Viacom Tube Contract To Lead Digital Ad Revolution
The renewal of Viacom Outdoor’s London Underground contract (see Viacom Clinches Tube Contract) will ignite the digital revolution in Outdoor advertising, according to chief executive Tom Goddard.
Speaking last night at an event to launch Viacom Outdoor’s vision for the Tube, company heads said it was the beginning of an exciting new phase of change. Mr Goddard said the contract would “become a major growth engine for Outdoor as a medium”.
Andrew Oldham and Tim Bleakley, joint MDs of the company, revealed details of the biggest advertising contract on the planet. All display spaces will be dramatically overhauled, with innovative digital displays and new framing methods being introduced, and glue-posting being abolished to optimise presentation solutions for advertisers. A new system developed with 3M similar to the ‘post it’ note will be implemented to replace traditional glue posters.
Mr Oldham said the project was “like TV moving from black and white to colour”. The digital displays will range from small digital escalator panels to bigger LCD screens to huge cross track projections (XTP) with full motion video and giant ‘Media Wall’ sites.
The most important features of the displays will be the ability to have remote access to change images and copy instantly, as well as the ability to target different audiences more effectively through changing displays at different times of the day.
Viacom Outdoor plans to have 21,000 digital displays by 2007. “We’re going to create the biggest digital network on the planet,” said Mr Bleakley. The Underground will become “the advertising gallery for London.”
Richard Parry, director of strategy and service development at LU, revealed details of a £5 billion investment plan, saying that all Tube stations would be refurbished in time for the Olympics in 2012, providing a more attractive, sleeker environment to house Viacom’s revamped ad spaces.
There is also to be a programme of station expansion. Lines such as the Jubilee will get longer trains and passenger numbers would increase by 25% over the next few years, providing advertisers with larger captive audiences. “Advertising is part of [the Tube’s] long and rich history,” said Mr Parry.
Viacom Outdoor has been responsible for managing advertising across London’s Underground system for the past 12 years, during which time it has grown revenues well in excess of the Outdoor sector. The new LU contract is for eight-and-a-half years.