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A FUTURE VISIONAn insight into the future of out-of-home

A FUTURE VISIONAn insight into the future of out-of-home

a publication by Rapport Worldwide

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6 FOREWORD

8 RAPPORT AROUND THE WORLD

OUT-OF-HOME BACKGROUND

10 WHAT IS INNOVATION?

12 A NEW SCIENCE IN OOH

18 DRIVING CONTENT THROUGH OOH

20 PRIVACY MEETS PRACTICALITY

UNCOVERING TECHNOLOGIES

24 5 TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE FUTURE

32 EXPLORING BLUETOOTH AND BEACONS

36 NO MORE EXCUSES FOR NFC

38 MOBILE AND OOH WORKING TOGETHER

EXPLORING DIGITAL OUT-OF-HOME

44 DIGITAL OOH SNAPSHOT

46 TRADING IN DIGITAL OOH

48 THE CHALLENGES FACING DIGITAL OOH

52 CONTACT US

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Predicting the future of out-of-home (OOH) is no mean feat. The world’s oldest medium is adapting and is well-placed to take advantage of an increasingly mobile and connected society.

We’ve witnessed unprecedented change in OOH over the last few years. Huge investment by media owners has brought about the rise of digital, creating new collaborations with technology, mobile & data. We now have an audience research model in Route that we can all be proud of.

Most importantly however, is that existing and new brands are embracing these advances – pushing boundaries and achieving spectacular results. Frequent winners from Cannes Lions are testimony to that.

The future of OOH is exciting. Hotly debated topics surrounding live availability, programmatic trading, automation and content management all point to the fact that we need to make the medium easier to trade. Allowing brands to access the market and communicate their messages in real-time is the end goal. We have a lot to be proud of when we look back over the recent past – but as ever we remain firmly focused on improving the future.

Whatever the future holds though, we simply aim to connect brands and consumers – delivering effective results in the process.

‘Rewarding Connections’ is our promise – and we hope this book delivers another one.

Enjoy.

Chris MarjoramManaging Director, Rapport UK

Welcome to ‘A Future Vision’Rapport’s insight into the future of out-of-home

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RAPPORT WORLDWIDE

London, UK

Birmingham, UK

Manchester, UK

Brussels, Belgium

Paris, France

Amsterdam, Netherlands

New York, USA

Chicago, USA

Detroit, USA

Los Angeles, USA

Mumbai, India

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In the not too distant past, when a media agency presented to a prospective client describing why they planned and bought better than anyone else in the market, the obligatory “Future of the Market” slide would appear. If you were really lucky, just before you reached the appendix there would be a section on innovation, usually tacked on to ensure all bases were covered. How times have changed.

Today innovation is at the forefront of a marketer’s thinking. As the old adage goes, “if you don’t innovate as a business, you die as a business”. More and more we find the traditional metrics of success, such as the value delivered to the client, not acting as the standalone pillar of measurement. Instead there is a second pillar, one that can give a brand personality and in turn a tone of voice rather than just a directive piece of communication. The pillar of innovation is just that, and we believe it should be built into the DNA of every plan right at the briefing stage.

So in today’s market place, what is innovation? At Rapport, we believe that innovation is “doing different”.

Different from what though? Taking a different route from the normal market conventions? Planning and buying differently from your competitors? Surprising your audiences with an activation that shakes up their normal routine? In truth, the answer is all of these. Whilst an enviable goal is ensuring your consumers are left with a memorable experience of your brand, simply giving your campaign an edge over competitors is all that is needed to truly stand out. Doing different provides a business with an advantage against its rivals, amplifying the very heartbeat of the campaign. And therein lies its true value. Innovation for innovation sake can be

destructive. Everyone involved in the process from client side to media owner side can quickly become disillusioned and cynical when they hear, “we want a media first”, when in reality a national 6 sheet campaign will deliver on all Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It’s a balancing act, and there is no set rule to making it work. Rather a common sense approach with honest communication at the briefing stage will ensure relevancy to campaign objectives.

The other key ingredient to any successful activation is risk. There are never guarantees that a standard media plan will deliver on objectives, but when you throw innovative formats that are untested, the fear factor can take over. It feels safer to buy those 6 sheets than it is to buy that one site with all the tricks thrown in. This is why relationships are key in helping to nurture such briefs, and this has always been the cornerstone of any Rapport activation.

It all sounds so easy? We don’t pretend it is easy, but neither do we feel it’s complicated. Doing different with right minded people, clear communication and a sprinkling of risk can be a potent mix that all advertisers should invest in.

It is those Rewarding Connections which are truly worth talking about.

WHAT ISINNOVATION?

if you don’t innovate as a

business, you die as a business

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A NEW SCIENCEIN OOH

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An additional GBP 100,000 investment into OOH 48 sheets would boost OOH coverage by circa 12%. Removing the same budget from TV would decrease TV coverage by 1%. This resulted in an overall net increase of coverage without costing the client extra budget.

