NewsLine Column: The Future Of Giant Banner Advertising
Giant banners are becoming an increasingly popular option for brands seeking to cut through the increasing amount of advertising clutter. The sector was worth an estimated £16 million last year and Ian Bohn, sales and marketing director at Megaposter UK, claims there are even bigger things on the horizon…
Giant banner advertising has had a growing impact on the UK outdoor scene since being imported from Continental Europe in the late 1990’s, where it began as a loose association between the construction and advertising industries.
Poster specialist Outdoor Connection valued the UK giant banner sector at around £500,000 in 1998. Megaposter estimates sector spend for 2003 at around £16 million, with growth of between 20% – 25%, more than double that for outdoor as a whole (2003 v 2002).
Growth has been fuelled by the creation of new sites and a wider appreciation from advertisers of the need to gain standout for their messages.
The sector’s commercial landscape has changed over the past few years, with revenues dispersed more evenly amongst the three main contractors. We estimate Mega Profile and BlowUP virtually neck and neck for leadership sharing around 60% of turnover between them, with Megaposter a comfortable third on 15% (due to a doubling of turnover in 2003). The balance is spread among several regional contractors, with Van Wagner and more recently Clear Channel International taking share with a few locations each.
Increasingly local authorities are recognising the benefits to be gained from giant banners and several major councils like Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh have adopted policies to facilitate their display.
Moving from the certainty of the past to my crystal ball, I would expect growth in both revenues and the universe of locations. I can also see consolidation within the sector.
CCI, after a much heralded entry, has so far limited its ambitions to a handful of sites. Considering their entry strategy for taxi advertising involved major acquisitions, might we expect an announcement soon? Giant banners should be a good business fit for CCI, particularly given the global potential.
The UK sector will continue to grow, particularly as agencies increasingly gain confidence in planning and buying the medium.
Cars were the sector’s biggest spending category in 2003, with Audi placing a TV budget on to banners in May because it was considered the most impactful medium after television. The indications for 2004 are that automotive will maintain this level of spend, although the focus of interest is moving from major arterial road sites, on to city centre locations. Banners are probably the only large outdoor format to increase presence in the centres of our major cities.
Given the primary audience for banners is 18 – 34, there will be increased activity from a broad range of style and fashion brands targeting this difficult to reach demographic.
Greater acceptance of the value of using banners to lift the impact and awareness of outdoor plans will be helped by the OAA facilitating the co-operation of the major contractors in joint marketing initiatives.
Local authorities will become more supportive of banners, accepting the benefits they bring to the community in terms of urban regeneration. This will ensure a continuing steady supply of authorised sites into the marketplace.
The sector’s future is healthy and I look forward to helping develop its considerable potential as we crank up through the gears in the years to come.
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