EUROPE NEWS

Switzerland: Tamedia plans to acquire a majority stakein Neo Advertising

Tamedia wants to add outdoor advertising to its offering for advertising customers. The Swiss media group is therefore planning to acquire a majority stake in Neo Advertising.

With more than 50 media products and platforms, Tamedia boasts Switzerland's strongest digital and print portfolio and has proven expertise and innovative strength in the area of digital advertising. The Swiss media group now wants to add outdoor advertising to its marketing offer.

Thanks to the combination of print and online advertising with posters and digital outdoor advertising, advertising customers should benefit from new offers and be able to book cross-media and cross-platform campaigns in a simpler manner. Tamedia is therefore planning to acquire a majority stake in Neo Advertising SA, which is headquartered in Geneva.

Neo Advertising is one of Switzerland’s leading companies in the area of so-called out-of-home advertising. Founded in 2003, the company operates and markets around 12,000 digital and analogue outdoor advertising spac es both in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.

Together with Neo Advertising, Tamedia wants to further develop the Swiss outdoor advertising market. The company, which has 45 employees, is to be managed in future together with the existing team. Tamedia is to acquire a majority stake in Neo Advertising, but the founding shareholders, notably CEO Christian Vaglio-Giors, co-founder Alexandre de Senger as well as the Genevan entrepreneur s Nicolas Giorgini and Philippe Moser, will remain stock owners. The investment is subject to the approval of the Federal Competition Commission.

Christoph Tonini, CEO of Tamedia: “We want to be able to offer our customers comprehensive advertising solutions from a single source. Thanks to its innovative out-of-home approach, Neo Advertising is therefore a perfect additio n to Tam edia Advertising. We look forward to working together with Christian Vaglio-Giors and his team.”

UK: Sainsbury’s counting down the hours to sunset in DOOH campaign

Sainsbury’s has rolled out digital billboards that mark the sunset to put the brand front of mind during the longer summer days.

Playing on the public’s love of the summer, the digital out of home campaign sees billboards count the hours until the sun will set, using real time data fed to the placements.

The ‘Weeknight BBQ is Living Well’ campaign from PHD will target evening rail commuters hoping to make Sainsbury’s the defacto summer retailer, across the UK’s busiest stations, such as London Waterloo, Manchester Piccadilly & Edinburgh Waverley.

UK: Jellyfish, Dewynters, Agenda21, DAC and Media Minds sign up to the Bitposter platform

Bitposter has announced it has signed up the 20th independent agency to its general marketplace, which launched in Q1 2017.

Award-winning full service digital agency Jellyfish joins the Bitposter platform; the latest in a number of signatories; including full service digital agency Agenda21, advertising and marketing agency Dewynters, hyper local agency DAC, and education specialist Media Minds. Digital and full service agencies are using the Bitposter platform to access OOH media as it reduces the barriers to entry into a medium which is undergoing significant change through digitisation, and becomes increasingly valuable to advertisers.

Within the Bitposter platform buyers can take advantage of this digitisation by leveraging their online data assets to inform where and when they should buy OOH, and then efficiently and transparently negotiate, option and book print and digital OOH screens in real-time.

UK: Ocean Outdoor seeks bold ideas for the 8th annual Digital Creative Competition

Ocean has launched its 8th annual competition to discover the best creative ideas in DOOH, using innovative and emerging technology and techniques. Ocean’s Digital Creative Competition is now inviting submissions for bold new creative ideas which set new boundaries from brands, the creative community, agencies and charities.

Campaigns can be devised for either UK audiences, or to reach much broader global audiences spanning three continents (Europe, North America and Asia). This year, to encourage simple and effective creativity, there’s a single category of entry, although submissions for charities and commercial brands will be judged and awarded separately by a panel of industry experts.

Entrants that truly raise the bar will win a share of a £650,000 prize fund and the chance for their creative concepts to be showcased across Ocean’s iconic UK DOOH locations, or via The Alliance network to Europe (Madrid), the USA, the Middle East (Dubai) and the Far East (Hong Kong or China).

UK: Exterion Media adds South Western to its national network of franchise partners

FirstGroup has today announced Exterion Media, Europe’s largest privately owned Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising business, as its media partner for the new South Western rail franchise. Exterion Media takes over the contract from JCDecaux, which has held the South West Trains (SWT) contract for a number of years.

The news follows FirstGroup, and its partners MTR, winning the contract to operate the South Western rail franchise. The contract covers over 1,200 advertising sites across 92 stations. SWT saw over 300 million entries and exits in 2016, and delivers high volumes of commuters into London Waterloo daily from South West London and the South West Home Counties commuter belt.

