FEPE Out of Home News 14th January 2015

FEPE Out of Home News 14th January 2015

EUROPE NEWS

Europe: Outdoor media owners unite to develop an Audience Measurement system for Digital Out-of-Home

The world’s largest international outdoor media owners – APG|SGA, Clear Channel Outdoor, Exterion Media and JCDecaux are working together to develop the first standardised industry approach to measuring digital out-of-home (OOH) audiences. This unique industry collaboration comes in response to continued global growth of digital outdoor advertising, estimated at 23% annually between 2007-2014, with further growth of 21% predicted in 2015.

As global advertisers continue to keep pace with consumer expectations of impactful and innovative campaigns, brands such as Samsung, Coca-Cola, Google and BMW are including increasing proportions of digital OOH on planning schedules. In response to this, and in recognition of the importance of robust metrics to evidence buying decisions, the outdoor industry is investing in the development of a global standard for digital OOH measurement. For the first time, advertisers will be able to measure the distinct benefits and overall performance of campaigns in this high growth medium and to use these insights in future planning.

A working group of audience research and insight experts from each of the companies has been assembled and the team is now ready to initiate the project, for completion in 2015.

This pioneering project uses a virtual world to present consumers with a realistic experience of how different types of digital and traditional OOH advertising are encountered. Combining this with eye-tracking will enable the consortium to provide advertisers with an accurate understanding of consumers’ responses to all types of OOH formats across a multitude of environments.

Results will be made available to OOH audience measurement committees worldwide so that they have the opportunity to review and decide whether the findings are acceptable for integration in to their systems. This will enable digital OOH to be combined alongside traditional outdoor in advertisers’ schedules.

Markus Ehrle, CEO of APG|SGA commented:

"For our stakeholders and ourselves it is a key interest to fully understand the impact and contribution of the fast growing DOOH segment in order to optimize OOH campaign performance individually to the client's needs. We strongly believe that this industry research initiative will provide an international standard which can be implemented in the various national research systems on top of the existing visibility adjustments as the study will be conducted in a very scientific and transparent way. This accountability is a key success factor for continuing sustainable growth of DOOH in the future."

Parveen Bdesha, International Research and Insight Director, Clear Channel Outdoor said:

"Clear Channel Outdoor has a global commitment to provide advertisers and agencies with new approaches to understanding their audiences in an increasingly complex multi-media world. By collaborating as an industry to develop an audience measurement system for digital out-of-home, we can help unlock the medium’s potential by giving them accurate, comparable and compelling data about the audiences they wish to reach, and consequently better inform their media planning decisions."

Shaun Gregory, CEO of Exterion Media said:

"Today’s consumer is constantly connected and we need to make sure the experience we, as an industry, provide echoes that. It is why we are committed to harnessing the digital opportunity and using increasingly available technology to create the experience the audience we are engaging with would expect. The only way we are going to achieve this is through collaboration, which is why I am hugely excited that so many major players in OOH are coming together to develop this industry standard for measuring DOOH. The insights it will bring will only help us to provide a better experience for brands, agencies and consumers and accelerate the rapid growth of DOOH."

Neil Eddleston, Managing Director, JCDecaux OneWorld commented:

"For JCDecaux it is natural to extend our long term commitment to internationally comparable OOH audience accountability to the increasingly significant segment of business that is digital. It is to be greatly welcomed that this collaborative initiative has the broad support of major stakeholders in the industry and that it integrates with earlier measurement systems of non-digital OOH, already globally endorsed by our clients and buyers in collaboration with Esomar, the world research body. It is significant that these measures are based on contact with the advertising message itself at the point of display."

Further details on the digital audience measurement system will be announced in due course.

Ireland: Irish OOH Grew by 6% in 2014

The end of year Posterwatch report by PML Group indicates that the out of home sector grew by 6% in 2014, representing the best performance for the medium since 2007.