Secondly, we have been driving efficiencies with our planning by optimising frame selection and distribution. It is now possible to analyse individual frames by a specific target audience which enables us to significantly increase the reach and frequency of our campaigns with an audience optimised site list. By using individual frame data we are able to optimise our OOH campaigns and improve the results immediately with no extra investment. We booked a national 6 sheet campaign and managed to drive efficiencies by adding 20% audience optimisation which resulted in a 24% decrease in cost per thousand (CPT). At Rapport we optimise audience across applicable campaigns to deliver Rewarding Connections. Doing this provides our clients with greater efficiency in their campaigns but it is not without its difficulties.

There are a large percentage of frames which will deliver high penetration across multiple audiences and similarly frames which will offer less. This leads to a further trading conversation on pricing as demand fluctuates between frames and also provides availability issues. As this method of planning and optimising campaigns continues the noise surrounding a CPT/Programmatic trading model will only increase.

Route gives OOH the opportunity to confidently analyse campaigns across multiple environments, providing greater accountability than ever before. This can help rationalise specific format investment while also challenging previous campaign norms.

Route has given us the most comprehensive picture ever of OOH audiences. As an industry we have to embrace it and drive it forward.

The launch of Route in February 2013 was a historic landmark in out-of-home (OOH), catapulting the industry into a new era of planning and trading. With a sample size of over 34,000 people, over 3.5 million pathways mapped and new eye-tracking data, Route arguably provides the most robust audience research tool across all media. With ‘Big Data’ a trending topic across media and beyond, genuine interest from outside the OOH ecosystem was placed in Route.

At Rapport we have made some significant step changes to how we approach briefs, utilising the vast audience data now available.

Firstly, with thousands of possible combinations of audience it has allowed us to accommodate and strive for more detailed consumer breakdowns from our clients. Utilising this data gives us and our clients a greater understanding of audience. We aim to include Route driven insights on all responses as part of our planning pathway. This can range from a regional consumer breakdown; how transport methods and environments index against the national average; where they most frequently shop and what they do in their spare time. In addition to this it is also possible to analyse the effect other media has on our client’s audience, giving OOH the opportunity to use the data to pitch for additional budgets. For example, Route shows that only 27% of ABC1 18-34s consistently read one of the top ten press titles. Knowing this we could support a press campaign by specifically targeting the 73% who are less likely to see the activity.

The added accountability Route provides means we can be more confident when analysing OOH’s role in the media mix. A recent Rapport audit showed that a budget adjustment from TV to OOH would increase overall campaign coverage.

A New Science in OOHMichael Cobb, Group Account Director, Rapport Worldwide

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A New Science in OOH

Cross industry support, investment of some GBP 19 million and still counting, more data than can be adequately described by the word ‘Big’ and recognition by the government of ground breaking work in the field of “science or technology”. Many media research platforms are envious of what we have already achieved in the out-of-home (OOH) industry with our Route audience research.

However, it is not the research or the data that creates change. It is the application of the insight derived from it, and realising this actually represents an equally important challenge for the industry.

We have already identified three valuable principles which will underpin this change.Firstly, the principle of “Enabling Efficiency” by using Route to help select the most appropriate groups of frames for a defined audience within any one format, it is now possible to improve the quantity of appropriate impacts achieved. This has long-term implications for demand, supply and therefore pricing of frames against their ability to deliver audience, rather than the proxy legacy of real estate size.

Secondly, the principle of “Driving Planning”, because the consistent methodology of Route unveils the true comparative audience impacts delivered within different environments and by different format types. An emotional or subjective preference for one choice over another will need to be qualified by its measured delivery against the target audience in comparison to the alternatives.

Thirdly, the principle of “Authenticating Knowledge” reveals, perhaps surprisingly, that it is still the traditional billboard which can collectively deliver the greatest audience reach per 1,000 frames out of any individual format.

The research is certainly bringing us new and relevant information. Integration with TouchPoints, which is being developed by the IPA, and further investment in proprietary software enabling the integration of complementary planning data sources will allow Route to power more valuable insight to inform decisions.

It will also provide a much improved data source for econometric modelling which has until now been poorly supplied with inadequate OOH data, creating relatively low-grade and therefore less reliable analysis and forecasting.

A word of caution however is that all of this advancement also creates additional complexity. The skill sets of practitioners need to be matched to the tasks, the natural inertia to change will need to be driven through by business leaders and the logistics of adopting a more audience orientated valuation of media inventory will need to be surmounted.

Already there are individual examples of campaigns which are beginning to be planned and executed differently as a result of the application of the insight derived from Route and there is a willingness by both the buy and sell side to work to deliver campaigns which have the best opportunity to create rewarding connections for the clients. But it is not yet either a natural or an easy process.

The next big challenge for our industry is to ensure that we really harness from Route data the insight which enables us to create even more effective campaigns which will change the attitudes and actions of the audiences our clients want to reach.

