A Great Feed from Spectrum

Digital Out of Home in 2012

2012-01-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

This year the digital out-of-home market shows no sign of slowing with continued investment in the infrastructure and growth in the number and reach of digital formats. In the UK, the digital OOH market is also expecting a further boost from the Olympics this summer making the outlook promising for the next 12 months despite economic uncertainty.

Interactive, social, and dynamic campaigns will be key trends for the digital OOH market this year. Spurred on by the speed and ubiquity of Smartphone adoption, the trend towards interaction will take many different forms with innovations like NFC set to change the way advertisers use the medium going forward.

In an era of everything everywhere, dynamic platforms that allow creative change-outs, real-time updates, day-parting and dynamic messaging will be important. Outdoor’s new flexibility will enable advertisers to run real time scores and commentary direct from the Olympics and also facilitate live broadcasts like the Harry Potter premiere which was streamed live to 10 JCDecaux digital billboards around London last summer.

The immediacy of digital outdoor platforms is also paving the way to more interactivity as advertisers strive to create more engaging and memorable experiences for consumers. Ford created an interactive campaign using motion sensitive screens in shopping malls which allowed passersby to interact with a 3D model of the car and experiment with its key features.

On a much larger scale, Chevy created a record breaking claw game in Hollywood which was projected onto a building and controlled by participants from a giant joystick. These playful and participatory executions are great at driving word of mouth. Chevy also created a video of the outdoor event which was seeded online, leveraging the digital OOH activity across online and social media channels where it continues to gain momentum.

In fact, the immense power of social media will increasingly find its way into digital out of home campaign strategy. Live feeds will harness the personal interaction on social networking sites and bring customer endorsement, UGC and feedback directly to digital billboards in a broadcast environment. This is a really exciting area for digital out of home, to amplify online conversations or to become the event itself, with consumers sharing content and participating in the advertising campaign directly.

All things considered 2012 looks set to be an exciting year for digital OOH. Continued investment in the hardware and greater understanding of the ways in which to harness the technology are making advertisers and their agencies excited about this space. The next 12 months will see digital OOH becoming a more integral part of the connected communications landscape.

LoveContent Awards Opens for Entries

2012-01-27T09:26:00.000-08:00

Digital signage industry organisation The Screen, is now accepting entries for this year’s LoveContent Awards. The awards scheme, now in its second year, recognises and celebrates the best creative work from across the UK’s Digital Out of Home landscape.

The DOOH industry relies on great creative to thrive and LoveContent aims to champion the greatest campaigns from the last 12 months. The winning work will be showcased at the awards ceremony held at Screen Media Expo.

The judging panel includes Paul Banham, Digital Creative Director at JWT, Nicola Yershon, Director of Innovative Solutions at Ogilvy and a host of other out of home luminaries.
The nine categories are:
• Best digital out-of-home campaign
• Best use of a digital medium
• Non-advertising content award
• Best non-digital site
• Social media integrations
• Digital out-of-home innovation award
• Mobile interactivity award
• Digital format award
• Industry award

There is an overall industry award for ‘the company that has done the most to advance the DOOH industry in the last 12 months’. Last year's winner was Grand Visual.

To enter the wards visit: http://lovecontent.org/

China leads digital OOH advertising market

2011-12-31T10:39:00.000-08:00

China has become the world’s largest market for digital out-of-home advertising, according to a report published by Kinetic Worldwide. The report found that China leads the market with annual revenues of $1.84bn, nearly twice as big as its U.S. counterpart, with $1.1bn.

The UK registers a distant third at $157m, with Germany fourth at $51m revenue. Thailand takes $24m with Spain and Italy both around $16m. The Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Malaysia, Turkey and India all fall into the $10-13m range.

China also leads in terms of digital spend as a proportion of total out-of-home revenue, at 36 percent. Digital takes 19 percent of the outdoor market in the U.S., and 11 percent in the UK – compared with less than five percent in other European territories.

Kinetic attributes China’s burgeoning digital OOH market to its heavy use of roadside LED video walls at major junctions as well as public transportation advertising, covering both rail and bus.

The report also notes that China’s use of the medium differs greatly from its American and European counterparts, with screens being used in the same way as a static poster. Alternatively, in America and Europe the report suggests that we have reached a “tipping point” in the quantity of creative work developed specifically for digital out-of-home, with agencies really starting to exploit the medium to its full creative potential.

www.kineticww.com

Posterscope USA Takes Top Prize at 2011 OOH Media Awards

2011-12-30T08:07:00.000-08:00

The 2011 OAAA Out of Home Media Plan Awards were presented earlier this month at The Advertising Club of New York’s annual Out of Home Day in New York. Posterscope USA took home the overall award for 'Media Plan of the Year' for its Reebok RealFlex, a camaign which used a range of out of home formats and locations.

The campaign, created by Swedish digital production company Bobby, used bold traditional creative to raise awareness about the new “Running Buddy” technology that provides flexibility and bend in the shoe. The campaign ran on billlboards in high-profile, high traffic, and retailer specific locations, such as Times Square, and also in popular “athletic” areas including the Venice boardwalk and the Beverly Center in Los Angeles.

The campaign also incorporated interactive storefronts from Monster Media, which encouraged passersby to take pictures of themselves and share them via email or Facebook. The ten most recent photos were integrated into the creative and featured on the bottom of the training shoe, making the individuals “Running Buddies” on the digital displays.

The traditional out of home campaign yielded nearly 60 million impressions in New York and Los Angeles. In just a month, the interactive storefronts recorded more than 107,000 pictures taken and more than 21,000 emailed. More than 8,000 people shared their photos with a friend from the kiosk.

