 arenas, but he wants to be in every major public place in the world, from amusement parks to subways. “There are thousands of places that use turnstiles, and we want to be in every one of them.”

When The Cheesecake Factory opened its first location in Houston just before Halloween, diners got an unexpected treat - or trick, depending on their point of view. The restaurant’s glossy, 19-page menu is peppered with advertisements. The ads tout local merchants selling everything from furniture to bikinis.

“They give our customers something to look at while other people at their table are still ordering,” said Cheesecake President David Overton.

Overton first allowed ads in the California-based company’s menus 12 years ago, when a marketing firm approached him with the idea. Despite some reservations, Overton gave the ads a try, and he’s been pleased with the results. First of all, the ads pay for the fancy menus, which would cost each Cheesecake location about $10,000 per year. And most customers have reacted favorably.

“We do have some people say, ‘Is there no safe haven? Is there no refuge from advertising?”’ Overton said. “But many more people say they like it.”

Love them or hate them, these new ads demonstrate a tenacious adaptability in a changing world, like woodpeckers nesting on the space shuttle. They’re pesky, but they sure get your attention.