Mungo Knott, Marketing & Insight Director at Primesight

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Judges no longer need be concerned – or rather, we need to start thinking differently about those one-off ‘stunt’ style ads. Now, a single OOH execution, run even for a couple of hours, on a solitary panel is not just advertising. It’s content. And that changes everything. We’re all aware of the huge advances in branded content, driven by social media. UM’s proprietary social media study Wave, now in its eighth incarnation, demonstrated how content sharing is the most significant aspect of social media this year. So if a single OOH execution becomes the catalyst for a much bigger social campaign, then we need to take that into account.

We’ve already seen how effective an approach it can be to show people reacting to your advertising. Brands like WestJet and Coke have been YouTubing their random acts of kindness for some time. Just as Gogglebox viewers get a thrill out of watching other people reacting to TV, the right OOH campaign can yield reactions in the unsuspecting public that ensure gleeful shareability.

If you haven’t seen aliens, monsters or meteorites intimidate New Oxford Street bus passengers in the name of Pepsi Max, where have you been?

It’s sometimes difficult for an awards judge evaluating a piece of out-of-home (OOH) creative to be sure that it’s actually from a legitimate campaign. Rumours abound of agencies booking a poster site for a day, photographing their creative in situ and entering it in every category that they can justify so that it’s seen by more judges than by consumers in the field. Is that fair? Does it really count as advertising?

OUT-OF-HOMEDRIVING CONTENT THROUGH

You’ll have seen the virtual Lynx Angels being danced with or mime-humped by the public in Victoria Station or watched half a dozen wannabe Bonds receiving their missions from Coke Zero vending machines, or laughed as those unsuspecting bus passengers realised that the adverts next to them features images of themselves, retouched by Adobe Nordic. Each of these campaigns were actively viewed by millions and endorsed by the peers that shared them.

People reacting to advertising can make good viewing and shares of those reactions can yield more viewers than the advertising itself. OOH and experiential sites are finding a sideline role in content creation. Suddenly it’s okay to book a one-off site for a couple of hours if you use it for content.

What’s the role for OOH media owners in this growing trend? Surely if, with the right creative, brands can get better results from the shareable content from a single bus shelter than the combined eyeballs on a targeted pack, the media owners will lose out? That’s one way of looking at it.

The other is to consider the opportunity – which I think is a big one - for media owners to co-create content with brands and agencies, or perhaps explore other revenue models, substituting site fees for payment dependent on social metrics such as shares or likes gained. Dare I suggest they could even think about offering actors to play the reacting public... After all, who leaves these things purely to chance?

Nick Leonard, Ideation Director, UM

Pepsi Max’s ‘Unbelievable’ campaign


PRIVACY MEETS PRACTICALITYThe Wired Conference held in London’s East End showcased the very best of the here and now with some excellent standout presentations. For example, 23andme demonstrated how your DNA can be analysed and broken down to provide your ancestry, all for the lowly sum of USD 100. With this analysis, you can share your results with 750,000 other users and help take part in over two hundred and thirty studies.

Then there was the mind bending Quantum Computing from D-Wave. It can compute tasks on an incredible scale, solving some of the most complex calculations in a matter of seconds vs. a normal computer which would have taken over a thousand years to do the same task. Taking a different tone was the admirable Yulia Marushevska, who described the suffering her country Ukraine has gone through in recent times. Initially her voice was heard through a video on Youtube, which so far has over eight million views. Whilst these were the standout speeches, perhaps the most intriguing came from Nico Sell of r00tz Asylum.

She was advocating privacy online and how the responsibility lies with us, not with the companies. You probably haven’t heard of Nico Sell. She

comes on stage wearing shades (presumably to ensure she has greater protection from cameras so as to hide her identity) and begins a passionate speech about privacy. She’s not on Twitter or Instagram. In fact, her name probably isn’t Nico at all. She explains how easy it is to teach your kids to hack your phone, hack your webcam and listen in on your calls. As she puts, “those personal sexts you send your boyfriend are for everyone to see”. The “internet is forever” she states.

You may have heard of a little app called Wickr, which is creating huge waves across the industry. Nico is the CEO of this app. It looks to take on the behemoth that is WhatsApp, with the key difference being that messages will self-destruct, vanishing forever. Protecting your data is one way of fighting back against a data mining industry that is ready to sell your data to make big bucks. And this most certainly struck a chord with me. Working in the advertising industry, I have made decisions every single day, using millions of pounds of my clients’ money based on careful and considered insight. Insights that I suspect Nico would rather us not have.

protecting your data is one way of fighting back against a data

mining industry that is ready to sell your data to make big bucks


Without question there is a strong case regarding our privacy. Whilst at times the speech felt like paranoia, the recent Snapchat third party hack provides complete credence to her argument. What we believe to be safe can in fact be completely open to attack. However, the question I have is, “do we actually care?”. Something rather fascinating happened after Nico’s speech.

