UK: JCDecaux Launches The Salford Arch and its New Nationwide Network – The Gateways

Set to further transform the Digital Outdoor landscape in Manchester, JCDecaux, the UK’s leading Outdoor advertising company, has launched The Salford Arch – an iconic, digital advertising superstructure that stretches across 6 lanes of traffic at one of Manchester’s busiest arterial junctions – where the M602 becomes Regent Road.

One of JCDecaux’s largest roadside digital screens with on average 1.2 million impacts every week (DFT), this double-sided landmark location will be launched by FIAT, Sky, Samsung, JD Sports and Orangina.

The Salford Arch will complement JCDecaux’s strong Digital Outdoor presence in Manchester, alongside the digitised The Trafford Arch and The Trafford Tower. The Salford Arch will also become part of JCDecaux’s newly formed The Gateways – a nationwide network of premium Out-of-Home locations along key arterial routes that welcome audiences into major UK cities, such as: London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Leeds and Bristol.

Spencer Berwin, Managing Director – Sales at JCDecaux, said: “This spectacular location is like no other, with its incredible size and impact it offers brands an exciting new digital canvas in one of the UK’s largest cities. We are delighted that we have such high-profile brands capitalising on this opportunity to reach the influential and affluent audiences that travel on this key road in and out of Manchester city.

The Salford Arch is a fantastic addition to our newly formed The Gateways – a network of premium ‘welcome’ sites strategically positioned along main city routes that reiterate JCDecaux’s strong DOOH offering across the UK.”

Nathan Bennett, Account Director at Kinetic, said: “The FIAT brand has always looked to lead the market with innovative and exciting Outdoor campaigns to showcase their iconic design and this has continued in 2015 with the launch of the FIAT 500X. The combination of the standout superstructure with its multiple viewpoints, a high volume of traffic and FIAT’s striking creative made this the perfect opportunity to showcase the FIAT 500X to Manchester’s spirited, affluent and urban audience.”

The FIAT campaign was planned and booked by Maxus and Kinetic.

UK: OOH advertisers can make our cities better places

Clear Channel International's chairman and chief executive William Eccleshare says outdoor ads are much more than a Faustian pact between the industry and town halls.

Reading a recent piece by an advertising executive in New York City made me wonder whether we live in the same world.

While I don’t want to give the piece too much air-time, the basic premise was that Out of Home (OOH) advertising should be banned from cities because they are visual eyesores, but a Faustian pact between the industry and local authorities made such a goal difficult to achieve.

It won’t surprise anyone reading this that I take a slightly different view.

In my world, OOH provides the best medium to showcase amazing brands like Apple on billboards that help bring our cities to life.

But it is also more than that: OOH advertising also means much needed revenue for public transit, street furniture, bike share schemes and tourist attractions.

You need look no further than the additional £30 million that is to be invested into London’s transport system via the latest TfL contract.

The OOH industry makes a critical contribution to the quality of life of the ever-increasing number of people moving to cities around the world. While only 2 per cent of the global population lived in cities in the year 1800, more than 50 per cent does today and this is projected to be more than 75 per cent by 2050.

At the same time the way cities are run is changing, with many facing new and evolving power dynamics in their relationships with other levels of government.

Clear Channel Outdoor works very closely with a number of organisations, including climate leadership group, C40, the Global Cities Business Alliance launched recently by London First, the Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities Program and Eurocities, as well as a number of municipal authorities to help improve cities and urban space.

These are collaborative partnerships where we are co-creating ways to ensure cities are liveable, sustainable, creative economic engines. It is a positive, productive alliance between a number of stakeholders who believe industry and government can and should work in tandem to improve inner-city life. Mutual self-interest if you like but hardly as this executive suggests a Faustian pact.

In a recent report, Out of home, into the city: transforming cities by engaging citizens, Clear Channel Outdoor explores how governments and citizens in major cities are recognising this positive contribution.

