FEPE Out of Home News 18th June 2015

FEPE Out of Home News 18th June 2015

EUROPE NEWS

FEPE 56th International Congress: Inaugural FEPE International’s Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Jean-Claude Decaux

Jean-Claude Decaux, founder of the Global Out of Home company, the world’s largest, has won FEPE International’s inaugural Lifetime Award.

FEPE International’s president Antonio Vincenti said:

‘Since it’s FEPE’s mission to advocate and promote the OOH industry it is time we had a system to recognise the outstanding individuals and leaders which drive our industry and which ensure its brilliant future.

There could be no more worthy recipient for our inaugural lifetime achievement award than Jean-Claude Decaux who has made such a massive contribution to the vibrant and successful industry we see today.”

Collecting the award on his father’s behalf, Jean-Francois Decaux, CEO of JC Decaux, said: “This is a great honour for the company and, of course, my Father. Today’s OOH industry has been built by entrepreneurs with passion, commitment and continuous innovation.

These are the qualities we will need in the future to ensure the OOH industry reaches its potential.”

FEPE International made three other awards, the first in its 56 year history.

The FEPE International Leadership award goes to Francois de Gaspe Beaubien, owner of Zoom Media, the largest digital fitness media in the US, Canada and the UK and Executive Chairman of Ayuda, one of the leading global ad tech companies for digital and static OOH. de Gaspe Beaubien was awarded for his “pioneering approach to OOH - someone who is an inspiration to others.”

Francois added "I am honored and very touched. We are entering a new era in OOH, one which is going to be far more data driven. OOH is going to be one of the most innovative mediums in the years ahead. I could not be more thrilled to be a part of this industry."

The FEPE International Technical Innovation Award went to Prismaflex and its CEO Pierre-Henri Bassouls (pictured) for its Blue Tech solar-powered panels. The judges said this was “a technology that pushes our industry forward and keeps it at the forefront of the drive for renewable energy sources.”

The inaugural Creative Award goes to Ogilvy & Mather’s much-garlanded BA Magic of Flying campaign. This shows a child watching the path of a flight from Barcelona in real time and captured the imaginations of both consumers and awards juries around the world.

FEPE International’s president Vincenti concluded: “We hope our first awards celebrate both the past and present of the industry. Looking forward we anticipate more great achievements in the future.”

FEPE Budapest Congress: An Overview

By Stephen Foster

“Ten years ago there were probably less than a hundred people in Lisbon,” said the FEPE International delegate on the way home at Budapest airport. “It was more of a meeting than a Congress.”

“This time we had what seemed like the whole industry; agencies and suppliers as well as owners and all, mostly, agreeing with each other.”

“That’s nice,” we said.

“Now it’s back to business,” he smiled.

All business these days is adversarial to a degree but the role of any trade association – in particular at big meetings like the FEPE Congress in Budapest – should be to bring people together, socially as well as the serious matter of finding common ground.

FEPE International stands out among such associations because of its international reach as well as its ‘broad church’ status – all sides of the industry from buyers to sellers.

The theme of the Congress – ‘Your Audience Is Waiting’ – encapsulated the opportunity out there: the chance to create a global mass marketing medium at a time when other media – most notably television – are busily fragmenting.

Inevitably at the Congress there was much talk, and highly illuminating talk, of technology and the opportunities (and pitfalls) presented by digital.

And it’s obvious enough that any Congress concerned with a medium – Out Of Home – will focus on delivery systems, the requirements of advertisers and assessment.

But as well as the medium there is, of course, the message and without the latter the former won’t deliver as it might.

So it was brave but correct to hand the keynote speech at the Congress to British creative Dave Trott, one of the founders of iconic creative agency Gold Greenlees Trott (subsequently bought by Omnicom’s TBWA) then of several other agencies and one of the most-lauded copywriters of modern adland. Without the right message, no delivery system will produce relevant and effective communications.

Trott’s theme was ‘Complicated is stupid, simple is clever.’ Less can be more, in other words, which is a salutary lesson for a rapidly growing industry in which technology is making anything possible.