The conference emptied for lunch and it was at this point attendees queued in their hundreds to grab a free DNA kit from 23andme. Nearly everyone was willing to give up every segment about their personal information to an international company and have their purest detail exist in cyberspace forever more, no less than 5 minutes after Nico’s point about online privacy.

Maybe then it’s the thought of new technologies that frighten us, the unknown of what it can do. Rarely does the reality match this fear. When mobile phones were first invented, the fear amongst many was how terrorists could coordinate attacks. Yet here we are in 2014, where more mobile phones exist in the world than there are people.

Google Maps paranoia hit the big time when it launched back in 2005, with stories of burglars having a blueprint to your property from above, giving insight into breaking and entering your home. Now? Google Maps has arguably become a fundamental application of our digital lives. And who can forget about CERN, the scientific laboratory that would consume planet earth into a black hole. Today it seems beacons are the next scary technology that will lead us into oblivion.

BuzzFeed recently ran two articles showing how New York, Chicago and Los Angeles had beacons installed “secretly”. Key words that came out from the articles were “hidden”, “track movements” and “deepen the network of surveillance”. It certainly felt like scaremongering to me.

In essence, beacons are a way to push ads out. And the real reality is to incentivise consumers. Will people complain when they receive a free coffee for simply walking past Starbucks? Will people bemoan the fact when their British Airways app tells them instantly what gate they should be boarding and at what time by simply walking through Heathrow? Let’s not forget too that the app on your phone will provide an opt in/opt out option. Either way, based on the BuzzFeed article, the beacons were removed.

In my opinion this was done with a lack of true understanding of what beacon technology offers. I suspect BuzzFeed will be reviewing their cookies policy ensuring they do not track the online movements of their reader base. God forbid they sold that information to advertisers.

Privacy and security online is indeed our responsibility. Nico is right – the internet is forever. But sometimes concocting fear around new technologies is not welcome. As history has shown, the masses will decide if it’s something we need. Whilst I won’t be posting my address on Facebook, I am interested in finding out what my ancestry holds. Now pass me my DNA pack…

Craig Barber, Head of Innovation & Emerging Media, Rapport Worldwide


TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE FUTURE5


Virtual Reality (VR) technology has seen astronomical commercial success in recent years. The USD 2 billion acquisition by Facebook of the Oculus Rift signified how VR is here for the foreseeable future. In essence, the Oculus Rift allows for 360 degree video to be streamed to the headset giving consumers a truly immersive experience.

The Rift has been used in some interesting ways already, such as helping people overcome their phobias by viewing video content such as being near spiders. Likewise the gaming community has taken Rift as its own with first person shooter games in particular creating incredibly immersive experiences. In the future, we may find ourselves tuning into a live gig to experience it as if we were actually there. But what about advertisers and the opportunity it presents?

The Oculus Rift offers a whole new exciting layer to experiential activity. Advertisers can now bring the content to consumers without sacrificing realism. Take your consumers on a safari, or immerse them with a thrill ride. We expect VR technology to be a part of out-of-home (OOH) experiential activity for a long time. Samsung and Sony are also set to release their own VR headsets soon.

VR TECHNOLOGY1

4K/8K SCREENS2The new 4k television displays produce four times as much detail as current HD sets. With prices for some sets already under GBP 600, we expect the 4k revolution to stick, unlike the failed 3D push of a few years back.

There are already tests in place for 8k screens, with 2020 being the rumoured year of launch. Analysts argue the human eye will not really notice the difference at these higher resolutions unless TV sets are over 70 inches, but there is always a craving from a consumer market where ‘more equals better’.

For OOH, this technology will not be a game changer, but rather a preferred route to demonstrate the premium nature of digital OOH. With such high quality displays coming down in price, we may see an upgrade of OOH displays in the next five years or so – but only on smaller panels of 6 sheet size and below. No official plans have been announced by media owners, but it feels a natural direction to take should 4k become the standard.


A low battery will no longer cause frustration to consumers who find themselves short when on the move. Here is a quick view of some of the potential game changers and why they have the ability to provide a genuine service in OOH:

StoreDot’s 30 Second Charge – from a flat battery to being fully charged in only 30 seconds? StoreDot achieved this using semiconductor from peptides in the battery – the building blocks of protein. It will cost around GBP 20 and launch in 2016.

Sound Powered Charging – UK gurus have created a mobile phone that can be charged based on ambient sound. Whilst we don’t expect to see this technology anytime soon, if the technology can be refined, it could change power needs from the grid forever.

Ryden Carbon Batteries – will we see these in smartphones as early as next year? Japanese inventors have created batteries that can charge twenty times faster than current lithium batteries and hold four times the capacity.

Samsung sponsored Power Poles at Heathrow almost five years ago, providing travellers with a place to charge their devices. Charge points are now common place at airports worldwide. Assuming your device could be charged in 30 seconds flat, imagine a world where digital 6 sheet units housed a charging point. In return, an ad is played for the service it provides. These could be installed in taxis, rails stations, underground platforms or buses. Charging units for those on the move will be commonplace, should the charge times reduce down to 30 seconds or lower as predicted.

