EUROPE NEWS

UK: L'Oréal signs on to advertise at new Piccadilly Lights

L'Oréal will be the fourth advertiser to take up residence at the new Piccadilly Lights advertising site, which is due to be relaunched later this month.

The cosmetics giant has joined Coca-Cola, Samsung and Hyundai as one of the six advertisers on the famous outdoor site, with two brands still yet to be announced.

L’Oréal Paris X Balmain Paris Colour Riche Lipstick Collection will be the launch brand and the creative will showcase 12 limited-edition shades of the product.

The Piccadilly Lights have been switched off since January for major renovation work that will see the original patchwork of screens replaced with a single 4K LED digital screen and live technology hub.

L'Oréal had advertised on a temporary illuminated banner that was in place during renovation at the site, which is managed by Ocean Outdoor on behalf of Land Securities.

Sweden: FEPE – Reaching the world of OOH

Paul McCormack, Head of Planning at Rapport, reflects back on this year’s FEPE conference, held in Stockholm this June.

FEPE is out-of-home’s (OOH) international advertising community, with members spanning from over 50 markets. Paul had the pleasure of attending the conference, where both he and Barry Louth, Sky’s Head of Media Planning and Strategy, had been invited to share their views on the current state of OOH in the UK. As Sky’s long-term media partner, I had the honour of representing Rapport by joining him on stage to share our opinions with approximately 350 attendees, from sales companies, ad tech, and investment and buying agencies.

Having worked in the UK OOH market for over 16 years, I have always been intrigued by FEPE and the mainly C-Suite attendees who were present. Some of my previous bosses have been heavily involved in the setup, so this was my chance to not only attend but participate too. I was surprised about the depth of the information shared by speakers who had the opportunity to be somewhat cagey with sensitive information. On this occasion, I sensed that people were being much more candid and collaborative.

Ireland: Adtower Introduces Facial Detection & Analysis Platform

Adtower Digital Media, the digital OOH company, has partnered with Quividi, the globally accepted audience authority for digital OOHng (DOOH).

Adtower will be providing its customers with Quividi’s VidiReports, an image processing and analysis suite of software that collects audience metrics for the digital out of home advertising industry. VidiReports track faces and categorise them by age and gender within a fraction of a second.

A discreet data sensor, placed in front of a digital screen, views a scene and detects human faces as they come into view. The metrics are collected at each digital screen and then uploaded on a regular basis to a cloud-based data aggregation service called VidiCenter. By calculating the ratio of attention time to dwell time, it will be possible to understand the attraction index of an advertising message.

UK: Mobile meets OOH is the sweet spot for location-based marketing

Location-based marketing combines the best of online and offline, of narrowcast and broadcast, of the real world and the virtual world. The use of location in targeting marketing communication is not a new phenomenon but, fuelled by the explosion of mobile devices and the data trails they leave, it has become a significantly more effective tool in recent years.

As a result, it has been forecast that as much as 43% of all adspend will be location targeted by 2019. But understanding where an audience is and serving marketing messages relevant to that specific place only represents one facet of what a location-based strategy can provide to marketers.

In my view, there are two other components that are arguably more significant in terms of their potential to transform marketing effectiveness. The first is the cross-over between the digital world and the physical world.

Sweden: JCDecaux awarded 10 year contract by Stockholm city for 5000 e-bikes funded by advertising street furniture

JCDecaux SA has announced that the city of Stockholm (population 950,000) has awarded JCDecaux Sweden following a competitive tender the contract for bike sharing funded by advertising street furniture starting in April 2018. This contract includes the design, installation and maintenance of 5000 e-bikes at 300 dock less e-parking bike stations.

These e-bikes are GPS connected and the service is fully application based for smartphone use easing and enhancing the bike users experience. These hybrid electric bikes with a removable battery will enable residents to choose whether or not to use the electric assistance function at any time.

In order to keep subscription and users fees as low as possible while not using taxpayers money the city of Stockholm decided to finance this e-bike sharing network with advertising street furniture. As a result JCDecaux will operate 280 double-sided back-lit 2m2 advertising units and 70 digital 86" units which will display animated advertising content.

UK: JCDecaux: 'we must ensure outdoor doesn't fall into pitfalls of digital media'

JCDecaux is launching a new brand charter, BranDO, which is to set a gold standard of best practice across the digital out-of-home industry.

The charter, launched today at the IAB Digital Upfronts, aims to bring about more accountability, viewability, measurability, transparency and brand safety to the sector. To ensure accountability, JCDecaux will ensure its metrics and measurements are independently verified by PwC and it will provide a quarterly compliance report to ensure transparency.