Full article here

Denmark: PowaTag hits the streets of Denmark with outdoor advertiser, AFA JCDecaux

The people of Denmark are said to be set for a retail revolution this year as mobile commerce leader Powa Technologiesteams up with AFA JCDecaux, a subsidiary of the world’s largest outdoor advertising corporation JCDecaux.

Shoppers will be able to purchase products 24-hours-a-day with their smartphone simply by scanning specialised tags on the thousands of billboards, bus shelters and other street furniture created by AFA JCDecaux. PowaTag interacts with any form of media to allow users to make purchases and other transactions in just a few taps, fundamentally transforming brand engagement with an entirely new sales channel.

The announcement comes as Powa partners with Danske Bank, Denmark’s leading bank, to provide full PowaTag capabilities through MobilePay, the free banking app used by more than two million Danes. The app is the market leader in the Nordics, with over 12 billion kroner in transactions processed since its launch.

With Denmark leading the way towards a cashless society, the Nordic country will be the first to experience the revolutionary service with AFA JCDecaux – and more countries to follow suite in the near future.

JCDecaux operates in more than 60 countries across the globe. It is the largest company within advertising media for street furniture in Denmark, and it operates in 28 of the country’s largest municipalities, and at five airports.

Casper Claudius Gregersen, commercial director of AFA JCDecaux, said: “We are dedicated to offering our business partners outdoor solutions of the highest quality and strive to integrate innovative approaches which make our offerings world-class.

“PowaTag is a perfect solution for taking our advertisements to the next level, transforming them from a way of attracting attention to a point of instant action. Together with PowaTag’s partnership with MobilePay, this deal means our clients will immediately be able to reach an audience of more than two million. With 58% of Danes using smartphones for shopping, and 42% taking action within a month of seeing an advert in the street, this is the perfect time for us to form this exciting partnership and bring new value to our customers.”

Today more than 85% of Danes have a smartphone, and e-commerce sales are thriving in the country, with salesbooming to €54.5bn in 2014, an increase of 31% from 2012. Denmark is planning to scrap obligatory cash payments, and 33% of Danish eCommerce is conducted via a smartphone or tablet.

Full article here

UK: Lucozade Energy Wants Commuters to ‘Find Their Flow’

As part of its largest ever campaign, Lucozade Energy has taken over some of the UK’s busiest rail stations to brighten up the daily commute with the help of JCDecaux.

Vibrant stands were set up on Monday with brand ambassadors on hand to give out free samples to commuters at both Oxford Circus and London Waterloo stations as a part of the ‘Find Your Flow’ campaign.

Commuters can get their hands on a bottle at Oxford Circus until the 21st August, and at Waterloo until the 23rd.

The energy drink has also taken over Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street stations from the 10th August until the 6th September.

The station dominations include bespoke floor media leading to the station exits and entrances as well as hanging banners with the messages ‘Find Your Flow’ and ‘Commute Like a Hot Knife Through Butter’. Samples were also made available at both Liverpool and Manchester until the 16th and 18th August respectively.

The upbeat campaign creative can also be found on Rail digital 6-sheets, Transvision screens, billboards, and StreetTalk kiosks around the UK.

Lesley Stonier, Marketing Manager, Lucozade Energy, said: “The Find your Flow campaign’s aim is to position Lucozade Energy an ally to busy people who want to enjoy a full life. OOH media is critical in enabling us to really hit the moment where our campaign messages will be most relevant to our audience. By using OOH media we are able to target high footfall busy locations where consumers are in need of energy and reminding them of our reason to believe in a relevant context, we are impactful, disruptive and build a powerful consumer connection.”

Gill Reid, Head of Out-of-Home, MediaCom, said: “Out-of-Home was the obvious medium of choice for the find you flow Lucozade campaign – doing what is does best through being impactful, disruptive and unmissable. Imaginative use of formats and environments means we challenge the consumer at every point in their busy lives.”

The campaign was planned and booked through JCDecaux by Kinetic and MediaCom.