The report by the ooh specialist identifies Finance as the top performing category on the medium for the year. It increased its display value by 34%, driven mainly by bank and insurance campaigns. EBS and AIB were the most active banks on outdoor. Insurance companies were also well represented in the category by brands such as Zurich, Laya Healthcare and Aviva. The top three categories for the year are completed by Telecoms and Tourism & Travel.

Although the final quarter of the year was the quietest in 2014, the growth achieved in the first half of the year in particular was large enough to deliver the 6% growth figure achieved.

When it comes to individual advertisers, Mondeléz, Diageo and McDonald’s made up the top three in terms of display value. The confectionery category as a whole was up by over 15% with the Mondeléz display value up by 22% on 2013. It is the first time since 2008 that Diageo has not been the top ooh advertiser for a calendar year. Beers & Ciders as a category was in 8th position for the year 2014 and represented only 5.5% of the entire ooh market.

A changing feature of the out of home sector over the past five years is the growing relevance of digital formats. Digital ooh formats, such as dPods in shopping malls, represented 8.4% of all ooh display value in 2014. The figure in 2013 was 5.1%.

Commenting on the report, Colum Harmon, marketing director at PML Group said “Out of home made a bit of a comeback in 2014. We are back in growth again which is a great start. It’s an exciting time as technology is changing the medium in many ways. Our challenge now is to fully realise the opportunities this offers and to bring future potential into the present. There’s a lot to be positive about for out of home.”

UK: ‘Joy Index’ Reveals How to Beat the January Blues

JCDecaux Research Discovers Levels of Joy in the Year’s Most Dreary Month

January can feel rather uninspiring after the festive period and, as JCDecaux research reveals, the secret formula to beat those winter blues is to be a northern male, under 35, with no children!

JCDecaux’s content division ‘beframeus’ has launched a unique ‘Joy Index’ to measure the levels of joyfulness across the UK each day. Research so far has revealed that men in general are least susceptible to the post-holiday gloom, with 79% being happy to delighted on 5th January.

Other findings disclose that the UK as a whole was 72% joyful on 5th January. But adults with children were found to be less happy. Only 60% of people with offspring were found to be joyful – could this be down to the start of school or the realisation that they had yet another day of entertaining on their hands?

Today’s results reveal that today is the happiest day of the year (so far) as the overall population is 77% joyful. People with kids in their household were a lot happier today, with 75% stating that they were happy and/or delighted!

People in North England are generally much happier today too, with 83% stating that they were happy in comparison to 73% in the South.

Results will be displayed on JCDecaux’s digital screens nationwide and via social media on the beframeus Facebook and Twitter pages. The British public can also view the results by searching with the #JoyIndex and #janjoy hashtags.

The Joy Index will continue to report on the joy of January for the entire month. Research will also aim to discover whether January 19th or January 26th is officially the most miserable day of the year – Blue Monday.

UK: “Significant demand” for real-time digital OOH campaigns

72% of marketers are planning to run a real-time digital out-of-home campaign in 2015, with 87% thinking it would allow for better targeted advertising for their brands, according to new research from Posterscope.

However, a recent Posterscope rountable event with industry leaders - including 20th Century Fox, British Gas, Microsoft, Clear Channel, Ocean Outdoor and Dentsu Aegis Network, amongst others - revealed that although digital out-of-home has "strong capabilities" to deliver real-time, the industry faces a variety of challenges in realising its potential.

Speaking at the event, Paul Grosvenor, senior marketing manager of Hive at British Gas, said that tapping into the right audience is key because consumers' expectations are rising quickly and "outpacing" the rate of innovation in digital out-of-home.

"They now expect connection through all devices, and their whole life to be synced," said Grosvenor. "If they see an ad that isn't clever or doesn't reflect something interesting and innovative we probably won't connect with them in the way that making full use of this medium will.

"Ultimately we need to establish a partnership with the consumer, to let their interests and behaviour lead us into new and interesting areas and to use the technology we have at our fingertips to deliver something that not only meets their expectations, but exceeds them."

