Poster sites make digital switch

Digital ‘poster’ sites that are quick and cheap to update, can be shared between brands and offer a flexible way to display messages are changing the face of out of home media. By Martin Croft

Out of home advertising is arguably the oldest form of advertising there is – graffiti promoting local brothels survives in ancient Greece, while in Victorian London, rival gangs of bill posters regularly defaced each others’ work and fought battles for the rights to the best pitches.

But the arrival of the latest new technology has fundamentally changed OOH, as Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 building demonstrates.

Terminal 5 is probably the first public building in the UK where the developers involved OOH experts in the design of the whole complex from the beginning. As a result, the terminal is a showcase for the latest developments in OOH technology, with a huge array of digital screens designed into the space.

But you don’t have to take a trip to Heathrow to see the marriage of new technology and OOH media in action. On the London Underground, CBS Outdoor’s digital escalator panels are now installed in 13 stations, while on the Victoria Line platforms at Euston Station, a bank of projectors display full-motion video onto the walls opposite platforms (CBS is calling this cross-tracks projection or XTP).

Above ground in London, JCDecaux will unveil a new network of 20 large – 18 square metre – roadside digital posters across the city later this month.

And next month, Clear Channel Outdoor UK launches its Digital Billboard Network starting with 10 sites across London, with another 10 planned by the end of the year.

Outside London, JCDecaux is expanding its digital display panels in UK airports, while outdoor media owner Streetbroadcast, the UK’s fourth largest six-sheet roadside contractor, is adding to its StreetLive network. This consists of revolving 360-degree digital LED six-sheet units, all Bluetooth enabled and hence interactive, situated in high footfall areas.

AdWalkers – high tech digital sandwich boards with LED display screens on them – have been used by a number of high profile brands to promote themselves on the UK’s busier high streets.

Bus shelters which allow passers-by to interact with marketing communications via touch-sensitive TV screens and keyboards, or use their mobile phones to download information, music or games through Bluetooth or infrared, have featured in a number of campaigns.

LED, LCD and plasma screens are driving the uptake of new technology by the OOH media industry because they allow for “poster” sites that are easier, quicker and cheaper to update, can be shared between more brands, offer flexibility in the messages that can be displayed and are by their nature more eye-catching.

Ivan Clark, managing director of the Destination Media Group – a division of specialist OOH media planning and buying group Kinetic – says: “A lot of what have gone previously have been good examples of technology being used for technology’s sake. What’s happening now, however, should bring in new advertisers.”

Significant investment

David McEvoy, group marketing director of JCDecaux, agrees that “digital in the past has been concentrated into much more niche areas, like bars and so on, and used for smaller campaigns. Some of the major owners of outdoor media sites are now putting significant investment into new technology”. As a result, McEvoy says: “2008 is going to be a watershed year for digital OOH media in the UK.”

Integrating the latest digital technology with OOH media sites is no longer just about small-scale tactical pushes, using the latest widgets purely for shock value. Now, digital is being used to speed up the deployment of OOH advertising, to increase flexibility and to maximise impact.

Control room

JCDecaux’s new 20-strong London network of giant screens – dubbed PrimeTime – are linked via BT cables to a central control room. Images on all of the screens can be updated or changed altogether at the touch of a button. Alternatively, since each poster site has been given a unique IP address, individual sites can be changed without affecting what is on the other screens.

Rob Atkinson, managing director of Clear Channel Outdoor UK, says that his company’s new Digital Billboard Network will use the flexibility new technology offers in a slightly different way – a number of ads from different advertisers will be shown in succession on a loop, so each ad will be seen for a few seconds. Clear Channel will also be selling by day-part.

There are still significant restrictions on digital poster sites, however – so roadside digital screens cannot show moving images, while ads running on screens on escalators must not startle travellers, both of which might cause accidents.

Even so, the ability to change images quickly and easily arguably means OOH can now compete with other media such as radio – or work in co-operation with. So a series of radio ads run during evening drive-time and targeting commuters could be backed up with poster ads with the same message.

Kinetic’s Clark is enthusiastic about this idea: “If you’re ITV, with a whole week of programming, then you can put ‘Tonight at 8pm’ on digital screens to catch people on their way home.”

The Evening Standard has been doing something very similar using CBS Outdoor’s digital screens in Underground stations, Clark says. “In the morning they run generic Evening Standard ads, but as soon as they have the first edition put together, they put that day’s headlines on the screens.”

London buses

As an example of what can be achieved with new technology, Nicky Cheshire, sales director of Alive and resident digital expert at CBS Outdoor, cites the possibility of changing the ads on the sides of the 25 London buses equipped with exterior LED panels according to which street they are on. She says: “The ability to broadcast a different message to someone seeing the same bus on Oxford Street to someone seeing it in the City is a huge advantage to marketers.”

Although the ability to change messages quickly and relatively cheaply is a major benefit for the media owners, clients are often far more interested in exploring the options for interactivity on offer.

For example, StreetBroadcast’s StreetLive network of digital screens was used by record label Integral/Dance by the Radio to promote the release of the debut album from The Pigeon Detectives, entitled Wait For Me. Locations were chosen for proximity to outlets where consumers could buy CDs, including the largest Tesco in the UK. StreetBroadcast claims that 33% of passers-by who interacted with the screens downloaded the album track advertised.

But there can be problems with building interactivity into OOH sites, as Jon Buckley, head of digital at Archibald Ingall Stretton, observes: “The chances of getting consumers taking part are slim, unless they’re given a reason to break from their normal activities and to positively interact.”

Macky Drese, managing partner at brand entertainment agency Stream, part of TBWA, says: “As with any new technology or media, or both, interaction with digital outdoor or ambient campaigns is still predominantly taking place with early adopters and only slowly starting to catch on with the general public.”

Drese believes that, with the wider public “there is a lingering perception they are allowing access to a personal space. There is a fear they will become the victims of unsolicited contact in the future and, worse still, unpredictable costs.”

Questions over the legality of using Bluetooth and confusion over whether it needs to be an opt-in or opt-out medium have also impeded its uptake. More damaging, though, is the inexorable march of technology, which could very soon see Bluetooth replaced with WiFi or Near Field Identification (NFID) enabled mobile phones.

NFID technology is used in London Underground’s Oyster cards, which are being expanded for use as cashless payment systems, but which can also be used for accessing free downloads.

Measuring engagement

However, Dwight Thomas, joint media director at agency Nexus/H, sounds a word of warning: “The issue is how does the industry measure the effectiveness of high tech versus standard formats? They have yet to develop a standardised way of measuring engagement and interaction. Even if this measuring tool is created how will the outdoor results relate and compare with online display ads?”