Stephen Freitas, OAAA chief marketing officer, said of the awards: “More and more we are seeing major brands take advantage of the many interactive formats out of home offers, and as evidenced in today’s winning campaigns, agencies continue to find creative and exciting ways to reach consumers using those formats.”

The theme of OOH interaction continued during the day with presentatins from Martin Cass, Aegis Media NA on how OOH technology was opening the door to reaching an increasingly mobile community, plus a panel discussion moderated by Joe Mandese, MediaPost, on how to incorporate social media and mobile platforms into out of home campaign planning.

The full list of OAAA award winners is below and more details are available at www.oaaa.org:

Gold
- Horizon Media for A&E’s Breakout Kings
- Horizon Media for A&E’s The Glades
- OMG/OMD for Wells Fargo
- Posterscope USA for Reebok RealFlex
- Spark Communications for Montana Office of Tourism
- SWK Partners for AT&T

Silver
- MediaVest for TNT’s Falling Skies
- OAG for Dodge Charger & Durago
- OMG/OMD for Intel Smart TV

Outdoor industry returns to growth

2011-11-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

Today, the Outdoor Media Centre announced that UK outdoor revenues for Q3 2011 reached £214.4m, up 1.1% year on year. The period saw a number of advertisers returning to the medium, plus higher spending by entertainment, telecoms and motor sectors.

The ten biggest outdoor advertisers this quarter were BSkyB, McDonalds, Kellogg’s, Coca Cola, Everything Everywhere, Entertainment Films, Kentucky Fried Chicken, O2, Twentieth Century Fox, and Vodafone.

Six out of the last seven quarters have now recorded positive growth in outdoor but it was digital revenue that gained the most traction - up 29% to £30.6m for the quarter.

Digital now makes up 14.3% of total outdoor revenue, with the transport environment, chiefly subway, rail and airport delivering up to 50% of this. Roadside LED billboards and spectaculars delivered 28%, and the retail and leisure sector including malls and gyms contributed 22% of revenue.

Clear Channel Outdoor also posted strong international revenue growth this quarter, up 11% year on year to £252.2m . Clear Channel Outdoor said the revenue rise can be attributed to higher street furniture revenues across most of the company’s markets, particularly China, due to improved yields and additional displays. Clear Channel Outdoor UK has been enthusiastic about the expansion of its digital footprint and last month launched its LD6 London screen network with integrated NFC technology.

Eurostar appoints JCDecaux Airport for St Pancras task

2011-11-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

JCDecaux Airport has been awarded a five year contract to manage the digital advertising sales in the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras International Station following a competitive pitch. JCDecaux already holds the outdoor contract for St Pancras and its Airport arm has a strong track record of digital networks at major travel hubs including Heathrow Terminal 5.

It will be the first time digital outdoor advertising has been available at the Eurostar terminal since it opened at St Pancras International in 2007. Under the contract, JCDecaux Airport intends to install 32 40-inch screens in the departures lounge of the Eurostar terminal and four 70-inch screens in the arrivals area.

JCDecaux has already started to install the digital sites and expects them to be in situ by the end of 2011. According to JCDecaux, over nine million passengers travelled on Eurostar in 2010 and a third of all passengers were travelling for business reasons.

DCM to launch interactive poster network in cinemas

2011-10-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

Today Digital Cinema Media (DCM) announced plans to roll out a network of interactive posters in cinema foyers following the appointment of Primesight to manage its outdoor ad contract.

The appointment was made six months after Primesight and the incumbent Boomerang were invited to pitch for DCM’s seven-figure outdoor contract. The contract with Primesight will include Odeon, Cineworld, Vue and Independent cinema sites.

As part of the deal which starts in 2012, DCM will install 100 interactive poster units in its cinema foyers as part of a large multi-million pound digital push. Poster units will be piloted in the Odeon Leicester Square, Cineworld at the O2 and the new Vue cinema at Westfield Stratford City.

Outdoor GOLD Winners AT CAMPAIGNS BIG AWARDS

2011-10-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

It was great to see Outdoor win the most gold awards at last nights Campaign BIG Awards. Three campaigns won the outdoor category sponsored by Clear Channel. These were Adam & Eve’s, 'harmony house' for John Lewis and Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R’s, 'passport stamps' for Land Rover, who both won gold in the Outdoor Individual category and Bartle Bogle Hegarty who landed gold in the Outdoor Campaign category for 'say it to get it' for Google.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty's 'say it to get it' campaign for Google Voice – the voice activated search tool for mobiles, included real time, destination specific digital OOH activity powered by Grand Visual’s OpenLoop platform. The campaign played on regional accents and phonetically spelt out various pronunciations of the same word.

On Transvison screens copy tied in with the destination of the next departing train with various pronunciations of the destinations screened alongside illustrations relating to that place. For Mon-chester there is an illustration of Old Trafford and for Ed-n-uh-bru, a pair of bag pipes. A clever data-driven campaign designed to demonstrate how Google Voice’s superior voice activation software can understand anyone from anywhere regardless of accent.

Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, 'passport stamps' for Land Rover, featured the Defender's distinctive shape created from a collage of passport stamps and was designed to show that the Defender is capable of tackling many different environments. A simple and beautifully crafted poster execution.

Adam & Eve and digital media company Upsetmedia created and built a house to display John Lewis’s lighting range on London’s South Bank for a couple of days. Harmony House was a fun light and sound show which lit up the South Bank with a viral campaign that followed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri--_nPTHpA.

Mobile payment initiative - Simply Tap Launches

2011-09-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

The Mobile Money Network is launching the Simply Tap mobile payment initiative next month with a host of high street retailers on board. The start-up company which includes former CEO of Marks and Spencer, Sir Stuart Rose, and Charles Dunstone, founder of The Carphone Warehouse, hopes to change the way consumers and retailers interact.