AMERICAS NEWS

Canada: ACTIVATE Speakers Announced

OMAC has announced additional speakers for the upcoming ACTIVATE OOH Conference on Oct. 28 in Toronto.

Neil Morris, Founder of Grand Visual, a UK based production and creative technology company that has been driving the dramatic emergence of DOOH over the past ten years.

Grand Visual has been pushing the boundaries for creative technology in DOOH, gaining international acclaim along the way. The Pepsi Max ‘Unbelievable Bus Shelter’ which won a Bronze Cannes Outdoor Lion is a great example of their pioneering work.

Joanne Van der Burgt, President, Ipsos MediaCT Jim Spaeth, Chief Product Officer, RealityMine

Joanne and Jim will provide an overview of how the TouchPoints consumer centric cross media platform database can provide insights on the role of OOH in a changing media landscape and the synergy with other media. Touchpoints provides rich, single-sourced behavioural data that addresses questions as to when, where, and how media is consumed, along with who the person is with, how they are feeling and what they are doing.

They join the previously announced speakers Michael Trautmann, Co-founder and CEO, thjnk, Germany; Mike Bascom, Director of Marketing, High End Brands, Anheuser-Busch InBev and George Ault, Associate Creative Director, Zulu Alpha Kilo.

For more information about ACTIVATE and to register click here.

Early Bird Registration until September 15, 2015.

Brazil: Digital News TV Uses BroadSign International, LLC Software for Bob's QSR Network

The network spans 700 locations and 4,000 screens across Brazil.

Top Brazilian digital signage integrator, Digital News TV (DNTV), has announced its use of BroadSign International, LLC’s digital signage software for the deployment and growth of Bob’s. The chain is one of the three largest QSR operations in Brazil.

Powered by BroadSign, the Bob’s network has grown to 700 locations and 4,000 screens across Brazil. DNTV is using its field service teams to add around 20-30 new locations each month, with an aim of 1,000 locations in the next year. “BroadSign’s feature-rich platform provides the automated scheduling, stability and security required to accommodate complex network requirements, rapid expansion and integration with new technologies with minimal additional development,” said Yuri Berezovoy, Innovations Director at DNTV.

“Our team works closely with the BroadSign services department to deliver innovations to customers. As we test other market platforms, we believe BroadSign offers the most outstanding technology and support,” continued Berezovoy. Bob’s displays are viewed by over half a million individuals daily and build on the corporation’s strategy to reinforce appetite appeal via technology and innovation.

Featuring 100% brand-related content, digital menu boards are day-parted with location-specific pricing updated in real-time based on demand. Point-of-sale and dining area screens advertise promotions and fidelity programs. The LCD displays vary from 19 to 42”, with digital menu boards arranged as videowalls of up to eight screens.

The switch from static to digital menu boards has given Bob’s greater control over in-store promotions, reduced visual clutter through targeted day-parting and increased efficiency by eliminating the shipping of printed material to stores. “DNTV is a well-respected, turnkey provider of digital signage solutions in Brazil,” said Skip Beloff, Vice President of Sales at BroadSign.

“We regard the Bob’s initiative as a leading example of modernization in the regional digital signage market.”
 

USA: In New York, Starbucks and now Internet on almost every corner

On the 21st floor of New York's Woolworth Building, the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1913, there's a new structure that's on track to break records.

David Etherington, the chief strategy officer at municipal advertising giant Titan, is helping to create a structure that will supply free, ultra-high-speed Wi-Fi Internet to anyone within about 150 feet. Once completed, there will be up to 10,000 of these structures, known as Links, that will replace all of the city's unused phone booths scattered across the five boroughs.

The new Wi-Fi hubs represent a push among city officials to elevate New York as a technology and innovation destination, a description that is most often resigned to Silicon Valley in the US and to many other cities abroad, namely London, Singapore and Seoul, where broadband is one-tenth the price it is in New York and twice as fast, according to the Open Technology Institute. And it underscores an effort to narrow the digital divide in New York with free, public high-speed Internet -- a resource that President Barack Obama has called a 21st century necessity.