There were other warning shots. Rupert Day of WPP’s giant OOH operation Tenth Avenue warned that much work needed to be done to synchronise ad formats before it would be possible to run truly global OOH campaigns, the holy grail for a broadcast medium.

But the overwhelming message was hugely positive; OOH is growing apace in all parts of the world (and not just via digital) and the reach of FEPE itself its growing too, with a delegate from China for the first time and many representatives from Australia, the Middle East and Africa among others – 39 countries in all.

FEPE began life in Paris 56 years ago and, inevitably, it reflects the two power centres of OOH, Europe and north America. But it is now a global body for a global industry, one that has embraced the digital revolution and actually prospered through such technology. Which makes it just about unique among ‘traditional’ media.

There’s no harm whatsoever in feeling rather pleased with oneself, sipping Tokaji in the spectacular surroundings of the Hungarian National Gallery where FEPE’s inaugural awards were presented, headlined by the Lifetime Achievement Award for JC Decaux founder Jean-Claude Decaux (see above).

But more challenges await. FEPE International will re-convene in Istanbul next year, a location that reflects the expanding world of OOH.

Maybe in the future it will head to Beijing, Sydney or Lagos.

So FEPE’s on the march and so, without any doubt, is the OOH industry.

UK: Out Of Home advertising is ready for primetime ... if it steers the right course

By Michael Bayler

That unique, powerful cultural layer called music was sideswiped some 20 years ago by the ruthless velocity of the network, and - no matter whose fault it was in the end - its commercial value was crushed, and the business was slammed down to a fraction of its previous majesty and swagger.

While the cultural reach and depth of music itself remains, well, robust, the industry is unlikely ever to recover. I know this from up-close personal experience: my own career began in music, and I'll never forget the feeling of it.

The record shops I started out working in as a clerk, and eventually a buyer - now rarely seen at all - were temples of culture and of cool. Vinyl - the touch and smell of it; the size and physical presence of an album; the sense of profound personal discovery upon dropping the needle onto a record; the way a perfect pop song would weave its way into an entire summer.

This was Meaning of the highest order. And while the ghosts of that period still lurk around us, and once in a while step forward to remind us of exactly why, and just how much, music matters to us in a way that nothing else can touch, the wonder of music itself, along with its industry, will never be the same.

We recapture the magic, most obviously, in a live performance. There's a reason why concerts and festivals resurged so visibly over the past 10 years: we're now spoiled for choice.

But what happened to recorded music? If I could, I'd write a book about it. Because that's what it needs and deserves. Maybe later.

For now, and for the purposes of this argument, I think all we need to understand is that when the network hit music, it became ... Content. It became, as the word itself suggests, "contained", boxed in and commoditised, in a way than records and CD's, with all their perfect packaging, never did.

Music became a file, an MP3 or whatever. Online music distributors - and let's not make the mistake of claiming that they don't create entirely new, significant forms of value - are today a kind of Ikea experience. If you want to know where the new temples of culture and cool are ... just pop into an Apple Store.

As OOH goes digital, with an eye-watering investment in new infrastructure, and as its owners seek to realise the revenues and profits that this bold step forward demands, there are important lessons about culture, about meaning, and above all, about value, that can be learned from the recent history of the music industry, as it has battled to get off the back foot onto which digital has so abruptly shoved it.

Read the full article here

Germany: Ströer Chooses Ayuda

Germany’s largest provider of out-of-home and online advertising signs letter of intent with ad tech platform to power entire Out-of-Home-sales and operational workflow, including static poster and public video

Ayuda Media Systems, an out-of-home ad tech company announced last week at the 2015 annual FEPE Congress that Ströer Media SE, Germany’s largest out-of-home advertising company, has signed a letter of intent agreeing to take on Ayuda’s complete software platform to power all media workflows. Sales, operations, digital scheduling and digital ad serving will all be managed through Ayuda’s comprehensive, integrated platform.

