EUROPE NEWS

IRELAND: PML Group Joins Posterscope Fold

PML Group, one of the main outdoor advertising companies in Ireland, has been bought out by British company Posterscope for an undisclosed sum.

The PML group employs 41 staff in Dublin and Belfast, and comprises PML, Source out of home and the Poster Audit Bureau, which will all now join Posterscope Worldwide.

The deal marks something of a reversal, as in 2007 PML expanded by buying out the Irish operations of Posterscope.

“This will provide us with more services and give us international scope,” said PML managing director Jimmy Cashen.

UK: Clear Channel UK Upfronts 2016

Last week, Clear Channel UK held their annual Upfronts event in London. CEO Justin Cochrane and Commercial Director Chris Pelekanou presented Clear Channel UK’s strategy for 2016 and updated our partners on how we have progressed on the areas we promised to deliver on in 2015.

Clear Channel used the event to reiterate their commitment to the famous Adshel brand, as well as the digital transformation of their estate. Key highlights: – The nationwide expansion of 600 Adshel Live digital 6-sheets is underway with screens now live in 12 cities across the UK.

– The launch of a beacon platform as part of the Adshel Live network. The natural evolution of Clear Channel’s Connect mobile platform, the beacon platform is now live and Clear Channel are seeking partners to work with as they trial the platform between now and February 2016.

– The nationwide expansion of Storm continues, with the launch of a new site in Liverpool in December followed by Leeds and Manchester.

– Last month saw the launch of Storm’s 21st site, Storm Cromination London

– the transformation of Clear Channel’s iconic Cromwell Road site into one of the longest digital Out of Home sites in Europe, complete with the retention of the site’s famous special build capabilities.

– Play iQ – Clear Channel’s intelligent content and inventory management system is now live. As part of a wider strategy to open Play iQ up to our partners, Clear Channel will offer live availability of our digital inventory to key clients by the end of the year.

– The opening of the 2016 Outdoor Planning Awards, in partnership with Campaign.

This year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the awards. Clear Channel’s CEO Justin Cochrane said, “Last year we gathered the Out of Home industry together to reveal our plans for 2015, and I am thrilled that we have delivered on each of our promises and we are continuing to build on these successes with fresh announcements made this year.

Adshel Live’s ongoing nationwide expansion, the introduction of our beacon platform, our plans to Wrap 15 of the UK’s key cities, and the UK- wide expansion of our premium Storm brand, are massively exciting developments for us, as well as the sector as a whole.

We will continue to work with our partners and customers to deliver on these projects, helping us to Create the Future of Media, Out of Home.”

Source

UK: Outdoor advertising’s digital transformation

Out-of-home advertising has seen huge growth in 2015, prompting a rise in spend in the channel, and its evolution is set to continue as the industry rolls out automated buying next year.

Over the past few weeks, every out-of-home (OOH) advertising frame in the UK has been given a 10-digit code to automate trading of sites between media agencies and owners.

The code allocator, called Space, will cut man hours and work in OOH ad trading and planning, according to the UK marketing body for the industry, Outsmart, formerly the Outdoor Media Centre. “Instead of humans having to do hours [of work], machines can talk to each other and do the same work quickly,” explains Alan Brydon, CEO at Outsmart.

“In any business, if you can get the functional stuff out of the way, your talented people can spend more time doing what is important – having good ideas and working with customers to get better solutions.” Another innovation announced this month is from Ocean Outdoor, which is gearing up to launch The Loop Live in 2016.

The trading system enables brands to buy OOH advertising by number of ‘impacts’. Advertisers will be able to decide on the audience, time and locations and using that data Ocean’s system will optimise the campaign across screens.

This offering will be rolled out to 20 double-sided digital screens in 12 locations in Birmingham city centre, which offer full-motion, real-time ad placements and are fitted with cameras and NFC technology.

The trading technology will also be available for other Ocean Outdoor sites known as The Grid, which consists of eight digital screens in six cities.

These innovations are a few of examples of where OOH media owners have made strides in digital offerings this year, which will change the way brands buy outdoor advertising in 2016. Nearly a quarter of outdoor advertising spend is digital. According to a study by media agency Kinetic Worldwide, the total inventory of digital OOH sites in the UK is set to grow more than 40% between now and 2020.

