FEPE Out of Home News 18th February 2015

FEPE Out of Home News 18th February 2015

EUROPE NEWS

UK: Exterion Media launches EM Solutions

Exterion Media, Europe’s largest privately held out-of-home advertising business, has launched EM Solutions as part of a wholesale restructure of its UK business. The new structure will put customer needs at the heart, with an increased focus on insights and tools to help customers get the most out of their advertising.

Unlocking the potential of Exterion Media’s key strengths – size, unique assets and internal talent – EM Solutions positions the business to operate more intelligently with resource. Integrating sales, marketing, insight, technology and delivery functions, the new structure will ensure all sales efforts are targeted with an increased focus on transparency, ownership and accountability across the business.

Placing customers at the centre also provides a solid foundation from which to grow Exterion Media’s business and enable it to respond and adapt faster to the changing media landscape. This bold step in the evolution of Exterion Media will support the company’s strategy to create a consumer engagement business that sets the pace for the industry and delivers best in class service to customers.

Jason Cotterrell, UK Managing Director, Exterion Media said: “The market has changed considerably during recent years, thanks to growth in both classic and digital formats, and is becoming increasingly more complex. As such, demands from customers have become ever greater.

“We’ve listened to our customers, reorganised around their needs and intend to provide a more solutions-based approach for the market to enable agencies, specialists and planners to get the most out of our medium. It’s an exciting shift for the UK business”.

As part of the restructure several new roles have been created, providing a platform for key internal promotions and opening up new opportunities for external candidates.

A key promotion is the appointment of Malcolm Stoodley (pictured) as Commercial Director who will lead EM Solutions. Previously Direct Sales Director managing local sales teams across UK, Malcolm has been recognised as driving some of the fastest growth the business has seen to date. In his new role, Malcolm will transform the way Exterion Media works with and for customers.

Mark Heather, previously Head of Trading, has been promoted to National Sales Director. Exterion Media is also actively recruiting for a Director of Commercial Strategy. Both of these roles report into Malcolm.

Additionally, key hires brought in to facilitate the shift towards a more customer-centric business include Nick Dawson from Posterscope International as Head of Commercial Insight, and Adrian Lovejoy from British Telecom in the role of Service Delivery Director. Nick is charged with driving Exterion Media’s value strategy, while Adrian is responsible for leading all delivery solutions and increasing Exterion Media’s operational excellence. Both newly created positions demonstrate Exterion Media’s commitment and investment to continual improvements in customer insight and delivery.

Shaun Gregory, CEO, Exterion Media, said: “By seeking to understand all stakeholders better, we will drive deeper engagement and help our customers’ businesses. Outdoor advertising is seeing huge transformational changes thanks to digital, mobile and technology, as well as in the way it is bought and sold.

“In 2014 we rebranded the company from CBS Outdoor and launched a new strategy. We’re now moving on to the next phase of reorganising our businesses to ensure we’re fit for purpose as the market matures. The UK is a natural starting point, given its maturity, and we will then roll this out across our other Western European territories. It’s undoubtedly a fascinating time for both us and the industry and we are very excited to implement these changes”.

In practice, EM Solutions will be organised into three teams focusing on specific customer needs. These are EM Local and EM National, which will support day-to-day sales activity, customer service and audience insight across the UK. Both will be supported by EM Future, a team focussed on forward planning, strategic thinking and innovation. EM Future will ensure Exterion Media’s award-winning insight resources help solve business problems and deliver smart media solutions. These tools include work.shop.play, the London Worker Planning Tool and USelect, an exciting new planning tool launching soon.

UK: FEPE 56th Annual Congress in Budapest: Early Bird bookings will be closing in 2 weeks!

Bookings are now fully underway for the 56th FEPE Congress, titled "Your Audience is Waiting", which will be held between Wednesday June 10th and Friday June 12th at the Intercontinental Hotel, Budapest.

We will be having 2 full days of presentations and high calibre speakers from across the world, all of whom will be bringing their unique viewpoints on the Out of Home industry.

Last year's congress in Vienna was FEPE's best yet, with over 300 delegates attending from 31 countries, both new records for us.

