Video At the Gas Pump
I saw a video digital benchmark study about VCR (ha!, not the old VCR, the new VCR of Video Completion Rates). It showed that most people (more than 90%) will complete watching a 15- and 30-second format at about the same rate.
Yet I’m surprised by the digital industry that has its sights only on internet carriage. I know this is anecdotal, but some of the most powerful video messaging happens in unexpected places: at the checkout, in store displays, in one-on-one presentations and at the gas pump. 
While driving through Mississippi, I was greeted with video content at the gas pump. And it is weird. After I cleaned off the windshield, I found myself watching the screen. When I looked around, I saw a few others watching the pump with great interest.
What lengths work best at a gas pump? Not 15- or 30-seconds. It has to be longer content with a mix of real content and ads. But I really wondered why the C-store had not used the opportunity to sell what was inside the store instead of news content from a local station.
So what can you learn from this blog? First, the medium effects your message length. Carefully craft your video message for the audience, use, event and outlet. Also consider the screen size — tiny sports scores don’t show up well in the gas pump format.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.