Version 1.0 goes live next month with over 30 high street retailers on board including Dell and Selfridges. Thousands of products will be available to purchase via an alphanumeric code featured on the advert or the product itself. The consumer opens the Simply Tap app, enters the code and then the goods are delivered to their home door. Once the user is registered, the Simply Tap app will have all their personal details including credit and debit cards.

The service also allows consumers to buy directly from advertising and marketing communications such as press and outdoor adverts. In an article with marketing week John Milliken, managing director of The Mobile Money network commented:

“A call to action in an advert is an incomplete way of selling stuff, with Simply Tap you can identify the product and buy it right away. There is massive value in conventional media but consumers are migrating away from it, so it’s just a case of utilising the right technology to make it relevant again.”

Simply Tap is currently on trial with more than 10,000 Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse staff ahead of the consumer launch “Walk out Working,” where the app will be installed as default in handsets bought from the retailer.

Whether Simply Tap will be a serious player with the spreading adoption of NFC technology is yet to be seen but the company already has plans to expand into QR code and image recognition technology such as Google Goggles next year, to make it easier for consumers to purchase products via a range of apps on their mobile devices.

UK Brands trial ‘Goggle’ enabled outdoor ads

2011-09-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

Google Goggles, the virtual search app, is being trialled in a series of outdoor adverts around London this month. The technology allows the user to take a photo with the ‘Goggles’ app and provides search results based on the visual image. In this case, the poster creative takes the user directly to a specially designed mobile site created by the participating brands.

Sony Music and French Connection are the first innovative brands to kick-off the trial in the UK. In partnership with CBS Outdoor, Sony Music uses “Goggles” in adverts promoting rock band Kasabian’s latest album on sites at Westfield Stratford City and Westfield London. When users take a photo of the ad using the Goggles app they are taken to the band’s mobile site where they can view exclusive content from the band, including a video message from lead singer Tom Meighan.

As people continue to spend more time out of home and smart phone penetration continues to soar, it is easy to see why Google Goggles is such an exciting technological development for outdoor advertisers. The ability to marry offline marketing with online content is a powerful proposition. For outdoor advertisers, it means that they can extend the reach and impact of a poster campaign by driving customers online for a more intimate and ongoing dialogue, which can make outdoor advertising more trackable too.

Next month L’Oréal's Garnier, Samsung and Google Transit are all rolling out Goggle enabled posters in the UK.

Digital Out of Home Handbook - 3rd Edition

2011-08-31T09:09:00.000-07:00

The new Digital Out of Home Handbook 3rd edition is now available online and covers detailed media, technical and creative information for all major UK networks. Published by Kinetic and Grand Visual, the handbook provides key data for each network and suggests creative parameters based on these variables.

The 2011 edition features 27 newly released formats and details of nine coming soon, including Clear Channel’s portable Create Interactive screens and JCDecaux’s Euston e-motion due for launch in September 2011.

As advertisers’ use of digital OOH has evolved significantly in recent months with greater and more engaging use of dynamic and interactive content, the handbook outlines the technology and highlights the breadth of opportunities from live reactive campaigns to touch-screen, mobile and augmented reality opportunities.

Showcasing high profile campaigns from Ford, Lynx, Nike, IBM and many others, the handbook has become the definitive guide for understanding the parameters, opportunities and creative dynamics of all things Digital Out of Home.

Access the Handbook at www.grandvisual.com/doohhandbook.

Digital Outdoor Revenues Up 10% in Q2, 2011

2011-08-01T02:38:00.000-07:00

Following 5 consecutive quarters of growth, The Outdoor Media Centre today announced that UK outdoor revenues for the period April-June 2011 recorded a small loss of 1.2% year on year, to £208.9 million.

“This quarter, Outdoor has faced challenging circumstances, in the same way as other display media have, but revenues held up comparatively well”, said Mike Baker, CEO of the Outdoor Media Centre. He added that more than half of OMC members had still enjoyed growth for the period.

Of the three main environments (roadside, transport and retail/leisure), transport performed best. Six sheets outperformed in both the transport and the roadside environments. Other strong sectors included airports, railcards, taxis and targeted digital networks.

However, Digital outdoor faired much better with revenues up 10% year on year to £29.8m for the quarter. Digital also gained share contributing 14.3% of all UK outdoor revenue. Of this, transport (chiefly subway, rail and airport) made up 50%, roadside (typically large format LED billboards and spectaculars) 29%, and the retail and leisure sector (including malls, gyms etc) 21%.

The ten biggest outdoor advertisers in the quarter were Glaxosmithkline, Marks & Spencer, British Sky Broadcasting, Coca Cola, Unilever, Everything Everywhere, Anheuser Busch Inbev, 20th Century Fox, Microsoft and Paramount Pictures. Categories spending more on Outdoor in Q2 than in the previous year included Entertainment & Leisure, Drink, Computers, Retail, Clothing, Cosmetics and Personal Care.

UK OOH Revenue Expected to Hit £1.15bn by 2020

2011-07-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

WPP outdoor specialist Kinetic has released a report predicting UK out of home revenue to rise from £880m currently, to £1.15bn by 2020.

In the report "The Future of Out of Home Media," the forecasts figures were devised through consultation with media agencies, media owners and creative agencies. The reappraisal in the value of the out-of-home media sector is based on robust long-term growth and a rising share of total media expenditure.

The report forecasts that digital out-of-home revenue will account for almost a quarter of total outdoor revenues by 2020, worth £260m. The outdoor specialist also signalled that change in the way digital outdoor properties were bought and sold were likely, building on the flexibility of the medium which allows advertisers to target messages by daypart, retail proximity and real-time planning.