Under the terms of the new agreement, FirstGroup will introduce a fleet of 90 new trains and add 22,000 extra seats into London Waterloo on every morning peak and 30,000 extra seats on every evening peak by December 2020.

Belgium: JCDecaux renews the 7 year exclusive advertising concession for Brussels Airport

JCDecaux SA has announced that its subsidiary, JCDecaux Belgium, has renewed the 7 year exclusive advertising concession for Brussels Airport, following a competitive tender.

Brussels Airport Company (BAC) has once again chosen to entrust JCDecaux to be responsible, as of 1 January 2018, for installing, managing and marketing the advertising displays inside, outside and around Brussels Airport. The airport is one of the most important airports in Europe with 21.8 million passengers per year.

Having already been a partner of Brussels Airport for 10 years, committed to its strategy focused on quality and technology innovation, JCDecaux will provide BAC with its expertise to optimise both the passenger's experience and the visibility of advertisers, by upgrading 80% of the existing displays and ensuring a very high number of digital displays.

USA: Why Google needs to focus on connected cities for its Alphabet strategy to pay off

In many ways, we live in Google’s world. The company’s parent, Alphabet Inc., reported more than $90 billion in 2016 revenue, up 20% from 2015.

Most of that almost unimaginable pile of cash — a whopping $79.4 billion — came from its advertising business. But there’s a catch: though the number of ads Google sells is spiking, the amount of money it earns per ad, or cost per click, has been declining for years. Connected cities could change that — and bolster the company’s bottom line as well as its breakthrough initiatives.

Moonshots, brought to you by ... ads!

The company blames the decrease of its advertising business on the rapid expansion of YouTube advertising, which is cheaper since results are less customized and not tied to user searches. Prices also decline as competition heats up with Facebook’s mobile display ads.

USA: Drobotron: The World's First Flying Drone Billboard

Bobby Watts of Orlando, Florida has built the world's first digital 360-degree drone billboard. An avid model aircraft enthusiast, Watts was inspired to build the UAV-billboard by observing people's amazed reactions upon first encountering a drone being piloted.

The billboard, which Watts calls "Drobotron", was stationed in front of Orlando's Parc Corniche Hotel. According to News4Jax, the Drobotron was hovering above the International Drive resort where it advertised pizza and margarita deals at the resort's restaurant. "Our patent revolves around a flying TV," says Watts. "The first time I saw it fly I thought, 'Wow, this is a game-changer.'"

USA: Independent Outdoor Network Completes Multi-Market Outdoor Advertising Acquisition

Independent Outdoor Network (ION), a leading outdoor advertising company based outside Hartford, Connecticut, has completed its first major U.S. acquisition via an asset swap.

ION's acquisition consists of several hundred bulletin displays throughout Wisconsin, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, and Missouri. In exchange, ION swapped Boston designated market area (DMA) assets, consisting primarily of digital bulletins. The transaction gives ION new footholds in DMAs like Milwaukee, Green Bay-Appleton, Madison, Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson, Columbia, South Carolina, Myrtle Beach-Florence, Chattanooga, St. Louis, and Springfield, Missouri, among others.

David Gannon, CEO of ION, had this to say about the transaction: "We are so excited about Independent's expansion into these great markets. We have so much planned for new development and acquisitions to make our presence even bigger in these areas."

Johnsen, Fretty & Co. initiated this transaction and acted as exclusive advisor to ION in the transaction. "We were quite fortunate to have JFC's team working alongside us in this extremely rewarding, but complex deal," remarked Mr. Gannon. "Honestly, I don't think we could have completed this deal without them."

AUSTRALIA NEWS

Australia: ACT government doubles down on need for reform after billboard backlash

Australia's peak body for outdoor advertising approached the ACT government and the National Capital Authority to consider changes to its outdoor signage rules a year before ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr flagged a review of the billboard ban.

The Outdoor Media Association represents most of Australia's outside and out-of-home media display companies and production facilities, as well as some media display asset owners.

General manager Tess Phillips said they first approached the ACT government 18 months ago to talk about "activating urban spaces" with wayfinding signage and Wi-Fi hubs, although the body "regularly engages" all state and territory governments across Australia.

New Zealand: Digital billboards boost commercial property values

Digital billboards are adding value to commercial buildings by providing steady and lucrative revenue streams to supplement tenant leases.

"Strategically located commercial properties both big and small can be prime contenders for digital billboards," says John Church, national director commercial with Bayleys. Church says digital advertising is still in its infancy in New Zealand - with the country's first digital billboards launched only four years ago - but outdoor advertising firms are increasing their digital foothold. He says the format is known in advertising circles as digital out-of-home or DOOH and it is reshaping the way advertising operates.

Australia: Why Brands Should Go Out-of-Home For Protection

Posterscope business executive Theodore Buscemi explains why marketers shouldn’t look past the out-of-home media channel to control how their brand appears in market.