While digital represents 28% of all spend in out-of-home, Posterscope estimates that less than 5% of digital out-of-home spend incorporates an element of real-time.

However, the figures contrast with a UK marketing landscape that is becoming increasingly digital, with Britain set to become the first country in the world where more than half of all adspend goes to digital media.

Posterscope estimates that in 2015 media owners will invest more than £75 million in digital infrastructure, which the company's managing director, Glen Wilson, says creates an "almost infinite amount of possibilities" to talk to people in the right place, at precisely the right time - and with "real scale."

"However, this creates a huge amount of complexity because literally every second of that digital airtime is theoretically addressable," Wilson said

Source

UK: The 2015 formula for outdoor success? Innovation + transformation + location

After a further year of growth, including offerings of unbelievable creativity, smart use of data and capitalising on our obsession with social media, OOH is continuing its exciting transformation, says Eric Newnham, chief executive of Talon Outdoor.

With events such as the World Cup, the poignant WW1 celebrations and the introduction of brand-wrapped Boris Buses, 2014 offered opportunity and challenges in equal measure.

Out of Home is known for its traditional paper and paste history but clearly the addition of digital and social-driven campaigns is its future.

At Talon, digital has enabled us to create some of the most iconic moments of 2014 in partnership with some major brands and media owners.

Who could forget the PepsiMax Tiger loose on New Oxford Street, the Google Outside screens that knew exactly where you wanted to go for dinner, or Walkers’ Twitter-driven campaign that had Gary Lineker distributing crisps to unsuspecting Londoners, which other medium could give the public a Gary Lineker vending machine?

An innovation revolution

The innovative use of digital that has been witnessed throughout 2014 has enabled advertisers to create more personalized and tailored communications with consumers.

Digital screens now account for 25% of OOH revenue (and closer to a third across Talon's spend) and are increasingly regarded as the must-have channel.

Working well alongside broadcast opportunities, DOOH enables brands to really enhance brand communications. For example, a premium digital campaign alone can reach half of all upscale audiences now in our top 15 cities.

Several media owners including JCDecaux, Primesight and Clear Channel have made moves to increase the number of digital screens in their portfolios in a bid to stay ahead of the curve.

An intelligent decision as levels of investment is set to continue sharply into 2015 as the industry transforms its appeal and identity.

We're also seeing strong private equity backing. Ocean's recent £80 million ownership change was announced with the proclamation from new owners SCP around belief in "the long-term growth potential of digital out of home advertising and Ocean’s accomplished track record of successful innovation."

The right location

Whilst digital looks set to encourage further growth for OOH in 2015, location still remains a primary factor of success. Reaching consumers when they want something and when they need it has never been more important.

To meet changing demands, OOH will have to get even smarter as an industry and continue to embrace smarter data options, including mobile data and our Route research. We are using such techniques for clients including Google, TSB and others to influence audiences at key times of day at prime locations.

Looking ahead to 2015, the use of data will redefine OOH as a location medium and will ensure leading locations are utilized by advertisers. After all, Londoners will reportedly encounter up to 50 OOH ads a day and no brand wants to be in the wrong place.

Full article here

UK: Billboards that diagnose cancer, charge your smartphone and display art

Hoardings and posters have moved way beyond advertising to play an important role in their communities

With the humble billboard capable of purifying air and turning it into drinking water, could posters and hoardings now help people and communities on a personal level?

A recent digital billboard campaign, operated by The Outdoor Media Centre and charity Missing People, demonstrated exactly how traditional advertising techniques can be used to benefit communities rather than just market to them. Across the UK, the outdoor advertising company used its prominent sites to display the names and images of missing people in a campaign that helped locate more than 220 people.