There will be an exclusive exhibition area attached to the main congress hall, and spaces are now available to reserve. If you are a supplier who wishes to get your product in front of an audience of global OOH decision makers please email us soon so we can hold a space for you.

We have also decided to lower the price for exhibition spaces this year, to offer best value to our industry suppliers.


 

The Thursday night Gala Dinner, in keeping with the FEPE tradition of finding special locations, will be at the Buda Castle, (see photo) one of Budapest's foremost buildings, and the Friday night social evening will be at a dinner cruise down the river Danube, taking in all the sights of Budapest for 3 hours.

As usual we have negotiated a special delegate rate for the hotel rooms and delegates are able to pay by credit card or bank transfer, which we hope will make bookings easier for some overseas delegates.

Early bird registrations are now open until the end of February, which will allow delegates an extra €100 reduction regardless of FEPE membership status. Delegate fees are unchanged from last year (and several years before) at €1100 for members and €1600 for non members, plus the additional early bird reduction.

You can register by following the link on the FEPE homepage and FEPE members all receive an additional €500 discount so if you are considering attending with colleagues and are not a member, please get in touch so we can organise the most cost effective package for you.

Apolgies for some linking problems in last week's newsletter, please go directly to worldooh.org to find the Congress link.

Speakers and other details will be announced in future newsletters.

UK: FEPE "Always On" Full Slide Decks now available for Members

Full slide decks of the highly successful FEPE International 2014 research project "Always On" are now available for FEPE members.

The summary booklet is available for anyone to download from the FEPE homepage, but we have now gone one step further and commissioned Future Foundation (the authors of the research) to create full slide decks for each territory we surveyed.

These slides are now available for you to use in your own presentations, and can be mixed and matched any way you choose, to allow the most comprehensive use of the data.

The territories covered are:

United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Turkey, South Africa and Brazil.

Each deck has at least 40 slides about consumer attitudes to Out of Home advertising including commuter and audience profiles, insights and implications, attitudes to other media, vox pops and many other useful observations.

If you would like one or all of these decks please contact Mark Flys at mark@worldooh.org If you are not a member of FEPE International and would like access to this material, please email to discuss membership categories and fees.

We will also soon be announcing an extension to this research, featuring the first ever Out of Home research undertaken in a new territory.

Switzerland: Daktronics Partners With SBB to Bring Light to Railway Stations Across Switzerland

Daktronics has partnered with Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB), Switzerland’s largest travel and transport company, to install 50 LED video displays – a total of 475 square meters – throughout 17 railway stations across Switzerland. The pilot installation in the city of Neuchâtel included two LED displays and was completed in October 2014. The next 40 displays at 14 different railway stations will be installed between July and November 2015, with the installation of eight additional displays at another two locations to be installed through 2018.

SBB is the first public transport company in Europe to introduce large-screen, central displays with LED technology of this scope across its network. This project upgrades SBB’s technology from flip-digit displays and some previously existing digital signage to a full slate of new LED displays that are more flexible, easier to control and service, and ensure clear, visible customer information in its stations. The displays will show a combination of train schedules and travel information to advertising and emergency messages.

The Neuchâtel installation includes two displays, each measuring 1.58 meters high by 2.85 meters wide and featuring 4 millimeter line spacing. Of the 17 locations, Neuchâtel had the oldest technology that was installed 26 years ago and is a superb pilot location for demonstrating the flexibility that this new system has to offer.

Other railway locations will have anywhere from two to eight LED displays installed. The display technology incorporates excellent image clarity and contrast with wide angle viewing for travelers to easily see and comprehend the messages shown.

“This is a very exciting project for Daktronics and we are pleased to provide SBB industry-leading solutions to assist commuters in receiving up-to-date, accurate information,” said Rolf Bauer, Daktronics Regional Manager. “During testing phases, Daktronics was able to display everything the customer asked for and according to their specifications, providing them with confidence in our products. Daktronics will also provide SBB a lower total cost of ownership for the lifetime of the displays.”

SBB visited Daktronics facilities in Brookings, South Dakota, USA, to fully understand the production process of their products and the details of their specific project. Daktronics recent acquisition of Data Display, a transportation focused company out of Ireland, solidified the company’s ability to provide a complete solution for all the needs of SBB and any potential railway customer.