Full article here

UK: Proxama Network™ brings beacon technology to blowUP media’s  East London banner package

Proxama PLC, the leading mobile proximity marketing experts and provider of end-to-end payment solutions for card issuers, today announce an exclusive partnership with blowUP media UK that will extend the reach of The Proxama Network in the UK to 263 million consumers annually.

Proxama will install the technology on blowUP media’s East London Giant Poster network, which has a unique ability to reach young, technologically super-literate millennials, who are usually early adopters and style leaders to their peers. The beacon-enabled Giant Posters will offer brands the ability to deliver in-the-moment contextual mes-saging to consumers’ smartphones, as they come within close proximity of the large-scale outdoor adver-tising displays.

The beacons enhance a brand’s in-app consumer experience, delivering campaign data and analytics that relates to specific locations and a measurable end-to-end customer journey.

blowUP media‘s East London network has attracted a wide range of advertisers keen to reach the young early adopters around London’s Tech City, a high-powered centre of innovation, fashion, design and so-cial entertainment. blowUP media also has the largest network of Giant Posters in Europe, along with digital screens in top city centre locations, delivering impactful advertising to millions of consumers for major tier 1 brands. The Proxama Network is a network of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons that has rapidly expanded over the last 6 months.

Recent partnerships with Exterion Media, Ubiquitous and Eye Airports have led to beacon-enablement of buses, taxis and airport media sites; transforming them into intelligent in-the-moment, proximity mobile marketing channels for brands to utilise as part of their mobile strategies.

Jon Worley, CEO of the Proxama Marketing division said:

“This new partnership hits another exciting milestone for The Proxama Network. The potential audience reach of this new partnership with blowUP media alone, is massive. Over 72 million consumers will come into close proximity with these new beacon-enabled advertising boards every year. By applying beacon technology to an already impactful advertising channel, brands will have an opportunity to deliver con-textually relevant and campaign specific messaging to people moving in and around this very tech savvy area of London.

What’s more, brands using these Giant Posters, can use the beacons to help gather data and analytics to inform and complement their consumer mobile marketing strategy. Incorporating bea-cons in to a billboard advertising campaign will add a valuable listening tool that will help to shape the success of future advertising campaigns.”

Simon Russell, Sales Director of blowUP media said:

“Applying beacons to our network of Giant Posters around East London where there is a high concentra-tion of early adopters and smartphone penetration, will offer an exciting new advertising platform for brands to connect the physical and digital. This technology, either used as stand alone or in conjunction with the iconic poster sites will allow advertisers to affect how and when passers-by pay attention to the displays and, when integrated into campaign strategy, has the potential to raise the engagement levels even further.” The beacon-enabled East London pack will reach audiences on Great Eastern Street, Old Street, Kingsland Road and Brick Lane.

The Giant Posters will be ready for the first beacon-enabled campaigns from November 2015.

Switzerland: Clear Channel unveils new Digital Shopping Media offering in Lausanne

Clear Channel now offers top-class digital avertising displays at the Métropole shopping centre in Lausanne.

Clear Channel Switzerland is progressively strengthening its POS presence in a drive to attain national coverage. The company has just taken a further step towards this goal, bringing the new digital screens at the Métropole shopping centre in Lausanne on stream. As of now, seven premium-quality advertising displays of the latest generation are available to Clear Channel customers.

Daniel Meister, Branch Manager, Western Switzerland, dsays of the move: “We are really delighted to secure a presence at this top location in Lausanne and be able to offer our customers even more high-quality advertising displays at points of sale.” The Métropole shopping mall, in the centre of Lausanne, is highly accessible to pedestrians, recording more than 100,000 visitors per week.

Clear Channel’s Digital Shopping Media offer the freedom to pitch tailor-made messages with multiple treatments geared to the time of day, date, location and proximity. Digital advertising media open up new possibilities to present brands and products in a way that really boosts sales.

Advertising at the point of sale not only raises the brand profile, it also exerts a significant influence on the ultimate purchase decision. Studies around the globe show that 70% of all buying decisions are made directly at the point of sale.

It is a proven fact that advertising at the point of sale can increase sales by as much as 36%. Clear Channel is a global leader in out-of-home advertising, with branches in over 30 countries across Europe, North and South America, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Clear Channel Switzerland realizes customized communication solutions at first-class display sites on the street and at points of sale, filling stations and airports.