This is just one example of how digital billboards are being used subtly to enhance community life. The Art Everywhere initiative, which uses digital screens to show works of art in unexpected places, is now the UK’s biggest art exhibition. Leading artists Grayson Perry and Antony Gormley unveiled the shortlist on the UK’s largest indoor advertising screen, inside London’s Waterloo Station. The pieces of artwork, selected by the public, are displayed on JCDecaux’s digital screens, bringing a moment of reflection for passing pedestrians.

Similarly, KBH On-Train Media collaborated with Transport for London to cover London Overground trains with poppy images to commemorate Armistice Day. It added visual impact to a wider campaign of awareness and remembrance.

Digital screen networks are increasingly being designed to deliver more than just imagery to communities. This year up to 10,000 touch screens will replace phone booths across New York, offering mobile charging stations, free Wi-Fi, free calls and public notices.

In Manchester, MediaCo Outdoor’s network of 20 interactive touchscreens is already is place. Each screen is loaded with response technology, allowing it to interact with audiences, and features a live local news ticker with content directly managed by Manchester Evening News and local weather data feeds. Content can be preloaded and then delivered to a schedule, or could be real-time data such as the time, the weather, what’s trending on social media, or an external data source from an advertiser.

Brands such as Benedryl have already used digital screens to offer health information about allergies alongside product advertising, displaying real-time pollen count levels to passersby.

Manchester city council also operates 10 “wayfinder” touchscreens across the city. The devices offer residents and visitors to the city information about getting around the city and making the most of all it has to offer. They provide location-specific information about attractions, nightlife, shopping, food and drink, accommodation and transport. Someone looking for a place to eat near New Cathedral Street could use the screens to search through a range of nearby options with directions, distance and recommended transport choices.

But providing a useful function on the high street is not the extent of the medium’s value to society. Visual community campaigns can improve the way the healthcare sector reaches out to citizens.

The Childhood Eye Cancer Trust is creating a series of posters, to be displayed in GP surgeries, baby clinics and childcare centres, which help detect retinoblastoma – a particularly aggressive form of eye cancer in infants. Prompted by the flash of a smartphone camera, reflective ink within the poster replicates the image of a retinoblastoma-infected eye, allowing parents to compare this to a healthy eye and therefore enabling parents to diagnose a cancer risk in their child. While not a replacement for medical diagnosis, the posters will raise awareness and could help early detection, leading to earlier treatment.

With more digital screens than ever coming to our high streets and public spaces, posters are now responsible for much more than just advertising.

Stuart Taylor is CEO of Kinetic UK

Source

Netherlands: BroadSign International, LLC in QSR: Digital Signage Software Fit For a King

BroadSign software powers the “King Channel” in over 50 Burger King locations across the Netherlands.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands. January 12, 2015. The Amsterdam-based in-store marketing frontrunner, The Music Marketeers BV, is using BroadSign International, LLC’s cloud-based digital signage software to power the Burger King “King Channel”.

Situated in over 50 of the fast food giant’s Dutch locations, the King Channel has an average of three 40” screens per restaurant that entertain and inform customers who choose to eat their meals onsite. Content composed of 70% music videos, 20% live video, 5% advertising and 5% information also assists in reinforcing Burger King’s branding and communications.

“The King Channel is our most challenging project and BroadSign proved to be the best option for layering live video streams with a variety of content,” said Rob van Rozendaal, Founder of The Music Marketeers. “Not only is the BroadSign platform easy to manage, its vast technical capabilities allow our services to excel and enable us to fulfill our promise: passionate about music, driven by technology.”

In addition to Burger King, The Music Marketeers provides its services to a host of retail and hospitality customers such as C&A, McGregor, T-Mobile and MS Fashion.

“BroadSign’s relationship with The Music Marketeers is a fine example of how forward-thinking innovators can use our robust software platform to deliver a unique customer experience in the most standard of verticals – in this case, QSR,” said Skip Beloff, Vice President of Sales at BroadSign.

“We hope that Burger King’s move to enhance its restaurant atmosphere through purposeful and high-quality digital signage will inspire others to do the same.”