THE BATTERY REVOLUTION

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Wearable tech has broken into the mainstream with many fitness bands now readily available at your local electronic shop. It is fair to say that wearable tech still lacks that “cool” factor, with many devices feeling bulky or uncomfortable to wear. However, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) demonstrated how the form factor is reducing and now almost invisible. Many products showed microchips that can sit inside a shoe to measure your steps and sync to an app. This offers opportunity for OOH to integrate with these technologies, in particular digital OOH.

The potential to run personalised messaging with digital OOH screens that can recognise these devices is not in the too distant future. For example, a screen will be able to talk to your device and display a personalised message showing support and encouragement whilst you are on your run.

Apple’s payment system has caused quite a stir in the States, whereby 220,000 retail locations accept payment through the iPhone 6’s Near Field Communication (NFC) chip. Whilst Apple will no doubt take the plaudits, many Android enabled phones also allow for this payment mechanism to take place.

The technology will eventually hit the UK, probably late 2015. It’s encouraging news for the NFC market, as it’s hoped the education of payment via NFC will mean consumers are just as willing to tap poster sites for additional content. It really is make or break for the technology.

SMART PAYMENTS4

WEARABLE TECH5

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Q. What is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)?

One of the biggest criticisms of Bluetooth was its huge power drain on a smart device. Many users were encouraged to shut it off to preserve their battery. BLE is different in that it hardly uses any power at all (around 10% the power of the standard Bluetooth), so the hope is that consumers will always be connected to Bluetooth.

Q. How does it work?

Small beacon devices (like a miniature aerial) communicates with devices with BLE switched on. If the user has the advertisers app installed, the beacon will talk to the app, pinpoint the consumer to within a few feet of the beacon itself and display relevant and unique messaging from the app (it can be rich graphic rather than just a simple SMS). Beacons are cheap and quick to install, so expect thousands of them to be popping up over the coming months on poster sites, retail environments, airports etc.

Q. Is this what an iBeacon is?

Yes. Apple have simply branded their technology as iBeacons, however, it is the same. We expect the iBeacon label to become the preferred phrasing for the general consumer. However, both iOS and Android will have access to this tech.

Q. Is BLE installed on my phone?

The most recent phones are already BLE enabled, with some requiring a simple update (many operators have already done this).

Q. So what is the opportunity for marketers?

Imagine the latest betting odds delivered to your phone as you walk past a Sky Bet poster near a football stadium. The Sky Bet app launches as the consumer walks past the beacon. It then shows the latest match odds that are relevant to the stadium you are near to and offers an incentive to place a bet there and then. This is where things become particularly exciting as we can then track and attribute a direct Return on Investment (ROI).

Bluetooth is enjoying a renaissance. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the new old tech that has marketers excited. It has the potential to shake up the out-of-home (OOH) market in a big way. But what is it? And why should we be so excited?

SOMETHING BLUESOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED


Q. All sounds great, but what are the challenges?

Firstly, it’s infrastructure. The beacons will need extensive roll out to ensure there is opportunity for consumers and brands to engage with each other.

Secondly, the user needs to have the app installed to receive messages and content. Therefore, we expect this to be used for the more common apps initially. However, as consumers become more comfortable with the tech, they are more likely to download and try apps to receive content.

The biggest barrier of all is education. Habits are hard to break down, so there needs to be a big push in regards to encouraging users to keep their Bluetooth switched on. There will no doubt be security fears involved with this too so there is a lot of work to be done here. Phone makers and operators will be key in this education.

Rapport Opinion

Ten years ago, the market was debating the future of digital OOH. Could it revolutionise the way we plan and buy? Would it allow for further engagement? Was it even in the remit of an OOH buy? Yet here we are in 2015, with digital OOH representing circa. 30% of all OOH media spend.

Who is to say beacon technology cannot have the same future? The fact that we can provide a deliverable ROI, where OOH is the start of the interaction (and indeed the platform for the actual beacon to be installed) is of huge importance. What is key is that OOH quickly understands mobile. We must as an industry embrace it, collaborate with key players and ensure this is a 50-50 process where we can help each other. The moment we become protective is the moment we lose momentum.

Of course there are big hurdles. It needs a strong infrastructure and for consumers to be educated. And yes, the user needs the app for it to work. However, the ingredients are there for this to become huge for both OOH and mobile. It may work in a different guise in ten years time, but in essence beacon technology could be where the journey begins for real time, personal activations between OOH and mobile.

the moment we become protective is the moment

we lose momentum

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The most important and arguably talked about announcements of the iPhone 6 was its mobile wallet feature. It allows for card details to be stored on the phone so that payments can be made via tapping a card reader.