The project is the result of a $200 million plan approved by city leaders in December 2014, called LinkNYC. A consortium called CityBridge won the bid to remove old payphones and install new Internet infrastructure in their place. The group includes mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, which has helped with connection technology, and outdoor advertiser Titan, which already has the largest contract in the city for maintaining and advertising on city payphones. Comark, which will fabricate the actual kiosks, and strategy firm Control Group are also part of the consortium. The plan with LinkNYC is for the initiative to be not only self-sustaining, but hugely profitable with an anticipated half a billion dollars in ad revenue to New York over the next 12 years -- money that will be used by the city for Internet connectivity-related projects.

The first 500 Link structures will be available by summer 2016, with the construction of the first 7,500 Links expected to go on for four years. The contract -- exclusively for providing the Internet service and maintaining the Link structures -- will last for up to 15 years. As planned, it would be the largest and fastest free public Wi-Fi network in the world, providing a cloud of gigabit-speed Wi-Fi access, and it would be the largest deployment of digital displays globally.

Full article here

USA: Advertisers Pump Money Into Out-of-Home, Digital Ads in July

Advertisers in the U.S. increased their spending on out-of-home and digital ads last month, while television ad sales suffered despite events like the U.S. women’s team World Cup victory, according to new data from Standard Media Index.

Overall, ad spending was up 7% in July from a year earlier, marking the largest monthly increase so far this year, according to SMI, which reports on 80% of U.S. ad agency spending.

Out-of-home advertising, such as billboards and transit ads, marked a bright spot in the quarter, notching a 32% increase, the sector’s largest monthly gain year-to-date. But out-of-home advertising still represents a fraction of major marketers’ ad dollars. In July, out-of-home represented just 4.5% of the dollars in the total ad market, according to SMI.

Unlike ad spending for many other traditional media categories, out-of-home ad revenues have steadily increased in recent years. Billboards, transit signs and other outdoor ads benefit from the ability to reach mass audiences that can’t skip over the advertisement. The out-of-home sector has also been helped by the conversion of some boards to digital displays (think Times Square).

In the digital space, ad revenue climbed 28% in July from a year earlier, according to SMI. This growth was driven by a 93% increase in ad spending on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as a 63% increase in ad spending on video sites.

SMI data has previously indicated that much of digital media’s growth is being fueled by a flow of ad dollars away from TV. According to a report in July, SMI found that advertisers in the U.S. shifted $1.5 billion in national and local TV ad dollars towards digital media between October and June, compared with the year-earlier period.

TV ad spending, meanwhile, fell 2% for the month. Ad spending on broadcast networks declined 2% in July. Cable ad spending increased 1% for the month, despite double-digit ratings declines at several top cable channels.

“While TV’s numbers were down slightly, our July results are showing some stabilization at the top end of the TV market,” said SMI Chief Commercial Officer James Fennessy. “The broadcast networks showed a slight uptick, if you discount Univision’s 2014 World Cup revenue. Fox’s performance improved significantly with the FIFA Women’s World Cup, attracting some very significant scatter dollars.”

Source

AUSTRALIA NEWS

New Zealand: APN Outdoor acquires New Zealand based billboard company, Roadside Attractions

PN Outdoor recently announced its acquisition of New Zealand based billboard business, Roadside Attractions, from Twisted World Limited.

Founded in 1997, Roadside Attractions is an established national billboard operator, with 113 panels throughout the country. The portfolio was attractive to APN Outdoor because of the complementary nature of the sites geographically; including important markets such as Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch, as well as giving the Outdoor leaders an opportunity to enhance existing, and develop new landowner relationships.

The sites acquired by APN Outdoor allow for simple integration with the existing sites owned and operated by APN Outdoor. As well as this, the new sites increase the pipeline for potential digital conversion opportunities which has been a focus for APN Outdoor in both the New Zealand and Australian markets.