UK: Microsoft launches Manchester’s biggest out of home media wall

Microsoft is the launch partner for Ocean’s Manchester Media Wall, an impressive hybrid full motion screen which dominates the busy inner city ring road.

Measuring 141.2m2 and wrapped by a brandable vinyl surround, the Media Wall is the first of its kind in Manchester. The Wall is located in Trinity Way, delivering close to one million impacts per fortnight.

This is Ocean’s third full motion media wall in the UK and Manchester’s biggest full motion digital screen. The digital out of home operator has similar walls in Liverpool and London in premium out of home locations.

http://www.oceanoutdoor.com/products/digital/manchester-media-wall/

The Microsoft campaign showcases the Lumia 735 smartphone. The campaign, which was planned through Empowering Media, is also rolling out across Ocean sites in Liverpool and Birmingham.

Romy George, Empowering Media client director, said: “Sites of stature like the Manchester Media Wall demonstrate the rapid evolution of digital out of home, giving us a superb canvas from which to showcase the next generation Lumia smart phones in a dynamic, creative environment.”

Ocean marketing director Richard Malton said: “The addition of the Manchester Media Wall to Ocean’s portfolio is another step in the progressive roll out of DOOH across the UK. “Our investment in the Wall delivers everything advertisers expect from an Ocean site; an iconic location, innovative design, the very best technology and above all a premium audience.”

Growing demand from advertisers for premium out of home space will continue to see the roll out of further large format digital sites this year and continued investment in the integration of new technology within existing Ocean locations during 2015.

Manchester Media Wall statistics

• 24.6m x 5.76m digital screen

• 94m2 vinyl surround (30.4m x 7.78m)

• Screen manufacturer: Lighthouse Industries

UK: What does the future hold for Digital Out of Home?

Catherine Morgan is Head of Creative Solutions at Ocean. In the first in our series of Ocean Talks, she discusses what the future landscape of Digital Out of Home might look like.

The scale and impact of DOOH provides the perfect canvas to engage consumers as they go about their everyday lives. It is the familiarity of these giant screens that means, as consumers, we can instantly relate to interactive campaigns within the DOOH environment. This is why I think DOOH is not only ideally placed to curate content, but also act as a platform for content creation. The familiarity of the setting adds to the share-ability online. There have been a few recent examples of content creation through DOOH which have gone viral on social media, extending the consumer experience well beyond its initial location.

Consumers are starting to expect and demand immersive experiences from brands. In a culture obsessed with celebrity, people will queue up to see their selfies on a giant screen to have their moment of fame to share with their friends online. There is an opportunity for brands to harness this fame-hunger and create an experience for consumers to become part of the marketing communication, developing a deeper engagement and unique brand advocacy with that consumer.

The ability to use data to target consumers with relevant messaging based on their interests and profile is something that we’ve seen online for a while and recently in TV through Sky AdSmart. DOOH is the next frontier, with developments in technology already providing potential to tailor adverts to someone’s gender, age, mood and the weather. The future will develop the connection of the mobile screen with the giant screens of DOOH through second syncing, cementing DOOH key role in the omniscreening world.

As the ideas above insinuate, the creative capabilities available in DOOH are an important factor in its future. As technology evolves and becomes ever more sophisticated, the creative possibilities become increasingly endless. There is no shortage of creative ideas, our responsibility lies in the education of how best to use technology to match the creative thought process.

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AMERICAS NEWS

USA: Attend the 2015 OAAA\TAB National Convention

The 2015 OAAA\TAB National Convention + Expo will be held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego, CA, on May 11 - 13, 2015.

The national convention program will examine shifts in overall media strategies and identify specifically how out of home (OOH) advertising can amplify a media campaign.

The program will address current perceptions about OOH plus examine how the medium can amplify and validate other media, particularly mobile and social applications.

The national convention will also serve as a platform to confirm a future vision for the entire OOH industry to rally around, provide compelling proof-points, and instill confidence in the vibrant future of the industry. A lineup of respected speakers will inform, educate, and inspire the national convention audience.