Other major shifts expected on the DOOH landscape where identified as being the effect of smartphone technology and the ability to revolutionise the relationship between out of home advertisers and near field communication (NFC). Smart posters fitted with radio frequency identification (RFID) capability are expected to transform poster-to-mobile interactivity and help the medium gain market share by integrating technology and delivering a wider range of engaging propositions.

The report also revealed half of consumers already see the value of interacting with posters and 70% think digital posters beneficial in high-dwell time locations. Download the full report here: http://www.kineticww.com/Libraries/Newsletters/Kinetic_Future_OOH_Report.sflb.ashx

DOOH Formats Launching This Summer

2011-07-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

So far this summer, a host of new digital formats and landmark sites have been hitting the out of home environment. It started in May with Ocean Outdoor announcing Manchester’s first large format double sided full motion screen named Axis @ The Haçienda. Located on the Alliance Partners Axis Tower development a key junction to the City Centre, the standalone screen measures 8m x 3.5m.

This was followed by Cannes Lions, where Clear Channel unveiled their next generation interactive six sheet screens. The new screens incorporate 12-point multi-touch, HD cameras, movement sensors, infrared technology, 3G comms and eye-tracking software, and will allow advertisers to book campaigns that allow people to view, control and even star in the content.

EYE, the airport media owner, then launched 2 new digital landmark sites at Gatwick Airport’s South Terminal departure lounge. The digital landscape screens form the first wave of the company’s extensive asset development following a £3.5million investment from its airport partners of which over 90 per cent is committed to developing digital inventory across its 8 airports.

JCDecaux has also been active with the launch of the i and the D400 - two new Première digital billboards. The i measures 5x5m, and provides one advertiser with the only digital outbound site on Europe’s busiest road. The D400 is a digital 96-sheet located on London’s busy Cromwell Road, and has already run tactical campaigns from brands including: Heineken, Nivea, and Twentieth Century Fox.

Also this month, JCDecaux Airport switched on the Heathrow Express digital onboard panels. The TV style screens on the Heathrow Express carry spot ads with full motion and sound, on the journey between Paddington and London Heathrow terminals. TransPerfect was the first advertiser to book a spot ad on the digital screens, as part of a push to promote its range of language services, which will run before Sky News content until October.

Finally, Primesight has announced plans to refurbish its 3,000-strong billboard estate including the introduction of 15 digital billboards following a £2m investment by rail operator Network Rail, its biggest landlord. Overall it’s been an impressive summer for the UK OOH market with continued investment in digital formats, sites and technology from across the spectrum of outdoor media owners.

DOOH making the grade at Cannes Lions

2011-06-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

At Cannes Lions this year, the digital out-of-home category received 109 entries from 31 countries. Whittled down to a short list of just 9 submissions, the UK was well represented with 3 campaigns in the running- that’s more than any other market.

Creative work in the category spanned interactive, augmented reality, mobile integration, projection and data driven content. Of the UK entries, all three won bronze along with a campaign from Brazil for the National Council of SESI which featured map projections on Christ the Redeemer at Rio de Janeiro.

Silver went to “Transparent Walls” by Jung von Matt’s for Daimler which used a live camera feed projected onto a wall on the corner of the street so that drivers were able to see “through the wall”. Another Silver was awarded to a humorous campaign from Argentina created by Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi for Anheuser-Busch. "Andes Friend Recovery" allowed users to project their face via webcam onto the face of a robot sitting in a bar so that they could be with their mates as well as their girlfriend at home.

Finally, Gold went to Cheil Worldwide, Seoul, for Tesco's Homeplus Subway Virtual Store. The campaign recreated grocery aisles in busy stations and encouraged commuters in Seoul to use their phones to scan QR codes that linked products to their online shopping carts and delivered them that evening.

This campaign demonstrates great use of outdoor – but it’s a good old fashioned printed outdoor poster with QR codes – not a digital OOH campaign. A clever campaign but not the right winner for this category. Clearly there is some confusion over what defines digital out of home.

All the winning digital outdoor creative works can be seen here:

GOLD AWARD: VIRTUAL STORE

Advertiser/Client: TESCO
Product/Service: HOMEPLUS
Advertising Agency: CHEIL WORLDWIDE Seoul, KOREA

Tesco’s Homeplus Supermarkets in South Korea created virtual stores in subway stations. Created by Cheil Worldwide, Seoul, the displays were designed to look exactly like those in actual stores, from display layout to the merchandise. Customers were able to use their smart phones to scan QR codes, putting products in their on-line carts. When the online purchase was transacted, shopping was delivered to the door the same evening. Online sales between November 2010 - January 2011 increased by 130 percent, with the number of registered members rising by 76 percent. Homeplus has become the number one online store and has raised the stakes in the offline market.
http://www.canneslions.com/work/direct/entry.cfm?entryid=3631

SILVER AWARD: ANDES FRIEND RECOVERY

Advertiser/Client: ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV
Product/Service: BEER
Advertising Agency: DEL CAMPO NAZCA SAATCHI & SAATCHI, ARGENTINA

Andes Friend Recovery is a robot which was installed in the main bars of Mendoza, that through a videoconference system it enabled men to be at the bar with friends without neglecting their duties as boyfriends. How does the Andes Friend Recovery work? 1. Your friends go to the bar and sit at the Andes Friend Recovery table. 2. They ask for a password which is sent to you via SMS, while you fulfil your boyfriend duties. 3. Wherever you are, you log in the AFR site and using the webcam to map your face. 4. Then you appear at the bar, via the Andes Friend Recovery robot.
http://www.canneslions.com/work/outdoor/entry.cfm?entryid=12009&award=3