Phil Clemas, Managing Director, APN Outdoor New Zealand commented on the acquisition “Securing the Roadside Attractions billboard assets is a strategic move by APN Outdoor and we are very pleased to have finalised the acquisition. The portfolio complements our existing network very well allowing us to deliver broader, national campaigns and we are looking forward to providing our clients with even more opportunities in the Outdoor space.”

APN Outdoor is New Zealand and Australia’s premium Outdoor media provider, with market leading digital and static assets throughout each Trans-Tasman capital city. The Outdoor leaders have engaged a strategic and focused Digital growth strategy, in both markets, and continue to announce upcoming conversions and developments in this space.

Australia: oOh!media launches ShortPress to fire-up small business

The world’s first integrated online and digital Out Of Home content platform dedicated to supporting Australia’s two million small businesses has been launched by oOh!media as part of its online and offline product strategy.

Shortpress, the fourth content platform launched by oOh! in the past 18 months, publishes small business information and insights to a mobile-first website in addition to the oOh!’s Café network of digital screens in 375 high traffic cafés in major capital cities.

Group Director of oOh! Place, Adam Cadwallader, said the idea for ShortPress was born from research of the audience within the oOh! Café environment, which provides digital screen content and free Wi-Fi to an audience of almost a million customers each week.

The research showed around 59% per cent of the café audience own, manage or work in a small business, 90 per cent find the café screen content a welcome distraction, most patrons were time poor and drowning in information, and for many the café had become a key part of their working life.

“There’s an international phenomenon being coined ‘the coffice’, a cross between a café and an office, which provides workers with a place for meetings, a break from the isolation of working from home and time-out.” Mr Cadwallader said.

“While we originally set about looking at what content would be most useful for our Café screens, the insights resulted in oOh! launching ShortPress.com.au, which aims to deliver content that inspires small business, and then amplifying the content via our digital café screens.

“To ensure the content reflects small business’ needs, we’re establishing the ShortPress Insights Community, in conjuction with Vision Critical’s cloud based, customer intelligence platform to drive the editorial direction and content.”

Shortpress will publish editorial, interviews, opinion and expert advice on key issues facing small business including advice about innovation, leadership, marketing, technology and finance, plus free downloadable tools and templates.

Mr Cadwallader said ShortPress has already gained tremendous support and expects continued interest from other corporates targeting small business, as it offers a more personal way to engage with the elusive sector.

“Through ShortPress advertisers gain greater connectivity with small business owners during their daily ritual and position themselves as being a partner for small business,” Mr Cadwallader said.

“The content that advertisers will be associated with is useful and engaging and will inspire owners, leaving them a little bit ahead of where they were yesterday. All fired-up by insights and a shot of caffeine,” he said.

ShortPress is led by oOh!’s experienced in-house editor Lisa Omagari, and backed by an editorial team of business journalists including Kate Jones, Tony Featherstone, Sylvia Pennington, Neha Kale, Lisa Cugnetto and Nina Hendy.

ShortPress is in line with oOh!’s digital strategy to help advertisers gain deeper connection using engaging content and extending their message beyond the screen to mobile, online and social environments as part of a 360 degree approach.

oOh!’s other integrated content platforms includes Hijacked which aligns with the oOh! Study, In2Indoor which links with oOh! Social and QView as part of the oOh! Fly offering.

About oOh!’s Café Network:

• 1,000,000 visitations each week across Australia, visit 375 cafes in 5 CBDs

• 59% own, manage or work in a small business

• Over half earn more than $100K pa

• The majority are male – 68%

• The majority are aged between 30-50

Australia: Ooh Media joins in outdoor boom

Ooh! Media chief executive Brendon Cook is confident about the trajectory the outdoor advertising industry is on as the company, which relisted in December 2014, prepares to report its half-year financial results on Tuesday.