AMERICAS NEWS

USA: Clear Channel Spectacolor Chooses Daktronics LED Video for 1500 Broadway Times Square Billboard

New interactive display features exclusive advertising from cosmetics company Revlon?

Love is buzzing around 1500 Broadway on the corner of West 43rd Street in Times Square just in time for the holidays. Clear Channel Spectacolor, a brand division of Clear Channel Outdoor, installed a new 2-sided LED video billboard at the location, recently unveiled during the kickoff of Revlon's brand re-launch campaign Revlon LOVE IS ON. ?

Revlon contracted with Spectacolor to be the billboard's exclusive advertiser, quickly naming the billboard the "Global Love Beacon," which interacts with Times Square audiences via a jumbo "kiss cam." Interactive content prompts viewers to share their "love moment" photos for a chance to have them appear on the big screen. Fans from around the world can play along too by sharing their photos and messages 24/7 at #LOVEISON or at www.revlon.com/loveison.

Located on the Good Morning America Building, Daktronics Inc. (NASDAQ-DAKT) manufactured the 36-feet high by 85-feet wide LED spectacular which features high resolution 10 millimeter line spacing. The billboard plays HD content and extends the appeal of large-scale LED video to customers who place a high value on sharper contrast and superior brightness, even in direct sunlight. A darker display face provides deeper, more pronounced blacks, while custom LED louvers significantly improve color integrity and viewing angles.?

Clear Channel Spectacolor offers innovative out-of-home advertising solutions in major pedestrian centers such as Times Square, Atlantic City and the Las Vegas Strip. ?

Daktronics' first Times Square project was the Dow Jones Zipper display in 1986 and the company's experience level within the world-renowned area is unmatched.

Discover more information about Daktronics dynamic video solutions at: www.daktronics.com/timessquare

Canada: COMB releases state-of-the-art Audit technology

COMB (Canadian Out-of-Home Measurement Bureau) has launched a state-of-the-art process to synchronize all trading data between its systems and those of its OOH company members.

COMB will issue 60,000 audit requests to its members in its first year of the program. The audits will verify that circulation, population and in-market percent values, used to calculate campaign impressions and reach-frequency, match COMB-approved figures.

As a condition of COMB membership, OOH companies must comply with the COMB Audit and the timely correction of data errors.

The audit software was built by The Siroky Group and includes a highly efficient synchronization process that instantly identifies anomalies for quick investigation and correction.

COMB’s Chair of the Board, Julie Myers, explains: “COMB has invested tremendous resources to build a system that ensures OOH sellers deliver their campaigns with the highest level of accountability. This represents a new standard for other media to follow and, I would espouse, a competitive edge for COMB members.”

For more information on the COMB Audit, please contact Rosanne Caron, President at 416-968-3823, 108

AFRICA NEWS

Nigeria: LASAA caught in-between politicians, police

This is the season of political campaigns and elections. Almost every action, in-action and comments by politicians and state agents are interpreted to have political colouration. Such interpretations, when viewed against certain incidences, could be appropriate or otherwise.

Recently, Lagos State Signage Advertising Agency (LASAA) was locked up in argument with police over removal of posters pasted indiscriminately within Lagos State.

Though, Lagos is now thoroughly defaced by political posters that created a burden on LASAA, or which the agency has perhaps overlooked, but the Nigerian police recently accused LASAA of partisan in the removal billboards and posters of candidates of various political parties in the state, thereby creating an uneven playing field for candidates.

In order to ensure a level playing field, Kayode Aderanti, commissioner of police, Lagos State, threatened to arrest anybody that attempts to remove any billboard or poster of any candidate of the various political parties, even if these were deployed illegally and in contravention of guidelines issued by LASAA in November 2014.

According to analysts, police intervention is to ensure that all candidates in the forthcoming election have equal opportunity in canvassing for votes through posters. But when some posters are removed in certain areas leaving some other posters in other areas under any excuse, it questions the genuineness in comprehensively cleaning Lagos of posters.