Clear Channel has been operating in Switzerland since 1924 and currently markets more than 20,000 high-impact poster sites nationwide.

UK: HSBC unveils interactive OOH sound installation at Gatwick Airport

Passengers can experience the sounds of the Yangtze river as they walk over the SkyBridge to their plane at London Gatwick airport, as part of HSBC’s Water Programme work with WWF.

The exhibit, created by JWT is one of the largest interactive installations ever, running 190m along the bridge. It is responsive to time of day, live weather and people’s movements, with different sounds recorded from China’s 6,300km Yangtze river.

JWT Live head Jonathan Terry said the brief was to celebrate the Water Programme which supports communities along the Yangtze River in the “challenging” airport environment. “It’s purely celebratory as opposed to a product based message,” he added. “I think audio is a very different medium to use,” Terry said. “What we’re trying to do here is, in a world of cluttered messages – airports are very cluttered environments with a lot of shouty-type adverts.

“We’re trying to use audio to disrupt and engage people in a different way, to catch them off guard and make them reconsider where they are and what they’re doing and arguably get their attention to listen, backed up with messages before and after the installation to really enforce the message.

“This is a way to disrupt, it’s a way to talk differently and maybe get people to listen.” Terry added that, depending upon the success of the exhibit, which will be measured by survey, a score may be commissioned and put online. “It was always a plan but at the moment it’s very much a physical experience, we haven’t worked out any digital yet, but it could happen – this is up for a year.”

Full article here

AMERICAS NEWS

USA: 2016 TAB/OAAA Out of Home Media Conference & Expo

April 18-20, 2016, Boca Raton Resort and Club, Boca Raton, Florida

The conference theme is "The BIG Picture" and refers to a keen understanding of where out of home fits into the “the big picture” of media. Getting this increasingly complex big picture – and putting it to work -- involves moving out from a focus on out of home advertising to looking at the vital roll out of home plays in the overall advertising landscape.

The TAB/OAAA 2016 Conference & Expo explores what other media do to successfully meet client needs, and then, looks at how to integrate out of home into clients' thinking.

What does it take to do that? It takes integration with planning and buying systems, integration with established ROI models, and integration with mobile and other technologies. It requires standardization, and an understanding of new systems and services.

Out of home becomes a key part of cross-platform buying and selling when we think big and act big – when we get The BIG Picture -- April 18-20, 2016 at the legendary Boca Raton Resort & Club, 501 E. Camino Real, in paradise! (Boca Raton, Florida)

Full details here

USA: Out of Home Advertising Trends for 2016

2016 Media Planning season is in high gear with hundreds of marketing concepts and trends vying for a planner’s attention, and dozens of optimization tools available to weigh the options.

It certainly can be overwhelming, a process that is equal parts analytic and intuitive, and there is no end to new things to keep up with as they emerge on the scene. This is particularly true of out of home advertising, which is in the midst of a renaissance lately, driven both by innovation and technology. As your 2016 planning continues, here are some things to keep in mind, along with trends that we see gaining momentum:

1. Conferences are the new water cooler

According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), conferences and conventions have continued to grow quarter after quarter for the last 5 years. While many people work remotely and technology reduces the need for meetings, getting face to face is more important than ever – to meet new colleagues, to deepen relationships, to explore the latest industry developments.

Away from their computers, these attendees are ripe to learn, ideal audiences for new products and services and out of home provides a host of ways to reach them. See a demonstration of a client’s dominating trade show / conference presence here.

2. Experiential helps to keep it real in our digital world

Our lives have become so digitized that we crave ways to interact with others.

Experiential marketing is a dynamic means of addressing that need while achieving solid business objectives. Teams can sample new products, create immersive personal moments, distribute offers, and garner valuable feedback while also providing exciting PR traction — all while entertaining and deeply engaging consumers. Studies are providing strong results: in 2014, The Event Marketing Institute found that 93 percent of consumers say live events are more effective than TV ads, with another 89 percent saying events improve their understanding of a product or service better than a TV, print, online or radio ad does.

In addition, 96 percent are more likely to buy a product after participating in a branded live event, and 74 percent of consumers report having “a more positive impression” of the company. Now that’s ROI.  