The program includes two full mornings of general session presentations and an afternoon packed with motivating workshops.

There will be something of interest for everyone at the 2015 OAAA\TAB National Convention + Expo.

Full details here

USA: Times Square's New Digital Icon

People are being stopped in their tracks by a new fixture in Times Square - the world’s largest high definition LED video display. Zoe Mutter gets the full picture on a real game changer for the digital billboard industry.

Famed for being one of the most vibrant and bustling areas in the world, the iconic Times Square now shines even brighter thanks to a record-breaking LED display.

The new Broadway landmark measures a staggering 25,610 square feet and offers a pixel density of 2,368 x 10,048, making it the highest resolution LED screen of this size. Initial plans to construct the technically advanced, gargantuan display to captivate passers-by were revealed back in 2012 when equity real estate investment company, Vornado Realty Trust, entered into a lease with Host Hotels & Resorts to redevelop the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel’s retail and signage components. With plans to spend $140 million to revive and expand the existing space, Vornado set out to convert the parking garage into retail and create eight-storey high, 300 feet wide block-fronted dynamic LED signs.

More than a digital billboard

The screen’s placement, right in the heart of one of the busiest squares in the world, meant it would be seen by approximately 300,000 people passing through the consumer hotspot every day. Display quality was therefore paramount from the outset. Experts in their field were brought on board to guarantee the digital canvas project’s goals were achieved: creating maximum impact for advertisers whilst providing crowds with clear views even when looking at the screen up close or in bright sunlight. To fulfil the brief, outdoor advertising specialist Clear Channel Spectacolor was selected as sales agent and Mitsubishi Electric’s Diamond Vision became the product of choice for the display.

Harry Coghlan, president and general manager, Clear Channel Outdoor New York anticipates the billboard becoming the most sought after in the world for years to come. “Times Square now has North America’s biggest and most awe-inspiring digital screen, enabling Clear Channel’s marketing partners to stand out in an incredibly significant way in one of the world’s busiest shopping and tourist meccas,” he commented.

From a technological point of view, Mitsubishi’s AVL-ODT10 large-scale display fitted the bill because it offers true 10mm pixel pitch spacing and uses a 3-in-1 surface mount LED that features Mitsubishi’s Real Black LED technology to produce deep, rich black levels.

The company’s experience in high definition displays – including the first in MLB, NHL and NBA – has seen its technologies develop and adapt to suit large scale, high density installations such as the recent addition to Times Square.

Full article here

USA: Digital advertising coming to Twin Cities Metro Transit system

Digital advertising will be added to Metro Transit’s bus stations and light rail transit platforms under a new contract with Titan, an advertising company that works with transit systems across the country.

After a competitive process, New York-based Titan was selected as the exclusive advertising company for the Metro Transit system. Over the next five years, Titan is expected to generate a minimum of $23.45 million in advertising revenue for the transit agency through ads on its bus fleet, light rail transit vehicles, stations and digital offerings.

Titan has provided advertising on the Metro Transit system for the last seven years. Titan already has digital platforms in place in similar markets, including Chicago and Philadelphia, said Marcus Bolton, general manager of Titan’s Minneapolis region. With a growing light rail and bus rapid transit system here, Titan has more opportunity to sell advertising and market the region, he said.

Titan’s advertisers in the Minneapolis market are a mix of national brands as well as local retailers, education and cultural institutions, and medical and insurance providers. For years, the traditional “king” ad space on the side of the bus was the dominant advertising slot, Bolton said. But digital advertising on platforms, bus stations and park-and-rides can be more dynamic and allows advertisers to be more flexible with their content. With digital screens, advertisers can update their message “on the fly” and reflect real-time information, such as lottery jackpot numbers, he said.

The digital screens are built to withstand Minnesota winter conditions. Titan has completed an audit of the entire Metro Transit system and is recommending high-traffic locations to implement the digital advertising screens.

A location like Nicollet Mall is ideal, Bolton said, because it has the highest number of boardings each month. Titan will share the results with Metro Transit, identify initial locations and roll out the digital advertising later this year. On top of reaching transit passengers, advertisers on buses and light rail vehicles are exposed to the region at large.