Dr. Bernd Metzner, Ströer's Chief Financial Officer, commented: “In Ayuda, we have selected a platform that will empower our entire workforce, opening up new and innovative opportunities for targeted customer contact for our advertisers. Ayuda’s single, integrated offering allows us to efficiently manage all our business from the same platform from the office or on the go from mobile devices.”

Ströer will be using the Ayuda Platform as an enterprise resource planning tool to integrate all sales and operations functions as well as public video ad serving for all markets in Germany, empowering both front-office and back-office personnel. Workflows that will be streamlined include availability & proposal generation, asset & inventory management, work order & copy management, billing & lease management, digital bookings, digital content management, and digital ad serving.

Andreas Soupliotis, CEO of Ayuda shared: “It is a great honour that Germany’s most ubiquitous and premiere OOH media company has chosen the Ayuda Platform to run its business. Ströer is renowned for its culture of excellence - it is in their DNA to excel at whatever they pursue, and vendor selection is no exception. What made us especially attractive to Ströer is the fact that our ERP and digital signage CMS is one and the same product. This is in stark contrast to other offerings within our industry, where multiple vendors are needed to achieve the functional equivalence of the Ayuda Platform. I could not be more excited about Ströer’s and Ayuda’s partnership.”

Infoscreen, the public video division of Ströer that operates video advertising in train stations and shopping malls across Germany, is already in the process of migrating digital ad serving functionality to the Ayuda Platform.

Dr. Metzner further commented on the decision to choose Ayuda: “The migration to the Ayuda Platform is transformational for our business. We are very pleased with the work Ayuda has produced for Ströer to date, and we look forward to a long-term partnership where Ayuda’s tools will support us as we scale and grow the business in the coming years.”

France: The first Prismatronic LED boards manufactured by PRISMACHINA; PRISMAFLEX Chinese subsidiary have been installed!

As the finishing touches are being put to the installation of nine 60m² P16 and P20 BBM displays in the United States for Mashburn, and the first 16 – on the 30 units - 6m² P8 eye-catching displays for ExterionMedia along the Paris ring-road are attracting the attention of thousands of Parisians, Prismaflex is pursuing the installation of 8 double-sided 2m² P6 Prismatronic displays in the harbour of Barcelona for Clear Channel.

The month of May proved to be an extremely eventful and successful month for Prismaflex International having decided to create PRISMACHINA, an LED module production plant in Shenzhen, China with their Chinese partners that was inaugurated in January 2015.

Thanks to this newly built site, Prismaflex can control the complete production process of its LED boards, the PRISMATRONIC, improving even further quality and performance. The 6.500 m² plant employs 140 people for a 2,000m² monthly production capacity.

PRISMACHINA has three production lines each equipped with state-of-the-art machines and the latest inline quality testing systems.

The modules produced by PRISMACHINA and then integrated into the housings in the groups European factories, making Prismaflex International one of only a few suppliers worldwide able to design and also integrate in-house produced LED screens into a range of DOOH advertising solutions.

Europe: Outdoor advertising impacts cities positively, according to new report

Outdoor advertising is transforming cities by helping tackle population growth and serving as a vital public information resource, according to a new report.

Out of home, into the city: transforming cities by engaging citizens, commissioned by the Clear Channel Outdoor advertising company and seen exclusively by Cities Today, highlights new research in seven European cities–London, Paris, Dublin, Barcelona, Stockholm, Naples and Brussels–which reports the majority of people feel out of home advertising (OOH)–or advertising people see when they are away from home such as on billboards or using public transport–is making a positive contribution to their city.

Eighty-two percent of respondents agreed outdoor advertising in public revives a city while only 5 percent of citizens actively disliked the OOH medium. The report cited findings that suggest audiences look to OOH to not only inform them about brands and consumer goods but assume more responsibility in public service provision.