Apple believes this level of convenience will be a major hit, with the system having access to no less than 220,000 retail sites in the U.S. with major partners American Express, MasterCard and Visa all jumping on board to support the venture. This represents 83% of all credit card payments in the U.S. (in terms of volume).

McDonald’s are one retail outlet that will accept this form of payment which will certainly help the understanding of the payment method to the mass audience. Certainly in the U.S. this is an exciting development where many transactions are still completed by inserting your pin and signing. But hold on a minute, the UK has been on board with Near Field Communication (NFC) payments for quite some time.

When you look at London habits, much is owed to the Oyster card where circa 75% of all journeys now use the contactless card. The recent introduction that the London transport system allows for contactless payment via your credit card (other than an Oyster) is of no surprise. Edinburgh launched its own transport card this year called Citysmart.

Perhaps the most important factor of all however are the British Banks. There are now 48.3 million contactless cards in circulation across the UK, proving that NFC technology is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Consumers with these cards can buy any goods under GBP 20 at a simple tap. However, this figure still only represents one third of all credit/debit cards in circulation across the UK.

At present, nearly all new bank cards that are issued to customers will have the contactless payment feature. With many cards having a minimum two year expiry, it may be some time before we become a contactless paying society. Whilst the iPhone 6 will raise awareness and take the plaudits, the reality is that banks will hold the key to educating the public and putting them at ease with NFC tech. Apple are planning to distribute 80 million iPhone 6’s globally this year… a drop in the ocean when we think of the potential for contactless payment via credit and debit cards. Providing payment wallets via a smartphone does not mean people will use them – a point hugely overlooked in the analysis of the iPhone 6. As the saying goes, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.’

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FOR NFCEXCUSES

NO MORE

.......................................................................

search behaviourFunctional uses such as news, weather and directions dominate search behaviour, perhaps underlying the importance that activations are compatible with the most popular apps.

However, there were interesting differences between the genders and their search behaviour. Men were more likely to search for sport, motors and technology, while women were more likely to search for fashion, health and social media related queries.

Ross Wilson, Head of Insight, Rapport Worldwide

MOBILE &out-of-home

The much heralded union between mobile and posters has been talked about within the confines of the out-of-home (OOH) industry for the last few years. While we have seen an increase in the number of clients creating integrated OOH and mobile campaigns during this period, we are yet to fully understand the relationship consumers have with their smartphones.

With this question in mind and the fact that the average UK smartphone user now looks at their device a mind-boggling 221 times a day, we set out to understand what, where and how consumers were using their devices in the age of permanent connectivity.

18-34’s are up to 35% more likely to search on smartphone than average

Weather74%

News70%

Social Media 61%

Directions60%

General59%

Leisure46%

Dining/Drinks 44%

Travel41%

Sport40%

Technology35%

Holidays 34%

Food32%

Gaming32%

Health31%

Finance29%

Fashion29%

Motors24%

$

OOH OUTPERFORMS

MOBILE ADSMobile display advertising is big business, with revenues growing by 116% year-on-year (YOY) for first half (H1) of 2014 to GBP 315.7 million.

272.2m H1 2013

315.7mH1 2014yoy

+116%

versus+70%

25% OFF

onlinesale

25% OFF

RAPPORT 4G 15:38 67%

Search or enter website name

onlinesale

Smartphone users are 70% more likely to search online having seen a poster ad than they are a mobile ad

% of people searched on their smartphone for...

However, when we asked respondents if they had ever used their smartphones to search for content after encountering a range of advertising platforms, it was enlightening to see OOH outperform mobile.


Research via smartphone leads to in-store purchases with 35% purchasing fashion items in-store at a later date and 21% purchasing food items in-store

REASSESSING THE

ROLE OF OOH

While the most common ‘search’ action undertaken on our smartphones remains further research, our increasing dependence on our phones as well as their ever increasing screen sizes are driving up conversion rates.

Most likely categories for a smartphone follow-up purchase

Fashion

Food

Entertainment

22%

20%

12%

Most likely categories to engender WOM

Entertainment & Leisure

Dining & Drinking

Holidays

31%

30%

28%

Q Relatively ‘low ticket items’ remain the most purchased with context again figuring highly as fashion, food and entertainment which can all be consumed on-the-go the most likely to be purchased via a mobile. While social activities such as holidays, dining & drinking and entertainment & leisure generate word of mouth following initial smartphone search.

.......................................................................

Context Is everything. Not only do searches for travel updates and directions increase while people are commuting, but the number of people searching for

fashion and food was directly linked to shopping occasions

ON-THE-GO VSAT HOME

Much has been made about the phenomena of second screening and people’s prevalence to use their mobile phone while watching TV, however just as common a sight are people up and down the country using their phone while they are on-the-go.

48%Directions

41%Weather

38%Social Media

36%News

But what are people doing on their phones while they are on-the-go?