The ad industry never fails to breed controversy. Like a hot summer sun and dry dead grass, it is just a spark away from a full-blown firestorm. Digital is stealing all the attention these days – everything from fat-fingers and ad fraud to flawed metrics and evil algorithms.

Not to mention the proliferation of fake news, which has garnered widespread attention since the 2016 US presidential election cycle. Meanwhile, giants like Facebook and Google suffered as a result of the recent online video debacles.

These issues went beyond financial implications of misspent marketing dollars – brand image itself was the real victim. And when a brand entrusts Google with a portion of its marketing spend, it is Google’s responsibility to protect the brand image of the client.

Australia: Is there a viewability crisis in out of home?

The rapid conversion of static to digital billboards has been a major advancement in the out of home (OOH) sector, however industry sources are concerned the move is diluting brand's share of voice in the channel.

Issues have also arisen about viewability and many have conceded the outdoor audience measurement system MOVE hasn't kept up with the transition to digital, leading some to question the accuracy of campaign reporting. On top of that, it seems standardisation is a problem as different outdoor media owners offer contrasting views about whether digital rotations (the carousel of different billboard ads appearing) should be capped to a maximum number.

Australia: APN signs new digital agreement

APN Outdoor has penned a deal with digital transit technology company XTD, with the outdoor giant increases the scope of its partnership with XTD, as the content sales agency for XTD’s digital screen networks in the Melbourne and Brisbane metro rail networks.

APN is investing strongly in digital signage, its digital revenue rose by 50 per cent to a third of the total revenue for 2016 with 34 per cent of the total revenue, compared to 23 per cent in the year prior. APN Outdoor’s full year result for 2016 saw its revenue up 10 per cent at $330.9m.

Russia: International OOH Congress 3-6 October, Tunisia

The 9th International OOH Congress (http://oohcongress.ru/en/) will take place in Tunisia, Movenpick 5* between 3-6 October 2017.

FEPE delegates are invited to join the event at the special rate with 15% FEPE discount.

4-days Congress agenda includes two days of plenary session covering all segments of Out-of-home: classic, DOOH, indoor and transit. Two thematic panels "DOOH+indoor" and "Transit media" will follow the main part. Exhibition of OOH novelties will be held during the Congress days.

Organized by TMG (Russian largest transit media operator) the Congress attracts 250+ delegates from all part of Russia and international (decision makers representing media owners, agencies, suppliers, clients).

Traditionally the event delivers world-recognized headliners and top Russian speakers (throughout the years the key-note speakers were Tom Goddard, Barry Sayer, Tony Jarvis, David Pane etc.).

Congress languages: Russian and English

Special entertaining program includes Gala Night (OOH on Air Show) and White Party hosted by famous Russian actor Maxim Bryzgalin.

The Congress is especially recommended for suppliers interested in finding new business within the huge OOH market of the 140-million people country of Russia.

The organizers have negotiated special delegate rates for the hotel rooms.

Bookings are now taken at the early bird price for the oversees delegates till July 17th.

Special LIGHT PASS for accompanying persons are available.

ASIA NEWS

India: JCDecaux and FIA launches worldwide ‘Road Safety’ campaign, #3500Lives

JCDecaux is hosting the worldwide outdoor advertising campaign of the Federation Internationale De L’Automobile’s (FIA) road safety initiative between June 29 and July 28, 2017 on its Citylights out-of-home network. The campaign is visible across different JCDecaux networks in India. Translated to nearly 30 languages, the #3500Lives campaign was launched on March 10 in over 70 countries in 2017.

On its launch, it was estimated to have generated over one billion views. Every day, 3500 people die in car crashes worldwide, which means 1.25 million every year. A particularly alarming situation for 15-29 year-olds, for whom traffic-related fatalities are the first cause of mortality.

India: Going beyond regular OOH

The OOH advertising industry in India is around Rs 2,600 crore and grew at a healthy rate of 7% CAGR during 2011-16.

The OOH advertising industry in India is around Rs 2,600 crore and grew at a healthy rate of 7% CAGR during 2011-16. Digital OOH is set to propel the industry’s growth on the back of 100 smart cities. Currently, the Indian out-of-home industry is at a growth stage with only 10% of OOH inventory being digital, whereas 40% of the medium has moved to digital in international markets.

With smartphone penetration at 33%, digital OOH opens various possibilities to engage consumers by targeting them with spot-on campaigns using AR, QR codes, NFC, Bluetooth, etc. This creative and technology-led innovation means huge possibilities in terms of efficiency and measurement of the medium. Government policies and permissions play an important role in the growth of digital OOH.

FEPE OOH News 20th July 2017