Peters' Pride Conducive for Growing Ad Company

For less than a cup of coffee a day, businesses can join the InLineAdz network, said John Hancherick, co-owner and vice president of sales.

Hancherick has been a Peters resident for 22 years.

The branding-centered company is an opportunity for local businesses to increase their business activity, promote their brand and attract more local customers, according to Hancherick.

The form of passive branding and advertising is via a 32”-40” flat screen TV—silent, and placed in high-foot traffic businesses where people “wait for service.”

The strategy, coupled with the company’s fully-customizable software, allows InLineAdz to have total control over the content, the frequency of rotation, remote access and the ability to import live feeds of local weather, news, time and sports scores, according to the company website.

“The idea started in Westport, CT (two years ago) and we duplicated it here in Pittsburgh,” said Hancherick.

Hancherick’s business partner and CEO/president of InLineAdz, Joe Grushkin, lives and works in Westport.

“The idea took here as well,” Hancherick said. “We started refining our programs, and now have more than 40 screens in 17 states, with an annual viewership of more than five million.”

In Peters, InLineAdz’s screens can be found at , and .

The way it works is your 10-second message, which is six seconds more than needed to read the content, rotates with other messages, and is viewed at least four times an hour.

Some messages are seen every two minutes in the early stages of the screen, so getting in pre-install is a huge advantage over your local competition, he said.

Hancherick said the company never accepts more than three businesses in a category, per screen.

“We want to have a good mix,” he said. “While the average wait for service, in most of our host locations, is more than 15 minutes, your messages will be seen multiple times, by many people. The result is 'front of mind' attention when recall of your product or service is required.”

As one of two flagship areas, Peters is an ideal setting for this, Hancherick said.

“It’s a community with a lot of pride, and it’s close-knit,” he said. “The size of Peters is conducive to what we do as well. (The screens) can be rolled out into any size community from 15,000 (people) and up.”

And in a stalled economy, InLineAdz is looking to grow.

“We’d like to bring on about 50 sales people throughout the metro Pittsburgh market,” Hancherick said. “While so many companies are downsizing and laying off, we’re looking to expand.

“Regardless of how big we grow, our screens are and will be devoted to local messaging,” he said. “It’s all about getting down to the grassroots.”

CEO Joe Grushkin said he is really excited that the company has an opportunity to give sales professionals the ability to build a career, and/or rebuild a career.

“For a lot of people, they are in the home stretch of their career,” he said. “It’s refreshing to be able to offer (jobs).

“InLineAdz gives the local consumer information about local businesses the same way national advertisers are garnering brand names they promote at events.”

Grushkin and Hancherick have been in business together for 30 years.

If you’re interested in becoming a client/host location, or in sales opportunities, visit the InLineAdz website.