This year the company has put more than $30 million into its digital expansion and Mr Cook said Ooh! Media will keep pushing money into the sector.

"We saw that there is a great opportunity to really invest heavily for the step change that is occurring in out-of-home, given where the audiences sit, they're growing not declining," Mr Cook told The Australian Financial Review.

"The combination of technology and mobile engagement is really starting to drive opportunity to attract revenue pools that we couldn't normally have attracted in years gone by."

Ooh! Media was previously a public company. It was acquired and delisted by Champ Private Equity in 2012. Later that year, Ooh! Media acquired Eye Corp from the Ten Network.

The Australian sharemarket has been home to a flurry of outdoor advertising companies listing over the last 12 months.

Ooh! Media floated at the end of 2014, joining APN Outdoor which listed in November 2014, followed by QMS Media in June 2015.

All three companies have far outperformed the S&P/ASX200 which has fallen 5 per cent since the first of the trio, APN Outdoor, was listed.

Since their listings, APN Outdoor has jumped 18.2 per cent, QMS has 26.9 per cent and Ooh! Media 27.5 per cent.

Ooh! Media and APN Outdoor account for around 70 per cent of out-of-home advertising revenues in Australia.

At its full-year results in February, Ooh! Media reported pro-forma net profit of $18.2 million, with revenues of $260.8 million. It will report its half-year results on Tuesday.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is forecasting out-of-home advertising spend to increase 5 per cent between 2014 and 2019 to $856 million annually.

While physical panel revenue will still make up the majority of revenue in 2019, it is slowly declining, while digital is picking up the slack and taking the total amount of money coming in higher.

"Innovation has always been one of out-of-home's strengths," PwC wrote. "With more distractions in an increasingly digital world, out-of-home has been forced to continue to innovate to remain relevant."

"Advertising surrounds consumers every day, and engaging them is a challenge."

Mr Cook said static or physical panel advertising can get a singular campaign message out very effectively, but digital allows more experimentation.

"Digital offers the opportunity to bring in things like time-of-day style-creative, weather-dependency style-creative, short-term tactical messaging," he said.

He singled out a digital campaign with bank and insurance company Suncorp, which helped give warnings about an approaching cyclone.

"As the cyclone was getting close to different areas of Brisbane, different messages were playing, something like 'Get your car off the road' or whatever the message may be, and then once the cyclone had passed different messages were then playing around help and assistance. That was an example of using the digital medium for what it can do around timing."

Among difficulties facing the outdoor advertising industry are the limited amount of sites and the regulation surrounding them.

Ooh! Media is constantly looking for acquisitions, Mr Cook said; the company has purchased more than 25 businesses over the last decade, and will continue to invest money in its own sites as well as looking for new ones.

Source

AFRICA NEWS

South Africa: Always on: Checking out international OOH research

While out of home media research is in short supply in South Africa, Melina Meletakos finds out what international research says about this medium.

Out of home (OOH) has been rated the second most-trustworthy medium in a 2014 study by the international OOH industry body, Fédération Publicité Extérieur (FEPE).

The research, conducted by Future Foundation for FEPE, showed that while 28% of consumers deemed television to be the most trustworthy, OOH trailed closely behind at 24%. The press came in at 22%, while online media scored a paltry 3%.

The aim of this ‘Always On’ study was to explore engagement with OOH media among consumers in the largest cities in six markets: the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Brazil and South Africa (Johannesburg only).

It revealed that 79% of respondents have taken some form of action after seeing an OOH advert, while just under two-thirds (62%) of consumers have done so after seeing a specifically digital OOH advert. The report states, “Digital formats are rapidly giving a new thrust to OOH media. But creativity needs to stay front-of-mind: consumers expect more than just moving pictures.”