It explores the ways OOH is deployed, ranging from crime prevention to housing to cultural initiatives. Eighty-three percent of respondents, questioned by research company TNS, supported greater use of OOH advertising on public transport if it improved service while 77 percent wanted OOH to supply information on public events and 74 percent expressed support for the medium to showcase local services, maps and clocks.

Eighty-seven percent of citizens in Barcelona liked or remained neutral on OOH while 78 percent of Londoners expressed a preference for seeing outdoor advertising in their capital.

Full article here

UK: Exterion Media Appoints Suzy Jordan to Commercial Strategy Director

Exterion Media has appointed Suzy Jordan as its Commercial Strategy Director to lead the newly-formed EM Futures division. This forms a vital part of Exterion’s new EM Solutions commercial structure.

In her new role, Suzy will be tasked with challenging, innovating and surprising the market, developing new revenue streams and driving new business for the company. Her remit will include Research & Insight, Client Sales, Creative Solutions, EM Ventures, Digital Development and Design.

Suzy joins Exterion from Mindshare where she currently serves as Head of Client Leadership. She brings with her 20 years’ experience in the media agency market, including client relationship and business development roles at The Mirror, Mediacom and Initiative Media.

“We’re delighted to welcome Suzy on board. This role will be central to forming and delivering our commercial strategy and Suzy’s understanding and experience of the agency landscape will be an invaluable asset in this.” said Malcolm Stoodley, Commercial Director at Exterion Media.

Suzy said: “I’m excited to join such an innovative, market-leading business. This is a transformational time for Exterion and I’m looking forward to driving a step change in the business. Exterion has already demonstrated time and time again its world-class insight, innovation and creative capabilities and I can’t wait to lead the strategy and team to take this to the next level.”

AMERICAS NEWS

Canada: Digital Billboards Command High Attention Levels

Six out of ten shoppers in major urban markets notice digital billboards according to a new study. Vancouver shoppers pay the most attention with almost three quarters (75%) saying they notice digital billboards, compared to 62% in Toronto and 60% in Montreal.

Attention levels are highest (79%) among urban adults age 35 – 49, a group that has an active lifestyle and spends more than half their day outside the home. Attention levels are also high among smartphone owners (73%) providing opportunities for advertisers to interact with shoppers to provide offers and product/store information.

Shoppers who notice digital billboards are significantly more likely to be looking for new and innovative products than the average shopper.

“This suggests that digital billboards can play a significant role in creating awareness and interest in new products,” said Rosanne Caron; President; OMAC.

 

USA: Identity Shred, LLC Expands Shredding Kiosk Network Using the BroadSign International, LLC Platform

BroadSign digital signage software will power kiosks in 200 university locations.

Waynesville, North Carolina. June 16, 2015. Identity Shred, LLC, a shredding kiosk network operator in university mailrooms, has announced its conversion to and expansion via BroadSign International, LLC’s automated digital signage software.

Identity Shred is the first and only networked shredding kiosk of its kind, complete with a 22" HD LCD touch screen. This enables students to conveniently and effectively protect themselves from identity theft using NSA-rated crosscut shredding, and advertisers to reach targeted viewers through static pictures, videos and interactive campaigns.

“Our first kiosks used a free open-source service to run ads but the players lacked the features necessary to deliver an interactive user experience,” said Michael Stewart, Chief Financial Officer at Identity Shred. “Upon discovering BroadSign at Digital Signage Expo, we learned its features, functionality and value would assist us with our advertising requirements. The transition turned expansion toward 200 locations has been incredibly smooth.”

Identity Shred is partnered with Ricoh USA to place kiosks in university mailrooms, lobbies and food courts. Selected areas have the highest student foot traffic and a 99% guarantee that viewers are in the 18-24 year demographic. Once all 200 locations are deployed, potential audience size will be 25 million, with new sets of viewers entering every 6-12 months. Kiosks are also placed in hospital, retail and bank locations.

Kiosks are free to install and use thanks to Identity Shred’s ad-based model. Typical ads last 15 seconds and the entire loop does not exceed 15 minutes. As consumers within Identity Shred’s targeted audience watch less network and cable television, and make increasing use of Internet ad blockers, Identity Shred provides a guaranteed viewership to advertisers. Customers include Men’s Health, Ricoh USA and a variety of universities.