Full article here

AUSTRALIA NEWS

Australia: Outdoor dominates the 2015 Media i Awards

The Outdoor Media Association (OMA) is basking in the glory of its members’ successes at the 2015 Media i awards.

Held at The Ivy, Sydney on 11 November, OMA members took two out of the five State Sales Team of the Year gongs, as well as the coveted National Sales Team of the Year. Congratulations to all of the nominees and a special congratulations to the winners;

• National Sales Team of the Year – APN Outdoor

• NSW Sales Person of the Year – Outdoor/Cinema – Debbie Webb, APN Outdoor

• VIC Sales Team of the Year – APN Outdoor

• VIC Sales Person of the Year – Outdoor/Cinema – Brad Montgomery, JCDecaux

• QLD Sales Person of the Year – Outdoor Cinema – Louise Nicholls, JCDecaux

• SA Sales Person of the Year – Outdoor/Cinema – Thea Petros, APN Outdoor

• WA Sales Person of the Year – Outdoor/Cinema – Phil Dada, APN Outdoor

• WA Sales Team of the Year – APN Outdoor

And it’s no surprise Out-of-Home (OOH) winners are grinners, as the May 2015 Media i Survey shows that of all the channels surveyed (Outdoor/Cinema, Newspapers, Digital/Online, Magazines, TV and Radio), OOH employees are the happiest, with 35% of the 275 OOH respondents rating themselves a 9/10 on the happiness scale! All those happy vibes mean they also feel the most rewarded for their work (83%) and are least likely to be actively looking for another job (only 17%).

The wins come after a stellar October for the Outdoor industry, with revenues up for the tenth consecutive month in 2015, reporting $69.9 million for the month, up 19.4% for the same time last month. Year-to-date revenue has increased by 17.1%, tracking at $532.8million, up from $454.8million* for the same time last year. Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) year-to-date makes up 25.3% of total revenue, up from 16.5% of total revenue for the same period last year.

* The figures have been adjusted for 2014 revenue to reflect changes within categories, allowing direct comparisons in revenue year-on-year.

ASIA NEWS

Thailand: October sees continuing decline in ad revenue, down 6.21% year on year, but OOH is up

Advertising revenue continued to decline last month, in line with the economic conditions and cuts in spending by major advertisers.

According to Nielsen, total ad revenue in October was Bt10.24 billion, down by 6.21 per cent from Bt10.9 billion in the same month last year.

Suffering the steepest declines were in-store media, down by 85.96 per cent to Bt32 million; newspapers, down 17.34 per cent to Bt996 million; and magazines, down 17.16 per cent to Bt367 million.

Showing the most satisfactory improvements were digital TV, with an increase of 29.79 per cent to Bt1.82 billion; Internet, up 13.86 per cent to Bt115 million; and outdoor advertising, up 7.06 per cent to Bt349 million.

Nielsen found that that among top advertisers, Unilever (Thai) Holdings, Beierdorf (Thailand), Toyota Motor Thailand, L'Oreal (Thailand) and the Prime Minister's Office cut their spending in October as compared with the same month last year.

Because of the media research firm's revision of its database, advertising expenditure in the first 10 months indicated growth of 4.84 per cent to Bt101.78 billion from Bt97.08 billion in the same period last year.

Of total ad spending from January to last month, 47.42 per cent or Bt48.26 billion was on analog television channels, followed by 17.3 per cent or Bt17.6 billion on digital TV, 9.8 per cent or Bt10 billion on newspapers, 4.98 per cent or Bt5 billion on cable/satellite TV and 4.51 per cent or Bt4.58 billion on radio.

Previously, Rathakorn Surbsuk, trading partner at GroupM, estimated that the advertising industry would witness growth of 4-5 per cent next year, against the expectation of either flat growth or a decline of up to 5 per cent this year.

In the current quarter, business performance appears to be weak, so companies have cut their advertising budgets and reallocated the money for online strategy and promotions to boost sales, he said.

Source

China: Why have QR codes taken off in China?

In China, brands are using QR codes for everything – from digital campaigns, to branding, to content marketing and O2O e-commerce strategies. And it's all because of WeChat.