Always On identifies an important role that OOH is starting to play by providing consumers with ‘post-purchase assurance’. This refers to shoppers seeking validation for the purchases they have made from advertising that promotes these products. Half of urban consumers admitted they would like to see advertisements for products they already own. This figure increased to 54% for respondents aged between 18 and 34. “In a world where, increasingly, recognition and validation is a daily pursuit for consumers – particularly those living out their lives via social media – what better boost than a towering billboard that spotlights you as someone who is at the forefront of fashion or a genuinely savvy shopper? Or what better reminder of brands who have already delivered you a great experience?” according to the study.

Always On also identifies the 21st-century consumer as an “increasingly sophisticated critic” who has high expectations of the quality and style of advertising messages delivered to them. Over 70% of the respondents (excluding the South African audience) said they felt the need to fulfil themselves as individuals by being more creative.

Digital flourishing in African markets

The digital OOH market in Africa may not be as big as the rest of the world’s, but according to reseach done for the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Entertainment and Media Outlook 2014-2018 report, this is evidently growing.

In Kenya, digital OOH revenue is expected to grow by 35% in the next five years to reach $35 million (R397.3million) by 2018. The growth of the country’s OOH industry is being driven mainly by rapid rates or urbanisation, a rise in airline departure by international and national carriers, rising car ownership rates, new shopping malls and booming road infrastructure. PwC also identifies an opportunity for the OOH industry to integrate online and physical campaigns in Kenya because mobile phones are primarily used to access the internet.

Nigeria’s digital OOH industry is expected to grow by 54% over the next five years to reach $38 million in 2018, according to the report. While digital OOH is rare in rural areas, Nigerian media owner Umuntu Media has launched electronic notice boards in local communities, with content provided by local bloggers and community leaders. Seeing the opportunity in the country’s booming OOH industry, international firms are also investing in Nigeria. Primedia, for example, has partnered with Deluxe Colour Productions to put out adverts on bridges along commuter routes.

In comparison, PwC reports that by 2018, traditional South African OOH revenues will start decreasing but that digital OOH revenues will replace the loss in revenue. This trend is predicted to occur globally by 2015. Digital OOH revenues in the country will grow by 20.3% and account for 31% of the South African market by 2018.

Full article here

Kenya: People, traffic and billboards: Out of home in Africa

We have half jokingly described African cities as having three key OOH elements in common: people, traffic, and billboards. A little simplistic but this presents great opportunity for brands, agencies and media owners. Daniel Steyn gives a practical guide to the African market.

The market

Kenya is the largest economy in East Africa, and one of the fastest growing worldwide, with high literacy levels thanks to free primary education since 2003. Availability of accurate and up-to-date OOH data is limited but estimates put the total traditional outdoor advertising market value at US$33.3m, of which Posterscope has a 14% market share. Under and non-measurement of other forms of OOH, similar to South Africa, means the overall integrated OOH market is potentially double this. Notable Posterscope campaigns in the Kenyan market include the first 3D building projection and the first building wrap.

On the western side of the continent, Posterscope Nigeria officially launched in late July this year. Similarly to Kenya, availability of accurate and up-to-date OOH data is limited but estimates put the total traditional outdoor advertising market value at US$105m, of which Posterscope has a 4% market share. In Nigeria the top ten brands account for half of traditional outdoor advertising market spend, four out of the top five are telecoms, while beer brands are very well represented in the top ten.

International media owners are well established in African markets: Alliance Media is active in 23 African markets, Global Outdoor Systems is active in 21 African markets. Continental Outdoor Media, South Africa’s largest media owner, is active in 13 other African countries. Their acquisition by JC Decaux, the largest media owner globally, should come as no surprise. In comparison local media owners can’t be ignored either. For example, Magnate Ventures in Kenya reportedly operate a third of all billboards in the country.

While integrated and innovative OOH is now beginning to establish itself in neighbouring African markets, it would be foolish to think these markets are not advanced or sophisticated in their own way. Digital OOH reportedly accounts for 25% of OOH spend in Nigeria, and the sheer scale of some of their OOH opportunities in Lagos is impressive: 12m x48m and 20m x 30m respectively. Similarly in other markets, digital OOH screens are in place at both roadside and point of sale.