One of the first participants in BroadSign SIGNificance, Identity Shred also runs charitable campaigns created by the PVBLIC Foundation, including “Life Without Water is Awkward” and the White House’s “It’s On Us” initiative to stop sexual assault on college campuses.

“Identity Shred facilitates a mutually beneficial relationship between viewers and advertisers,” said Skip Beloff, Vice President of Sales at BroadSign. “Not only do kiosks provide useful services to their users, the messaging and advertising provided at the same time are relevant to and welcomed by viewers. Such is the magic of digital place based done right – and BroadSign is happy to deliver the features and support that enable a rewarding experience by operators and users.”

USA: Here's a hint about what Google might do in its quest to fix cities

Wednesday night, Google unveiled a plan to help improve cities.

The company launched a new, independent company called Sidewalk Labs run by former Bloomberg CEO Dan Doctoroff.

Sidewalk aims build products and platforms to tackle big-picture issues like cost of living, efficient transportation, and energy use for city-dwellers around the world.

Sidewalk Labs' website doesn't reveal much about its specific roadmap, but a reader tipped us off that a Reuters article from earlier this month may give a big hint at what Sidewalk Labs is interested in doing.

Sources told Reuters that Doctoroff has placed a bid to buy the pay-phone and outdoor advertising company Titan Outdoors, though negotiations are still on-going. Late last year, New York City chose Titan Outdoor to take charge of its push to put Wi-fi and digital advertising screens in thousands of pay phone booths across the city.

The Wi-fi hotspots will also offer charging stations for cell phones and free calls to anywhere in the US.

Full story here

AFRICA NEWS

South Africa: Technology and OOH audience measurement in Africa - presented at the ‘Davos of Outdoor’

Adelaide McKelvey, Managing Director of Rest of Africa at Continental Outdoor Media in her presentation about the how improved technologies have changed the way out of home (OOH) companies do business on the African continent, spoke about the issues with and advances in OOH measurement, at the 56th FEPE (International out of home adverting association) Congress, titled ‘Your Audience is Waiting’.

This gathering of OOH aficionados, known as the ‘Davos of Outdoor’ to its delegates, was held between Wednesday June 10th and Friday June 12th in Budapest. The Congress this year brought together OOH professionals from 39 countries to discuss and debate the future direction of the OOH industry worldwide.

Africa’s 1.1 billion consumers are extremely diverse, making media and marketers job a lot harder in justifying where the advertising budget should be allocated, and as to which channels are best suited to target their audiences. It is, however, fair to state that there two very definite markets in each state on the continent, the formal and informal markets.

With more than 50% of most countries in Africa GDPs unaccounted for, marketers have been forced to find ways to talk to consumers amongst the ‘noise’ of a multiplicity of brands. Some informal trading hubs reportedly trade in the region of $1 million a day.

Nonetheless, with the exception of South Africa, measurement of audiences in the ‘Rest of Africa’ is unreliable and outdated. Media planners are very much in the dark when it comes to understanding media consumption of the masses. Yet, the emerging market media landscape is growing rapidly. Media in these countries is often under-researched, forcing brands and broadcasters to make decisions based on outdated information, risking valuable advertising dollars.

GeoPoll and other research companies are changing that. Increasing the sophistication of measurement tools in Africa will be key to the sustained growth in out of home (OOH). The biggest inhibitor of OOH advertising adoption has been the lack of tools to measure media consumption and audience measurement. GeoPoll is the world’s largest mobile survey platform with a data base of 200 million users in Africa and in Asia. The service, which delivers daily data across several lifestyle categories, has delivered media measurement in Africa as a unique proposition for media planners. Because the survey is as simple as a sms response, and the payment for participation is airtime, it is effective and reliable. The survey allows media planners and marketers to access real time data. With access to almost real-time data, media planners can follow media consumption, and in event of the most hostile situation, they are able to alter their media plan accordingly if they so choose.