JCDecaux’s sales and partnership director, Ben Maher stressed the need for transparency across the industry and warned of the pitfalls of broader digital advertising. Maher said: "We have to ensure digital out-of-home doesn’t fall into the pitfalls of digital media. We can bring comfort to brands as we’re not clocked in secrecy as outdoor is played outdoor in public."

USA: OUTFRONT Media Awarded Long-Term Contract By The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority

OUTFRONT Media Inc, has announced that the board of directors of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (“MTA”) has awarded OUTFRONT Media the advertising and communications concession agreements for subway, commuter rail and buses, as well as billboards, subject to the execution of definitive agreements. These awards will continue OUTFRONT Media’s successful, long-term public-private partnership with the MTA and present new opportunities for the MTA to provide real-time and intelligent communications to its customers and generate advertising revenue.

“We are pleased to announce that the MTA is renewing its long-term partnership with OUTFRONT Media, and we are excited by the visionary new media network we will build together across the New York City transit system,” said Jeremy Male, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OUTFRONT Media. “The experience for riders will be transformed through enhanced digital communications, aesthetics, and creativity. We are confident that its appeal to advertisers can grow this important resource for the MTA, its customers, and our stakeholders.”

USA: How Is Digital Out Of Home Evolving?

The emergence of the driverless and connected car has major implications for Digital Out of Home Advertising, says DPAA President and CEO Barry Frey.

“Digital” is no longer a tacked-on qualifier to Out Of Home advertising — it’s become an integral part of all billboards, whether there’s an electronic screen directly embedded in such placements or not.

That’s because smartphone toting consumers and the rise of autonomous vehicles and the connected car are all about the interlocking use of data, says Barry Frey, President and CEO DPAA (formerly known as the Digital Place-Based Advertising Association).

Still, the revenues have to catch up to those facts, as the DPAA itself notes that by 2018, 53 percent of OOH revenue will be digital.

USA: What Does a 40-Year Look Back Tell Us About OOH Media?

Nancy Fletcher OAAA President and CEO

Looking back at 1977 – when I began working for the out of home (OOH) advertising business – that year is amazingly revealing, even prescient, about the future power of the oldest mass medium.

Six slices of ’77 show the industry’s ability to adapt to change, connect to culture, and help solve problems:

1. Yesterday’s startups are today’s top OOH customers

In February 1977, a magazine article about nascent Apple was published in Kilobaud (now defunct). The author, after lunch with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, drove to Jobs’ parents’ home in Palo Alto to see a PC board on a workbench in the garage.

USA: OAAA’s Take on Advertising Week 2017

Last week’s Advertising Week was nothing short of “remarkable,” in true New York City style. With hundreds of panels and networking events to choose from, it was hard for any advertising professional not to participate in the outstanding content offered this year.

Throughout the event, OOH was well represented with panels covering everything from digital and programmatic, to storytelling and more. There was also excellent attendance from a wide variety of ad professionals at the OAAA panel featuring this year’s industry campaign, Photo Ark #SaveTogether.

Here’s a recap of OAAA’s journey through each OOH panel presented this year:

Australia: Ooh! Media tracks mood of customers in Nutella activation

Ooh!Media and PHD are asking shoppers to smile for first mood recognition campaign for Nutella across Australia and NZ. A shoppers' facial expression will determine the ad they see on a new Nutella campaign that uses facial mapping technology to determine their mood and personalises creative to match.

When not directly engaged by shoppers, the panels will carry changing content depending on the number of shoppers walking by.

For example if a group walks past at any given time the creative may say: “You look stunning. Did someone say selfie?” Blair Hamilford, oOh!media’s group director for retail says the facial mapping software, which does not capture or store personal data, added a new dimension to how out-of-home advertising could be used to capture the attention of audiences.

“Since its launch over two years ago the Excite network has engaged with over half a million people and we continue to find new ways in how to use technology, data and content to drive deeper engagement between brands and audiences,” he says.

India: OOH Sector Expects Sluggish Festive Season

Various government policies introduced in India over the last one year are making a significant impact on businesses both big and small across the country. Demonetisation followed by GST and RERA have made a huge difference to the ad industry. And things are looking bleak for the OOH sector this festive season. Industry executives e4m spoke with said that the impact of the GST rollout will continue to impact business leading to sluggish ad spends for the OOH space.

Though business has picked up after a slow first half, the industry still expects a dull festive season when it comes to OOH ad spends. According to Suresh Balakrishnan, CEO (South Asia, India & Middle East) of Kinetic WW, the main issue this year has been that business has picked up very late into the festive period. “Where we usually start seeing business 7-8 weeks before the Diwali, this year, it has picked up steam just 3-4 weeks prior to it," he told us. The reason for this, he says, is the GST rollout. Another side-effect of this has been an inventory crunch due to a scramble for outdoor inventory.

FEPE OOH News 5th October 2017