Those digital screens in office building elevators that run advertisements, weather updates and entertainment news will soon appear in the lobbies and atriums of suburban office parks.

Gannett Co. Inc.'s Captivate Network, which now has 8,000 displays installed in the elevators of high-rise buildings, announced the expansion on Tuesday, part of a move to appeal to marketers who are shifting their budgets away from conventional media like newspapers or television.

If you look at the challenge brands have today, media consumption habits have dramatically changed, Captivate founder Mike DiFranza said in an interview. We reach these consumers at a time of day and a place where traditional media can't.

Current advertisers include top marketers like AT&T Inc., Toyota Motor Corp., FedEx Corp. and Verizon Communications, among others.

Started 10 years ago, Captivate currently reaches 2.3 million people each day with screens that run national and local news, stock updates, weather reports and sports and entertainment updates along with the ads.

One of Captivate's selling points is that its audience is largely professional with disposable income. They are also caught in elevators, meaning they tend to pay close attention to the screen advertisements. Studies show recall rates to be roughly twice those of print ads.

We deliver the Wall Street Journal audience at a fraction of the price, with two to three times the results they can expect in the Journal, DiFranza said.

Until now, Captivate has concentrated on office towers in the largest cities, in part because suburban complexes usually have far fewer floors and may not even include an elevator.

To solve the issue, Captivate will place display screens in common areas of the buildings -- outside stairwells, in lobbies, in main hallways. The screens will range from 26 inches to 40 inches.

They could be built into the wall, mounted on the wall, or placed on a pedestal, on a pedestal. It could literally be right in the middle of a lobby, DiFranza said.

Captivate is also launching an upgraded product for office towers, with added features that will display floor numbers, elevator direction and even a tenant list.

The company, meanwhile, is experimenting with a text messaging program, which would allow consumers to punch in a code from the screen into their cell phone if they wanted to be texted more information on a product.

But DiFranza said he wanted to place limits on how interactive the network becomes. That can create some issues in the elevator setting, he said. You don't want someone taking over the screen.

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