QR codes have largely failed in western markets, but in China, the mass adoption of social communications app WeChat – with its embedded QR reader software – means no brand can market without them. China's WeChat has more than 600 million monthly active users.

Every time the app is downloaded onto a mobile phone, so too is a QR code reader. This creates a shortcut for a user to link directly from an offline source to an online WeChat account, without the customer having to find and download a QR reader.

It also eliminates the search process of looking for the brand in a Google or Baidu search. "QR codes are so ugly, but so useful at turning the physical world into an interactive surface. You scan the QR code and every surface becomes a gateway into digital content," says Eugene Chew, chief digital officer at J. Walter Thompson Shanghai. Chew says it is the rapid adoption rate and ubiquitous nature of WeChat that has directly led to the popularity of QR codes in China.

Here are some ways brands in China are using QR codes:

1. O2O Brands are using QR codes to drive online to offline (O2O) sales, especially in retail. It's not uncommon in China to see a poster at the entrance to a shop or near the cash register asking consumers to "add" them on WeChat. QR Codes appear on buses, on outdoor advertisements and even on business cards. WeChat's user appeal lies in its intimate and closed environment. For example, unless the user has agreed to follow a brand's official subscriber account, the brand cannot send personalized and targeted content to them.

Brands are also limited to sending just four direct messages a month to each follower. But it outlines why brands are so eager to increase their followers on WeChat through a QR code - better, and more direct, consumer engagement. QR codes are not restricted to out-of-home (OOH) advertising either but are cross-promoted across social platforms from Weibo to LinkedIn. Here is how British brand, The Cambridge Satchel Company is using QR codes as part of its China marketing strategy.

Full article here

Singapore: Clear Channel expands digital outdoor network

Clear Channel has announced its presence to deliver pin-sharp digital advertising to millions of people every day with the expansion of its Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) network.

13th November 2015 is a significant date that marks the launch of Clear Channel’s DOOH network expansion, “Play – We Put The ‘D’ In OOH.” Media agencies, creative agencies, clients and partners are exclusively invited to join the local experts as they share insights on digital out-of-home. The expected turnout of 300-strong crowd will get to experience the features of Play and witness the digital screens displaying the launch campaigns up close at the event and on the streets island wide! This is an event not to be missed!

The digital panels at the showcase are embedded with a HD Camera that allows colour, gender and object recognition to be executed. Guests will get to have a first-hand experience to interact with the exclusive capabilities at the event. Other than audience-triggered content, dynamic targeting messages and photos will also be part of the showcase. Dynamic live updates present advertisers with the ability to push content in real-time. This showcase provides potential clients what PLAY can offer.

Clear Channel is pleased to be partnered with Walt Disney and Johnson & Johnson to broadcast their creatives during the launch weekend of Play to provide greater audience engagement through animation and copy movement.

Walt Disney will kick start the launch of Play by dominating the digital out-of-home screens on Friday night, presenting the most anticipated movie of the year “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” trailer and visuals followed by Johnson & Johnson’s Listerine digital out-of-home campaign on Saturday.

“We are thrilled to be launching our campaign for the most anticipated movie of the year, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, together with Clear Channel’s Play 2.0. Play technology brings to life our movie visuals and trailers, and with its added interactive functions, will ignite a new wave to Singapore’s outdoor media landscape. Congratulations, Clear Channel, may the force be with you.”

Rachel Fong, Senior Marketing Manager, Walt Disney Studios Singapore “Times are definitely changing and the uses for digital out-of-home extend far beyond static images, not only do we have the ability to create interactive and immersive digital experiences for our consumers. It will also provide better integration that can run across multiple devices.

Technology advances such as this makes promotions, daily deals and flash ads more exciting and engaging, consumers today will increasingly expect to be active participants in a promotion in real time. Last but not least, the digital out-of-home signage enables advertisers to be more measurable across multiple metrics.” Marilyn Tan, Head of Marketing, Johnson & Johnson Singapore. “Play brings together: a creative-led approach, an intelligent use of the latest technology, a forward-thinking and innovative display model – from fixed ownership, to flexible ownership, to reactive and conditional ad-serving; and we combine and apply these across 200 of the most-interacted locations – to help brands reach audiences where they live, work and play.

Play will define the game in digital out-of-home in Singapore.” Kelly Khoo, CEO, Clear Channel Singapore.

Source