No ifs, no bots
Out-of-home must move into the data space if it is to compete with online, writes JCDecaux’s Spencer Berwin
Real ads seen by real people with real impact and real effect. At a time when people are rethinking the value equation of digital towards a new metric of human cost per thousand, outdoor is investing in new data about the real people seeing its advertising.
This data enrichment strategy is based on the increasing geo-locational and time based footprint that is available from smart phone usage, shopping behaviour and the physical Internet of things.
The Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) even went as far as putting up ads highlighting the Real Deal (this poster is seen by real people) during Ad Week New York.
This juxtaposition of the data integrity issues of digital and the increasing real data enrichment in outdoor caused huge impact amongst the elite of the American advertising industry.
Out-of-home advertising has always been strong and impactful. However, it was based on selling poster locations rather than audiences.
Two years ago we invested in the first SmartScreens, digital screens powered by data. These SmartScreens significantly changed both the way that we sell and the attitudes towards OOH.
In order to do this effectively, it is essential for OOH to have a solid data proposition. Next week will be our two-year anniversary of working with Tesco. We harnessed historical dunnhumby sales data broken down by the hour in order to power every screen at every store, using the data to echo shopping patterns.
Fast forward to today and the rest of the industry is playing catch-up, with out-of-home data partnerships starting to become more mainstream.
It’s ironic that two years after setting up this smart product, Facebook and dunnhumby have announced a similar collaboration.
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The biggest challenge we still face is overcoming the legacy of people buying inventory rather than audience. ‘A panel is a panel is a panel’ might have once rung true of OOH advertising, but it is simply not the case anymore.
There is a wide variety of sub-group audiences for every panel and as long as the measure of success stays at the price of a panel, it misses the real potential to be the people that brands can reach.
Advertisers are not interested in how many insertions, spots, panels or pages they’re getting for their pound – instead they want to reach eyeballs and encourage conversions. This is where the need for rich data comes in.
It might be the case that up until recently, advertisers haven’t realised the level of targeting and insight that is available for OOH, but there is a phenomenal amount of data and wealth of information that OOH can, and does, tap into. Resources including Route, CACI spend data and our own MyConnections panel maximise OOH budgets to a new degree.
In our data-centric world, the integration of data into OOH was a necessary and inevitable progression. Even other media owners rely on the power of OOH – without exception, online and offline media are using out-of-home to promote their own medium. It’s the media owner’s media.
With that in mind, a data-led approach compliments other channels and also enhances their own ad budgets.
According to the latest data, the amount spent on digital comprised 31% of the OOH total in 2015 and marked a 19 percent increase from the previous year. This certainly rings true for JCDecaux where the proportion of our revenues that are digital reached 36% last year and is forecast to reach 50% by 2017.
The digital roll-out of our TfL bus shelters will bring SmartScreens to the streets of London from Oxford Street, Kings Road, Kensington, Islington and all stops in between.
This will be a seminal moment in media where the impact of a data-led digital approach will be seen right in the heart of medialand.
Digital panels are more in demand than ever before; not only because they are more visually exciting, but because of the activation they can deliver – be that contextual, temporal, relevant, topical, or reacting to the conversations and behaviour of the streets.
Coupled with the brand effect of mass reach and impact of classic posters, digital has redrawn the boundaries of what is possible in the oldest medium.
Whilst technology is driving consumer behaviour in ways that are bringing challenges to nearly all other mediums, it only increases opportunities in OOH. No ifs, no bots – you can’t block it, switch it off or fast forward. With insightful data and digital delivery, OOH has the opportunity to be far more dynamic than ever before.
Spencer Berwin is co-CEO of JCDecaux UK