In its reaction, LASAA stated clearly that the “removal of posters that deface our environment is a statutory obligation of LASAA. The agency is therefore baffled that the Nigeria Police (which is responsible for enforcing the laws of this nation), is (by the statement issued by the commissioner of police) encouraging and expressly supporting the flagrant disregard and contravention of environmental guidelines issued to all political parties.”

In a statement by its CEO, George Noah, LASAA, said it had equally received complaints from members of the public on the increase in political posters and had undertaken this task without any favour. “Over 100,000 political posters are illegally deployed in the state on a daily basis in the last three months in contravention of laid down guidelines.

“We wish to assure all political parties that as long as all election materials are not deployed within our stipulated guidelines, such materials will continue to be removed.”

As the arm of the state government entrusted with the responsibility to control and regulate use of outdoor advertising displays in Lagos State, our Agency (by our statutory function) must ensure that all outdoor advertising materials used for election purposes must be deployed within the provisions of our guidelines and in accordance with extant laws, he said.

“Our guidelines have been issued without prejudice to any individual, political party, association or aspirant, and our intention is to ensure fairness and equality among all concerned stakeholders while judiciously preserving the integrity of our environment and applying the rules without sentiments or bias,” he said further.

Source

AUSTRALIA NEWS

Australia: Interactive Billboard Detects Porsche Drivers in Australia

An advanced, interactive billboard has just been installed outside Melbourne’s international airport and it is able to detect Porsche drivers and deliver personalised messages to them.

The billboard was designed by oOh! Media and it operates in conjunction with a camera located a few hundred metres up the road. This camera has the ability to detect a Porsche with advanced recognition software developed by oOh! Media and uses IBM software.

When the Porsche driver approaches the sign, it reads ‘It’s so easy to pick you out in a crowd’ for 10 seconds.

Discussing the advanced sign, commercial director of operations and technology at oOh!, John Purcell said, “A camera located 300 metres from the billboard analyses the approaching vehicle make and model in real-time to identify if the car is a Porsche.

Once a Porsche is detected it triggers the tailored message to be displayed as the Porsche is approaching.

“Over one week, this particular billboard will reach up to two hundred thousand travellers as they make their way to one of Australia’s busiest airports. It’s another great example of oOh!’s Unmissable capabilities in reaching audiences,” Purcell said.

Source

MIDDLE EAST NEWS

Lebanon: Pikasso Partners with Blue Bite for the launching of the Mobile Bridge

Pikasso, a leading OOH advertising company in the Levant & North Africa, and Blue Bite, an American leading mobile-marketing solutions provider, announced today their partnership to implement the latest in OOH mobile marketing.

“We are excited to partner with Pikasso, the leader in out-of-home advertising in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Algeria, said Mikhail Damiani, CEO and Co-Founder of Blue Bite.

“This marks the largest expansion of our mobile solution outside of North America, spanning Pikasso’s 8,840 advertising faces in over 300 cities.” This first of its kind mobile rollout in the Levant and North Africa will extend the impact of brand campaigns with unique mobile experiences for consumers.

The Mobile Bridge offers the most widely used platforms to connect OOH placements to their related mobile content through the scanning of a QR code and/or taping a Near Field Communication (NFC) mTAG. This new Pikasso service enables, among others, flexibility, real time control and solutions-focused to advisers. It is an opportunity to increase advertiser’s exposure and to reach younger consumers.

Antonio Vincenti, Chairman and CEO of Pikasso, said: “Our aim is to have within a year almost every single advertiser having experienced and regularly using this cutting edge engaging tool to reach the connected generation born and raised surrounded by screens. The objective of the Mobile Bridge is to support our advertisers sales while being entertaining, at a very affordable cost.”

Pikasso is launching this state of the art technology in malls, gyms and urban furniture in the Lebanese, Jordanian and Algerian markets. The Mobile Bridge will be able to draw on new segments whilst expanding OOH beyond its traditional channels.