SILVER AWARD: TRANSPARENT WALLS

Advertiser/Client: DAIMLER
Product/Service: CAR SAFETY SYSTEM
Advertising Agency: JUNG von MATT Hamburg, Erste Liebe Gmbh/ GERMANY

The PRE-SAFE® precrash system from Mercedes-Benz, we made chaotic traffic intersections safer. Everybody was able to look around the corners into the streets as if the walls were transparent, and could therefore detect potential hazards in time to avoid them. To achieve this, we used a camera to film what was going on around the corner. The images were projected onto an 18/1-format billboard on a building corner so all motorists and cyclists could see them
http://www.canneslions.com/work/outdoor/entry.cfm?entryid=3947&award=3

BRONZE AWARD: ANGEL AMBUSH

Advertiser/Client: UNILEVER
Product/Service: LYNX EXCITE
Advertising Agency: MINDSHARE, GRAND VISUAL & MIND'S EYE MEDIA, UK

Members of the public stood on a ‘hot’ spot on the ground where a camera captured the action and broadcast it on to the digital outdoor screen. People then watched as angels appeared to plummet from the sky landing next to them in a cloud of dust before flirting with them adoringly. The campaign blended live real-time action with footage of the Lynx angels. The interactions were vision mixed live using a complex integration of bespoke software. A short film was created out of the experience and posted on social media, which has achieved over 330k online views in three weeks.
http://www.canneslions.com/work/outdoor/entry.cfm?entryid=7893&award=4

BRONZE AWARD: LOTUS T5

Advertiser/Client: IBM
Product/Service: LOTUSLIVE
Advertising Agency: OGILVYONE WORLDWIDE London, UK

IBM took live air traffic control data from Heathrow and live tennis scores from the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, then mashed it up with tennis players’ nationalities to create live, customised updates for departing passengers at Terminal 5. This demonstrated Lotus’ data and collaboration capabilities in a useful way. Over 300 unique headlines appeared on 73 digital airport screens during the two weeks of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
http://www.canneslions.com/work/outdoor/entry.cfm?entryid=13210&award=4

BRONZE AWARD: 12 SECOND STRIP
Advertiser/Client: RENAULT
Product/Service: WIND ROADSTER
Advertising Agency: PUBLICIS LONDON, UK

Digital posters were placed in shopping centres and other public places in major UK cities. Contestants could film themselves stripping from winter woollies to summer skimpies in front of them and then upload their entry via YouTube or their mobile. They could also strip at home using their webcams. The most fun video would win the car.
http://www.canneslions.com/work/outdoor/entry.cfm?entryid=5777&award=4

BRONZE AWARD: THE WORLD'S BIGGEST HUG

Advertiser/Client: CONSELHO NACIONAL DO SESI
Product/Service: TRUE AFFECTION CAMPAIGN
Advertising Agency: MONUMENTA & AGNELO PACHECO COMUNICACAO Brasilia

In Brazil, thousands of children are victims of sexual abuse. To raise public awareness on the issue and increase the number of complaints, the True Affection campaign launched. A symbol was chosen to demonstrate people’s engagement: A HUG. Several Brazilian artists joined the campaign and gave their hugs. But to gain an even bigger impact the projection featured on the greatest monument of Brazil, one of the seven wonders of the modern world: Christ the Redeemer, at Rio de Janeiro. For two days, the statue’s lights were turned off and map projections were used to create the illusion that Christ was closing its arms.
http://www.canneslions.com/work/outdoor/entry.cfm?entryid=2254&award=4

Cannes Lions - Outdoor Shortlist

2011-06-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

This is the third year that digital out-of-home has had its own category within the Outdoor Lions. There were 109 entries in total from across 31 countries with the USA providing the most entries at 18 and the UK providing 12.

Most of the UK entries were campaigns based on permanent digital out-of-home formats, a notable difference compared to the bespoke and one off special builds that dominated many of the other entrants. Projections were a popular medium for creating and delivering a large creative canvas for example. This could indicate a maturing of the UK DOOH market where the medium is being used on a more scalable level by agencies to create engaging campaigns that exploit the existing infrastructure to its full creative potential.

From the 109 entries, the jury led by Olivier Altmann, Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Worldwide, shortlisted just 9 submissions. The UK supplied the greatest number from one market with 3 campaigns being shortlisted for awards, the other markets being Brazil, Korea, France, China, Argentina and Germany.

The full shortlist for the Outdoor Lions can be accessed here http://www.canneslions.com/work/downloads/CL2011_Outdoor_Lions_Shortlist.pdf and the awards will be handed out at a ceremony in the Grand Auditorium tomorrow night.

FLEX London: Insight, Interaction, & Mobile Intergration

2011-05-20T01:46:00.000-07:00

With a wealth of out-of-home knowledge and experience gathered in one place, FLEX London proved to be a great success with over 180 delegates and some really insightful presentations and debate. Here’s a brief round up of highlights from the day.

RESEARCH & INSIGHT
Justin Gibbons, founder of Work, kicked off the day with his ‘neuroscience for dummies’ presentation which took us through the basic principles of interaction and the effect on the brain. He said “if you don’t use it - you lose it” as your short term memory is very efficient at filtering out information that is not used. For advertiser this means that interaction, which is both mental and physical - fosters a deeper level of engagement by creating long term memory encoding.

Oliver Ford from Kinetic outlined some of the latest developments in screen technology including facial recognition software which will help outdoor advertising to become more targeted by gender and even mood. Chris Hall, head of research at JCDecaux revealed new research measuring the impact of moving image on attracting and holding audience attention, and the ability to entertain and engage consumers with animated copy.