Most commonly, respondents were using their phone to interact with the immediate world around them; to find directions, check the weather or news and see the latest social media updates. In this always connected world, it is OOH’s challenge to be as hyper-relevant as possible if we want sites and activations to engage consumers.

58%for directions or locations

58%for more

information

57%to compare

prices

IMPLICATIONS FOR ADVERTISERS

The notion that context and relevance are of premier importance to consumers in this age of permanent connectivity is further evident when smartphone owners were asked how likely they were to interact with a poster or screen and for which reasons.

The poster site acts not only as a prompt to buy, but also as a beacon, delivering the most relevant content to consumers to guarantee conversion rates

in the age of increased choice and shopper promiscuity

41%to buy

something

39%to download an

app/content

35%to share content with someone

While responses were overwhelmingly positive; the greatest interest was in services such as directions, further information and price comparisons, harking back to the idea that posters can act as public service announcements to help consumers who are increasingly time poor and overwhelmed with a range of information and opportunities at their fingertips.

Consumers were also interested in a range of other interactions

Most popular reasons consumers would consider interacting with a poster site


Consumers who had interacted with a brand or screen in the past, typically had a positive experience and were more likely to interact again in the future

Having established consumers’ willingness to interact with OOH, it was equally important to understand the methods consumers were more likely to use when interacting with a brand.

Q. Which methods are you most likely to use to interact with a brand?

A PLATFORM FOR SUCCESS

Q. Which methods are you least likely to use to interact with a brand?

69% 63% 61% 57%

Touc

h sc

reen

Pho

to s

harin

g

Sca

n a Q

R

code

Like

a b

rand

on

Face

book

54%56%60%

Tw

eet a b

rand

Dow

nload

cont

ent via

NFC

Aug

men

ted

relality

POSITIVE

NEGATIVE

In the age of the ‘selfie’, consumers’ willingness to photo share has seen huge growth for image sharing platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr, and we expect more brands to integrate these platforms into their communications in 2015.

Somewhat surprisingly, the often suggested mechanic of Twitter was the least likely method of interaction with 3 in 5 unprepared to tweet to, or about a brand. Conversely relatively simple and familiar platforms such as photo sharing, touch screens and code scanning were most likely to provoke interactions.

Contrary to previously assumed beliefs, the most popular occasion for consumers to interact with OOH was in their leisure time and not during their perceived dead time e.g. while waiting for public transport – although consideration levels were still notable here.

Instead it is the more relaxed nature of these ‘leisure’ spaces which provide consumers with the opportunity to interact, experience and play with OOH.

DEAD TIME VSLEISURE TIME

DE

AD

T

IME

60% shopping

centre/mall

54% high street

53% airport

47% cinema foyer

44% pub/bar

trainstation

48%

1 2 3 4 5

bus stop

47%

tube

38%

The fact you are more likely to visit these spaces with friends or family ensures brands build word-of-mouth almost immediately and the likelihood for shared experiences with onlookers is far greater. Conversely, the opportunity to interact with OOH is diminished if you have to keep one eye on a departures board or you are in a rush to catch your train.

A consumers’ greater likelihood to interact during their leisure time, complements perfectly these environments ability to deliver contextually relevant messaging to

consumers who have the time and inclination to interact with dynamic messaging relevant to their individual needs and interests

LE

ISU

RE

TIM

E

Q. Likelihood of interacting with OOH in one of these environments


DIGITAL OOH SNAPSHOT

Digital out-of-home (OOH) is fast becoming an industry in its own right. With circa 30% of all OOH spend now going through the sector, advertisers have grasped its potential. As a planner on Sky, finding viable solutions to meet key objectives across a huge portfolio is a challenge. Digital OOH is delivering on this challenge, but as an industry how far can we push it?

Successful digital OOH campaigns that utilise one or two sites can demonstrate the power of digital OOH. Namely the British Airways #lookup campaign and Pepsi’s ‘Unbelievable bus shelter’ stunt proved that earned-media can be produced with a relatively low investment. However, there is a misconception that digital OOH cannot offer more. This is why Sky’s use of digital OOH has broken new ground and showed how that assumption was a complete fallacy.

Digital OOH plays an important role for Sky, building both impact and stature. In particular, digital 6 sheets act as the hero format; ideal for driving viewership of shows like Fortitude. Having the flexibility to change content daily from a morning catch up message to evening for Sky programmes is key. Layering dynamic content, such as weather activated and contextual geo-targeting messages add another advantage over traditional OOH formats. However, where Sky truly challenged the status quo was with its audience targeted approach.

Harnessing Sky IQ data, we took key customer segments and recreated them in Route. This ground-breaking approach allowed us to

better understand Sky’s target audiences’ behavioural habits when out of home and, for the first time, build bespoke audiences and assess the relevance across our digital sites. In essence, we used digital automation that enabled us to dial up and down based on Sky’s wider media activity and scheduling. We have taken day-part delivery to a whole new and exciting level that has never been executed before.

