Former Metro president Bill McDonald is hoping subway riders will take a flyer on some new reading material.
McDonald, who departed his role at the free commuter paper in 2014, has launched Flyergo, which will distribute flyers in polybags at 55 Toronto subway stations. Starting Jan. 28, 50,000 flyers will be distributed every Thursday, in partnership with Gateway Newsstands (which operates retail locations inside subway stations).
McDonald, who serves as president of Flyergo, launched the venture with Phil Goddard, who also owns media sales representation firm Consumer Media Solutions.
“We felt there was a real opportunity because we had heard a fair amount about the challenges that flyer marketers have in effectively reaching people living in the core of Toronto in a high-rise environment,” said McDonald.
With the influx of condo developments in the city, “it’s an opportunity that exists today that didn’t exist 20 years ago,” he added.
McDonald doesn’t think it will be a challenge to get people to read the flyer since the medium is still going strong. In fact, according to the 2015 BrandSpark Canadian Shopper Study, 91% of Canadians read printed flyers from grocery stores at least monthly, 81% read flyers from mass merchants, and 76% read flyers from drug stores. In addition, 74% of grocery shoppers said they preferred printed flyers over digital.
“Print still does extremely well,” said McDonald. “[There’s] a high degree of ongoing demand for the print product that still exists. Will it always exist? It’s hard to know. But it’s well established even in this advanced era of digital.”
Flyergo will be placed on racks at Gateway Newsstands and will initially be handed out by ambassadors at some locations “to drive habit and drive traffic,” said McDonald. Flyergo and its marketing partners will also be featured in ads displayed on digital screens at Gateway Newsstands.
The polybag is sealed to address health and safety concerns, such as the flyers getting blown around, said McDonald. “And based on my experience, people who pick something up that’s printed, the massive majority of the time would dispose of it correctly.”
Looking ahead, McDonald hopes to expand Flyergo to other cities.