OUTDOOR INTERACTION
Scott Davies from Never.no suggested that barriers in technology have largely been overcome and that it is now possible to run DOOH campaigns that are fully integrated and connected with social media via online and mobile devices.

Suneil Saraf from PHD talked about the significant ROI generated by a low cost DOOH game which ran as part of the Spots vs Stripes activity for Cadburys. The augmented reality billboard game ran in 9 UK shopping centres and used facial recognition software coupled with gesture based technology to allow participants to play the games and feature in them at the same time. Although the DOOH activity was a small, low cost element of the overall campaign, the tracking results showed that it was the third most recognised piece of media for the entire launch.

Dan Dawson from Grand Visual discussed their work for the Nike World Cup - the first ever live DOOH campaign to run across 9 different networks. The campaign was based on England’s progress during the World Cup and featured immediate, post match copy written by Nike’s team at Wieden+Kennedy London. Grand Visual’s OpenLoop platform was at the heart of the campaign with copy lines being entered and pushed to the multiple formats instantly. The campaign targeted people on their way home from watching the game - by tube, rail and car, and featured Nike's sponsored players.

DOOH & MOBILE
During the DOOH & Mobile presentations we saw some brilliant examples of AR from Vivian Rosenthal, from GoldRun allowing people to see virtual pop-ups via mobile in their own cities. Ben Scott-Robinson of WeLoveMobile predicted future trends in digital OOH & mobile - 3D projection with mobile, augmented reality & NFC/RFID whilst Neil Garner talked about the early trials of NFC and what’s just round the corner.

Flex London: Creativity, Social Media & The Olympics

2011-05-20T01:40:00.000-07:00

DOOH, ONLINE & SOCIAL
The afternoon began with Indy Saha from Being London who described how he wants to turn outdoor DOOH campaigns into more of an event by using more interactivity. Aaron Bogucki from Polydor Records talked about leveraging social media and location based tools and how more work needs to be done in this space to understand what the options are for advertisers looking to integrate social media into their out of home communications.

Richard Simkins the planning director at Hyperspace outlined their work for the 4-door MINI Countryman launch in the UK. They challenged people to participate in the world record attempt to see how many people they could fit into the vehicle - digitally. Participants recorded themselves and then watched as the videos were projected onto the windows of the Countryman Mini. Interactive booths allowed participants to share their videos via facebook or email. 1.65 million people saw the activity and there were an estimated ¼ million social media impacts through facebook.

CREATIVITY SESSION
The creativity session show cased some of the best in class DOOH campaigns from the last few months. Rob Bartlett from Iris kicked off the session with his work for Sony Ericsson which includes dynamic count downs and flexible copy executions to build anticipation about the launch of the Xperia PLAY handset. This was a great example of a dynamic cross network digital outdoor campaign and we learnt that gaming is the number one application category on iPhone, Facebook, and Android.

Jeremy Way from Mindshare Invention presented an augmented reality campaign they did for Unilever. Lynx “Angel Ambush” was produced by Grand Visual and blended live, real life footage with virtual angels. The campaign allowed users to star in the billboard advert itself whilst angels appeared magically beside them. It created real crowd engagement and delivered 300,000 views over the weekend it ran and then went on to deliver another 950,000 Youtube hits when the video footage went viral.

Kyla Jacobs from Rapier presented their work for Yell – the first ever real-time, destination specific DOOH campaign. The campaign ran on JCDecaux Transvision screens and syndicated content from Yell’s online business directory with the destination of the next departing train. It used OpenLoop to stream content that is contextual to the audience’s travel destination. For example if the next departing train is the 12.30pm to Southend-On-Sea, the copy may include “Heading to Southend-On-Sea? Try Southchurch Park Cafe 01702 603 486” and included UGC customer reviews such as “A great place for coffee and cake, or tea and biscuits.”

Jo Kotas & Alex Stevens from the Meme Partnership explained their non-commercial initiative - Smile For London. This creative competition featured submissions from students through to respected digital artists. The brief was to simply create a 20 second video that would make people smile. Five winning entries were selected by a panel and played across CBS Outdoors XTP screens for a week.

DOOH & THE OLYMPIC OPPORTUNITY
All agreed that real time updates on digital screens would be key to successful DOOH campaigns during the Olympics 2012. On the panel moderated by Mike Baker, CEO of the Outdoor Media Centre, Simon Labbetts from Saint said that 'screens have the ability to give London a pulse during the games'. He went on to say that creatives and media agencies need to define the role of screens & give value back to consumers.

Russell Place from Universal McCann flagged that 500,000 extra people are expected in London daily during the Games and that Olympic sponsors should be looking at how they can build a more personal level of engagement for consumers and that’s where the real opportunity is for DOOH is:

“Generally, outdoor is moving from a strategic medium to more of a tactical medium, and from a medium that delivered a breadth of audience to one that delivers depth of interaction, and is moving from a position where it was about public messaging to one that is more intimate with personalised engagement. He added that “on this basis alone, Olympic sponsors should be looking at how they can build a more personal level of engagement for those individual consumers and that’s where the real opportunity is.”

THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL OUT OF HOME
Overall the day was packed full of insight, research, and best practice case studies. There was good body of work to suggest that the medium was beginning to attract some serious and well executed creative thinking that really demonstrated the breadth and depth of this exciting and burgeoning medium.

Matthew Dearden, CEO of Clear Channel UK, rounded off the day in his keynote speech saying “it is creativity, context, immediacy and interaction that give Outdoor advertising the opportunity to deliver big-time to clients. Outdoor needs to do things advertisers want, and provide solutions that improve their businesses.”