“In 2014, Metro Transit provided 84.5 million rides. That doesn’t take into account vehicle and pedestrian traffic that is seeing that advertising,” Bolton said.

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AFRICA NEWS

South Africa: Opel Adam and Continental Outdoor pack a punch!

The new trend-conscious Opel Adam packs a punch at every turn. The unique, comfortable and all-new Opel Adam fits in with consumers’ lifestyles and to promote this completely new name plate for Opel in South Africa they did not have the luxury of relying on previous ownership or consumer experience to sell the car.

The promotion of this new product required visually powerful media platforms to drive the message home.

One of the key benefits the Adam product offers consumers is the ability to customise their vehicle to suit their style.

The innovative Outdoor Advertising execution, conceptualised and produced by Continental Outdoor, with animation and projection from Applix, made use of projectors to illustrate this during the evening with creative movement and colour changes on an otherwise static platform.

Commuters travelling towards Johannesburg on the N1 Ben Schoeman highway, just before the New Road Interchange, Midrand, will be made aware of this new attitudinal game changing model for the months of February and March 2015.

OJ van Jaarsveld, GMSA Account Director at Admakers, states, “The positioning statement for the Opel Adam is ‘Are you a Game Changer’. One cannot claim to be a game changing product aimed at game changing individuals and just use ‘normal’ media executions. Thus, we thought it suitable to use a very traditional platform, like a billboard, and inject our own game changing attitude”.

View the game changing creative execution here

AUSTRALIA NEWS

Australia: Vodafone partners with JCDecaux to boost inner-city mobile coverage

Bus stops and billboards across the country could soon become makeshift mobile towers thanks to a global push by outdoor advertising giant JCDecaux.

Telstra, SingTel-Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia are spending billions of dollars every year on building mobile towers and systems to expand their networks and attract more customers to boost revenues.

But JCDecaux has signed on with Vodafone Group to push for a cheaper solution that installs "small cells" into ad shells to give stronger high-speed 4G mobile signals to dense concrete jungles. This could result in full-strength services in places that are now blackspots due to tall or dense buildings.

"Today we provide to light infrastructure to the cities like the free bike schemes in Melbourne or transport advertising, bus shelters and information panels," JCDecaux small cells managing director Martin Sabbagh said. "We're trying to transform those assets into more digitally connected and we're trying to do that with councils and [telecommunications] operators.

"This is really about preparing for the next generation of mobile network."

You may never have heard of JCDecaux but you've certainly used its products. The Paris-based outdoor advertising giant, worth €7.178 billion ($10.46 billion), runs ad shells and bike rental systems around the world, however, this does not include Melbourne's maligned Bike Share scheme.

In December it signed a global agreement with Vodafone Group, which owns half of Vodafone Hutchison Australia, to investigate the installation of small cells in its ad shells in sixteen countries including Australia.

Small cells are miniature hotspots for mobile signals and Wi-Fi services that can be the size of a dinner plate. They can attach to the outside of most structures and require electricity and a stable internet or fibre optic connection to work.

"We've signed a global deal [with Vodafone] as a consequence of the very positive rollout we had in Amsterdam in the Netherlands," he said. "The next step is for each market to identify which sites they will require.

"That's the exercise we're doing with each of the subsidiary including the guys at Vodafone in Australia."

Open to others

But Mr Sabbagh wanted to emphasise that he was open to Vodafone's rivals.

"It's important to mention that this is not an exclusive deal with Vodafone," he said. "We're also working with a number of other players … so this subject is not Vodafone-centric.

"There would be the same needs and same appetite for most of the operators … and we're clearly discussing and working with others as well."

The technology could be of interest to smaller telcos like TPG Telecom, which owns a small amount of spectrum and would benefit from owning a mobile network.

TPG has been testing small cell technologies and paid $13.5 million for a portion of the electronic spectrum used by mobile technologies during a government auction in 2013. But it is forced to resell Optus' mobile network due to a lack of infrastructure.