The opportunity

The scope and scale of the opportunity north of South Africa, especially in Nigeria and the East African Community (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda), has been well documented. We’ve seen global brands extending their footprint and battling for market dominance; local brands emerging as regional challengers; agency groups steadily investing in these markets via acquisition and development. All while local and international media owners in the traditional outdoor advertising space, who saw the opportunity early, benefit from market growth.

Full article here

ASIA NEWS

India: OOH media is evolving towards an ecosystem of tech integration: Kinetic Worldwide’s Amit Sarkar

Interview with Mauricio Sabogal, CEO, Kinetic Worldwide & Amit Sarkar, COO, Kinetic India

Mauricio Sabogal is the global chief executive of Kinetic Worldwide, the out-of-home (OOH) company of marketing communications holding company WPP Plc. Kinetic has been in the forefront of some innovative hi-tech OOH advertising including a 3D billboard for the Minions campaign in Germany and an invisible billboard in Grand Central, New York. Sabogal, who was in India recently, says outdoor advertising is increasingly moving to the centre of the media plan with social media actually amplifying the value of an OOH campaign. In this interview with FE Brandwagon’s Anushree Chandran, Sabogal along with Amit Sarkar, COO at Kinetic India, speak about the growth opportunities for Kinetic—both in and outside India and how OOH agencies need to capitalise on the opportunities thrown up by social media. Edited excerpts:

Could you comment on Kinetic’s global and Indian operations?

Mauricio Sabogal: The size of the OOH business is $45 billion worldwide. Kinetic has bought 10% of that, which makes us the biggest specialised agency in the world. The main markets are the US, the UK, China and emerging markets such as India. India in particular is a very high potential market for us. It provides 10% of our total billings.

Our priority is to evolve capabilities in our main markets. We have invested in companies related to technology — for instance, a partnership with DroneCast, which is a Philadelphia-based company that specialises in drone advertising and promotions. The plan is to expand soon to Middle East, particularly since our airport division is becoming very important. Dubai is critical for us in terms of traveller approach. We are expanding in geography and developing our services.

Amit Sarkar: We have had a good run in the last two-and-a-half years. Procurement of the right signage plays a crucial role today. Most of the work in the OOH category is in the area of buying and selling. We are high on both compliance and processes. We are winning a lot of new business, but not all of them use 100% of the gamut of services provided. Normally, we offer them 25-30% of our solutions, but in time, that figure goes up to 100% once they see the value we offer. The OOH business is pegged at R2000 crore. There is a large unorganised market that has not yet been tapped.

With metrics being a huge challenge, how do you circumvent it?

Sabogal: I come from Nielsen. In OOH, metrics are a lot more expensive than those for television. This is not a small sample of panelled homes. You need to have people on the move, monitoring billboards. For these metrics, 75% of the cost has to be paid by media owners and the rest by other stakeholders or research companies.

Full article here

Malaysia: BMW gets tech-savvy in its latest OOH marketing push

BMW has partnered up with Posterscope and Carat Media for its latest ad campaign.

Posterscope and Carat Media have added on new technology to their OOH planning process to allow the brand to track its target audience’s mobility patterns which can be then be filtered for an accurate, real-time result.

According to the agencies, this is the first ever in Malaysi and “the game-changing technology is able to capture travel routes and patterns of the audience, which allows data tracking and analytics capabilities for real time outdoor planning.”

To put the technology to the test, Posterscope and Carat recently went on ground to use readily available cars, parked at strategic spots and used as makeshift advertising “billboards.” The message printed: come to BMW World Malaysia 2015.

“Our approach to OOH planning and buying will be game-changing as we understand consumer mobility and patterns real time.

This will allow us to be precise in targeting our consumers to deliver more effective business results to our clients,” Bala Pomaleh, CEO of Carat Malaysia said.

Source