The day provided plenty of evidence that DOOH as an industry was moving in the right direction. That it is evolving from a medium that has largely been booked and used in the same way as its static counterpart, to one that was becoming dynamic, tactical, and connected. The overwhelming feeling from the day was that the best was still to come and that creatively the true strength of out of home media lies in its ability to achieve broadcast levels of awareness whilst driving more personal and intimate levels of engagement.

More highlights and insights from the FLEX programme can be found here: http://www.grandvisual.com/insights/

New Digital OOH Forum to celebrate creativity

2011-04-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

It’s good to see creativity being championed at this year’s Screen Media Expo on 18th May. FLEX : London, is a new addition to the show exploring digital out-of-home media, creativity and technology and showcasing some of the most outstanding linear, dynamic and interactive DOOH campaigns from 2011.

The conference covers areas such as research and insight; outdoor interaction; integration with online, social and mobile media; the opportunities offered by the Olympics; and what’s in store for the future.

The line-up of speakers includes brand guardians: Selina Sykes (Lynx) and Aaron Bogucki (Polydor Records), top creatives: Paul Banham (JWT), Rob Bartlett (Iris), and Simon Labett (RKCR&YR Saint), clever strategists: Suneil Saraf (PHD Media) and Indy Saha (Being London) with a key note from Clear Channel’s Matthew Dearden amongst others.

Following on from FLEX : London and continuing the creative theme is the first LoveContent Annual Awards ceremony taking place in the DOOH Meda lounge. Hosted by The Screen, the awards celebrate the very best in digital-out-of-home campaign content and the digital advertising networks that support it.

The show floor itself is the biggest yet with over 80 exhibitors and featuring the latest in screen technology, including 3D Alioscopy screens, virtual mannequins, a 7ft MicroTile Wall and all the media players and content management systems needed to support the audio visual industry. A wealth of out-of-home technology, knowledge and experience gathered in one place – you can register here: http://screenevents.co.uk/screenexpo2011/

JCDecaux wins East Coast outdoor contract

2011-04-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

Train operator East Coast Main Line has awarded their outdoor advertising contract to JCDecaux following a competitive tender. The multi million pound contract, previously held by CBS Outdoor, includes the rights to outdoor, ambient, and experiential opportunities across 12 rail stations between London King's Cross and Scotland.

The deal will help to extend JCDecaux’s strong rail presence into the north and north east of England as well as boosting their digital inventory outside of London. This will include the role out of their large format Transvision screens as well as their digital six-sheet network at some of the key East Coast stations, such as York, Darlington and Newcastle.

The other stations covered by the agreement include Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate, Durham, Grantham, Newark North Gate, Retford, Berwick-Upon-Tweed and Dunbar.

Tim Hedley-Jones, property and projects director, at East Coast, said: "With JCDecaux as our partners, we are confident that our advertising estate will enhance the passenger experience on this major intercity route."

With this latest win JCDecaux looks set to meet plans outlined last December for doubling its digital footprint to 500 screens by the end of 2011.

Augmented Reality Billboards

2011-03-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

This year Augmented Reality concepts have been making an impact in the out of home environment. Popularised through online campaigns such as BMW’s “Expressions of Joy,” the technology is now taking off outdoors as advertiser’s pursuit greater levels of engagement through interactivity.

Recent high profile OOH Augmented Reality campaigns include Ford’s campaign for the new 7 seat Grand C-MAX which ran in UK shopping centres. The campaign allowed people to explore a miniaturised 3D ‘virtual’ model of the car on screen and in the palm of their hand using natural hand gestures.

Lynx created a large format Augmented Reality campaign which ran on digital billboards at London Victoria Station and Birmingham’s Bullring Centre. “Angel Ambush” celebrates the launch of ‘Excite’, the new fragrance that is ‘so tempting even angels will fall.’ To interact, members of the public stood on a designated spot in front of the screen where a camera captured the scene. The participant was then featured on the billboard in the advert itself, as virtual angels appear to plummet from the sky and flirt with them adoringly.

Other brands are following suit with Ckone launching its first global advertising campaign with an AR promotion across online, mobile, print, and outdoor all integrated via digital content. The initial outdoor creative will be tagged with call-outs to encourage users to "download the app at ckone.com and scan to reveal more" which will unlock AR content featuring exclusive video from the campaign.

Digital posters provide the ability to create participatory campaigns in out of home locations and Augmented Reality programmes can serve as gateways to exclusive content and engaging experiences. AR is just starting to get really interesting, and these interactive, user-based experiences look set to become a more common addition to wider brand-building activity.

Summer in the cinema

2011-03-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

Cinema audiences in the UK have been enjoying a decade and a half of steady growth and this year’s no exception. Last month, according to DCM, UK box office figures recorded the most successful February of all time, with releases grossing £112.1m in total, an increase of 19.4 % year on year.

New film titles helping this spur included ‘The Kings Speech’, ‘Tangled’, ‘Gnomeo and Juliet’ and ‘Paul’. Other, longer term trends include the explosion of 3D, "Orange Wednesday’s" and growth in alternative content such as O2's Six Nations 3D Rugby broadcast, live music, Opera, and this summer the Wimbledon Championships will be screened in 3D in cinemas around the world.

The IPA TouchPoints3 survey revealed that nearly 15% of GB adults (c.7.5 million aged 15+) visit the cinema at least once a month, rising to 38% of 15-24 year olds. Monthly cinema-goers are young and affluent and are early adopters in comparison with others.

But it is not only the size and profile of the cinema audience that makes them so desirable; their clear advantage over other media is in terms of their receptiveness to advertising. According to TouchPoints3, 75% of monthly cinema-goers who express an opinion say that they tend to arrive in time for the trailers and advertisements, and, in a world of multi-tasking and almost constant interaction, cinema really is the only single-task medium remaining.