A deal with JCDecaux would allow it to offer a different range of services in key locations to entice corporate customers. Mr Sabbagh said he could not say when the technology would roll out across Australia because that would depend on the schedule of its eventual Australian partner. Councils and residents can be the biggest barriers to telcos trying to boost mobile signals because they often block towers citing aesthetics or cancer fears. It remains to be seen if JCDecaux's hidden alternative will escape similar ire.

Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association chief executive Chris Althaus said small cells were low-power devices that could greatly help the rise of machine-to-machine communications, which involves connecting everything. "Small cell technology is very low-powered and something use less than a handset," he said. "These sorts of deployments make wireless networks ubiquitous and much denser without adding to the overall radio frequency levels. "For 5G ... we need a marriage of small cells into the macro [cell tower] network."

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ASIA NEWS

Kyrgyzstan: Illegal advertising constructions in Bishkek to be dismantled

Illegal advertising constructions in Bishkek to be dismantled, the director of the Advertising Department of City Hall Saliya Borbieva said to 24.kg news agency.

"What is happening today in terms of aesthetic appearance - not the best picture. We have clear intentions and political will to change the appearance of the capital. We started with the elimination of illegal advertising constructions," she said.

According Saliya Borbieva, an inventory of all promotional items is held in Bishkek for the first time. At least 144 were with expired leases, 81 - illegal, 575 - small, but established with violations.

She stressed: work on dismantling all illegal constructions is being held. Saliya Borbieva told that the capital municipality intends to abandon the cheap banners. "We will use modern materials. Yes, they are expensive, but the aesthetic appearance shouldn't suffer," she said.

The official said that the new position of outdoor advertising will be discussed in the near future.

Source

Japan: MCDecaux wins its 1st City Information Panels contract in Kagoshima for 20 years

JCDecaux announced today, following a tender process, that its subsidiary in Japan, MCDecaux (held 85% by JCDecaux, 15% by Mitsubishi Corporation), has been awarded its first City Information Panel contract, in Kagoshima.

The 20-year contract covers the design, installation and maintenance of 75 2m² City Information Panels for public information, starting with the replacement of non-advertising panels installed nearly 30 years ago.

Drawing upon MCDecaux’s experience, the city of Kagoshima (600 000 inhabitants) will employ public-private partnership to enrich the streetscape and enhance its services for citizens through an advertising network exclusively dedicated to communicating local messaging. MCDecaux has a key strategic position in the world's third largest advertising market, being the number one in advertising street furniture in Japan, and is present in the country's 20 biggest cities, through agreements with the city authorities including those in Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, Hiroshima and Kyoto, or via concessions with the main private sector bus operators including those in Tokyo, Fukuoka and Sapporo.

The introduction of City Information Panels in the city center of Kagoshima City will deliver valuable audiences to advertisers, and add a 40th city to the MCDecaux Cityscape™ advertising network.

Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-Chief Executive Officer of JCDecaux, said:

"12 years after the launch of our advertising street furniture concept in Japan with B-Stops® (advertising bus shelters), this first City Information Panel contract in Japan is a milestone for MCDecaux which expand its collaboration with Japanese cities. Financing its City Information Panel services by advertising will allow the City to benefit from high quality services including furniture, installation, cleaning and maintenance over 20 years.

This demonstrates both the sustainability of our business model as well as our capacity to develop new solutions that meet the demand of the public. MCDecaux intends to pursue its growth and continue to meet the requirements of cities and brands by proposing high value-added products and services."

Source

India: Times of India gets ISO:27001 certification

Times OOH has become the first outof-home media brand in the world to get ISO:27001 certification, awarded for its operations at the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi.

ISO:27001 is a world-renowned standard for providing requirements for information security management systems.

Times OOH exclusively manages the outdoor advertising at IGI airport through its subsidiary Times Innovative Media Delhi Airport Advertising, a JV between Delhi International Airport and Times Innovative Media.

Arghya Chakravarty, CEO, Times OOH, said: "In today's hyper-networked digital ecosystem, information is a key element for sustaining growth and maintaining business continuity... The ISO:27001 accreditation acknowledges the robustness of our processes that deal with information related to key stakeholders across the value chain."

The Internal Audits were conducted by Tech MahindraBSE -0.23 %, and Quality Austria, Vienna, certified the audits for ISO:27001.