Is it not interesting that it is the most simple technology which has enabled measurement of the consumers behaviour (formal and informal) with the most simplistic methodology, that has afforded Africa media planners a media consumption tool that measures all media – including OOH.

While countries in the ‘Rest of Africa’ are using the most simplistic of technology to get a better understanding of media consumption, back in South Africa, where the OOH market is more sophisticated and where audience measurement is more tangible, media owners are reverting to big data to deliver audience measurement.

The OOH Industry has formed a Joint Industry Committee called the Out of Home Measurement Council (OMC), Continental Outdoor Media and Primedia Outdoor are leading the initiative to deliver an OOH currency with metrics that are comparable to the likes of television, radio, and print.

The innovative methodology includes the combination of traffic flows, satellite images, and travel patterns to create a comprehensive traffic model, which is then combined with the location of all billboard panels, creates an accurate representation of OOH audiences. The new OOH currency will deliver reach, frequency, GRP’s, duplication factors and CPM’s , etc. and will be comparable to other media metrics, for the first time ever in South Africa. The OMC hope to launch the first phase of project in the latter part of 2015. There is no doubt that the OOH industry will enjoy an increased share of adspend as a result of this initiative.

OOH in Africa has become more accountable in term of real time, proof of play, measurement of media consumption patterns, as well as audience measurement. As OOH audience measurement methodologies advance and become established currencies within the media strategy and planning framework, the justification to move adspend from an increasingly fragmented media environment to the ubiquitous OOH medium that has become more solidified rather than fragmented with technological development will be at the savvy marketer’s fingertips.

AUSTRALIA NEWS

Australia: Frost & Sullivan expects a 15% growth rate in the Australian digital systems signage market by 2020

Retail chains, shopping centres, telecommunications, banking and fast foods are fastest growing segments

SYDNEY, June 17, 2015 A better market understanding of the benefits of digital signage solutions has seen Australia's digital signage market evolve from just replacing a poster with a screen five years ago, to now incorporating a wide range of features including interactivity. Businesses are integrating digital signage features into their digital services and it is becoming an integral component of the wider digital content ecosystem.

The Australian digital signage market, which includes sale of digital signage displays, media players, software and content management, has displayed stronger growth over the past 12 to 24 months; a trend envisaged to continue over the next few years.

The new Australian Digital Signage Systems Market 2015 report by Frost & Sullivan's states that overall, the digital signage systems market grew by 12.1% during 2014 to reach $133 million. It is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 13.9% from 2015 to 2020. Growth is forecast to increase from 12.4% in 2015 to 15% by 2020 due to increasing market opportunities across a wide range of segments, especially in the financial services and outdoor segments, along with a high proportion of larger rollouts.

Phil Harpur, Senior Research Manager, Australia & New Zealand ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan said,

"Retail is one of the fastest growing markets for digital signage in Australia with most major Australian retail chains and shopping centres having installed some form of digital signage systems. Other fast growing retail segments include telecommunications, banking and fast food chains.

Full article here

Australia: Outdoor industry launches assault for more ad revenue with new ‘one-stop hub’ for all buying

The outdoor industry is making an aggressive push to grow its share of advertising spend with the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) announcing it is building a “one-stop hub” for buying and selling out-of-home advertising across all formats in the country.

OMA CEO Charmaine Moldrich has previously told Mumbrella she is aiming to boost the outdoor industry’s annual ad revenues to $1bn, and said the Automated Transaction Platform will “harmonise” the industry, and is supported by all the major outdoor companies as well as the advertiser industry bodies the AANA and the Media Federation of Australia.

However phase one of the project, which is slated to launch in 2016, will not include the ability to trade programmatically when it first launches.

It is hoped automating processes in one place for media buyers will encourage them to spend more on the medium, which is now the third most purchased medium after TV and digital by media agencies according to Standard Media Index figures for the first quarter of the year.

Full story here