Growth looks set to continue this summer with a whole host of family movies about to hit screens. The summer burst sees the release of four major family film sequels; Kung Fu Panda 2 is released on 13th June, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on the 15th July, followed a week later by Cars 2 and in August we see the return of Spy Kids for the fourth instalment: All The Time In The World.

Facebook Deals & Geo-Location Targeting

2011-02-28T16:19:00.000-08:00

Facebook Places brought location-based functionality to a network of 26m UK members. If you have a smartphone then you are ready to start playing, simply “allow” Facebook to know your location. Now you can share your location with friends, find out where they are, and discover new places near you. You can also add places, check in to places that already exist, and tag people who are with you.

The addition of Facebook Deals' this month in the UK, brought local and free advertising to the mix. Now Facebook Places members who ‘check-in’ on their smartphone app can receive the very latest discounts and deals from local businesses for that specific time and location.

In the UK there are four types of deals: Charity deals, Individual deals, Loyalty deals, and friends deals. UK launch partners included amongst others, Starbucks who gave away 30,000 coffees to people who checked in on the day, Mazda who are giving away five cars, every month for five months, and Yo!Sushi who are offering 1,000 free plates. For the first time advertisers can now make these deals at scale, at real time and for free.

Location-based social media has already been in use in the UK- Foursquare has about five million users and other networks such as Gowalla and Rummble are popular. But Facebook Places has the added advantage of a ready made customer base. For brands' with Facebook pages that are often more active than their own websites - Deals is a great opportunity for enhanced word-of-mouth marketing, and for driving people in to your store or restaurant.

Outdoor advertisers are also watching with interest. First to dip their toe in with Facebook Places was Polydor Records who launched a campaign promoting Cheryl Cole's new album 'Messy Little Raindrops'. The campaign harnessed digital and outdoor using 114 UK poster locations to encourage Smartphone owners to use the Facebook Places app to 'check-in' at whichever advertisement they were closste to. Entrants were then automatically entered into a draw to win tickets to a live X Factor show plus they received a Facebook wall update announcing that they had entered the competition. The update alerted the user's social network of the album release and was a great way to drive traffic to the Cheryl Cole Facebook page. With the arrival of Facebook Deals however, the same campaign could have pushed real time discount vouchers to purchase the album from a retail partner close by.

This increasing convergence between outdoor and digital media is bringing online social networks direct to social networks in the real world. Outdoor posters sites will start to act like portals to a range of interactive and location-based services allowing marketers to amplify their digital campaigns out of home and create a deeper level of engagement with audiences. Web analytics will help to develop even greater accuracy in targeted messages, and mobile payments systems, due to launch through Orange and O2 later this year, mean that redemptions of Facebook offers will soon be fully tracked.

Transport Media & the Olympic Opportunity

2011-02-23T14:55:00.000-08:00

Soon the London 2012 Olympics will be upon us, along with the 1.3m-1.9m visitors it is expected to draw. Next month tickets go on sale and in April outdoor sites will be put up for auction on the online trading platform MediaEquals.com. All outdoor formats that fall within Olympic Venue Cities will be offered to official sponsors until July, and thereafter will be made available to the general market.

The potential to reach consumers through out-of-home advertising during the games is huge. 98% of visitors will be exposed to transit advertising during the period which has lead many to dub this as the “transport games”. Brands looking to capitalise on this influx will be considering opportunities at major airports and approach routes to cities, plus along high profile rail, underground and bus routes to specific Olympic Venues.

Olympic sponsors are likely to book out major landmark opportunities such as JCDecaux’s M4 Digital Torch, the Stratford digital Sail on the doorstep of the Olympic Park, and Ocean's central London IMAX, site. 40% of visitors are likely to arrive by rail making stations another major opportunity for reaching VIPs, athletes and visitors alike.

This is also the first Olympics where digital outdoor has offered real scale. Key digital opportunities include Heathrow's digital airport panels, CBS's digital escalator panels, plus JCDecaux’s expanding digital rail portfolio which it plans to double by Q3 2011.

Examples of brands using the medium to great effect during sports events include Nike, who provided live commentary during the World Cup England matches and Sky who provided regular updates and scores during the Ashes. Digital OOH can be used to provide breaking news, to celebrate wins and to keep the public informed of events as they happen.

This will be the perfect opportunity for Digital out of home to really come into its own, with tactical, responsive and up-to-date messaging that captures the mood and excitement of this international event. It will be the making of digital OOH.

Outdoor ads engaging 60% of commuters

2011-01-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

60% of European commuters actively look at out of home advertising according to latest research commissioned by CBS Outdoor International. The ‘Europe on the Move’ study looked at people’s daily travel patterns and surveyed nearly 10,000 commuters across the UK, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and Ireland.

The research also revealed that a third of consumers reported to have made a purchase as a direct result of seeing an outdoor ad. Over 19% of Europeans reported going online to purchase items seen in outdoor advertising.

Boredom during their daily journeys and advances in mobile connectivity are sited as contributing factors to the increasing likelihood to act upon commercial messages while out-of-home. According to the study 45% of travellers multi-task during their journey, including shopping, working, socialising, surfing the web and using mobiles.

The research reveals that European travellers are also using social media platforms almost equally in-home and out-of-home. Facebook usage was 56% in the home compared with 54% on-the-move.

The report also looked out how people’s moods and thoughts change depending on their mode of travel and time of day and how these patterns vary across different European markets. CBS Outdoor said this insight will help marketers to design more effective campaigns, integrating outdoor and mobile digital channels. Full report here: www.europeonthemove.com/