So what does this tell us about digital OOH? Arguably the real boundary for digital OOH’s success stems from both clients and planners. Providing insightful data to your agency will allow you to push the capabilities of the hardware that much further. Sky being a case in point. Sometimes the industry is guilty of pointing fingers at hardware and trading barriers without really laying down the gauntlet first of what could be possible. We don’t pretend that everything is perfect, but it’s certainly in a good place. So what is arguably the one area preventing digital OOH from being more than just a sector?

Andrew Mortimer of Sky challenged the industry that the next level of investment needs to ensure that the digital OOH footprint extends its reach. That is not to say that progress is slow but instead acknowledge that the sector needs to push itself outwards from London to be truly national. If this phase is executed well, we might just see the tipping point of digital OOH becoming its own market that sits independently from traditional OOH.

Kat Sperring, Account Director, Rapport Worldwide

45A FUTURE VISION44

The market continues to trade on a cost per panel model. Whilst there is the option to buy days, weeks, evenings or hours, pricing is still set by a cost per site. Premiums are applied to advertisers based on this metric when in essence they are using the medium exactly how we as a market want them to use it.

Most traditional OOH sites or networks have contracts that span back years, if not decades. Details such as rental history, profits and occupancy levels will all be available with each of these sites. These contractual obligations were agreed long before digital OOH became a reality and much longer before Route gave us the wealth of new and exciting audience data it provides today. The media owner has to meet a guarantee and make a profit on these sites with these historical data sets in mind. The concern is that Route data may not correlate with the pricing model previously set. This has implications for digital sites that have now been converted, and likewise many high ticket items that have since seen their audience data changed.

Audience is pivotal. However, visuals, aesthetics, quality of impact, geography and wow factor all play major roles too. It’s counter-intuitive to pay low prices for digital OOH based purely on audience as it’s not a sustainable model –

certainly not in the short term. As an industry though, we must tread carefully and not put our clients off by punishing them for buying digital OOH in the correct way. A digital site can have the wow factor but may deliver less audience than a backlit billboard. Placing a pricing metric on this wow factor and what value it adds to our audiences is key if we look to sustain the premium nature of digital.

The industry needs to reassess what is charged for their digital assets. Contracts need to be tendered based on the audience delivery and price they can achieve in a market. At present it is being set by the guarantee of the historical nature of the site and then trying to justify those conditions to the market.

Digital OOH has grown to such an extent that there is now a case for it to stand alone as its own industry and be considered a true screen market that is comparable to online, cinema mobile and TV. It represents an ideal opportunity to hit the reset button and look at these industries as ways to price one of the fastest growing sectors in media.

James Rodham, Investment Director, Rapport Worldwide

TRADING IN DIGITAL OOH Route audience data does not correlate

with the pricing model previously set by the

media owner

Digital out-of-home (OOH) has come of age. In over ten years it has grown from a non-entity to taking 30% share of all revenue in OOH. If we as an industry could hit the reset button however, would we trade digital OOH as we do so today?

47A FUTURE VISION46

DIGITAL OUT-OF-HOME

Digital OOH has seen rapid build out in transport and retail locations where dwell time, full-motion and the ability for consumer interaction has delivered a new channel of communication for advertisers on a national scale. This has been the driving force behind the growth of the sector and has led to fantastic campaigns for advertisers like Sky, Samsung, and Dairy Crest. At the same time iconic roadside digital billboards have been developed like Old Street EC1, The W8 Network, The Two Towers and The Cromwell Road that provide scale and stature for brand fame.

The next chapter will be more challenging. The development of digital in the classic big coverage media of roadside 48 sheets and bus shelters. It’s a completely different proposition – limited movement, limited dwell time nor the fame endowed by the big iconic locations. It is the future but the industry will need to work hard on its audience and value proposition as it builds out to national scale.

Developments in digital OOH have been stellar over the past five years, with media owners developing sites that are offering advertisers the opportunity for truly national and scalable campaigns in the sector. They sit naturally in tandem with traditional poster inventory by driving incremental tactical opportunities that did not exist previously in OOH. As the digital OOH sector evolves, it is naturally presenting huge opportunities for innovation, it is not just about the screen anymore. This lies principally in terms of integration with other media. Seamless incorporation through automation will be the next natural step as digital OOH truly converges with other technology, offering efficiencies in clients communication strategies – the challenge will be to ensure that we maintain digital OOH momentum ensuring that this step is of benefit not just to media owners but to the overall development of digital OOH and ultimately OOH. Within this, as an industry we must collectively drive commonality of systems to make integration attractive. Crucially these developments should be of value to our partners and customers.

OOH is billed as the last broadcast medium. As an industry, we have managed to successfully grow share in the digital age. While audiences of other traditional media got decimated, OOH advertising was seen as the only medium that could truly deliver a broad cost-effective reach.

Then came digital OOH and that blew the theory out of the window. Digital revenues are booming and are close to 30% of all OOH revenue but the sites only deliver less than 3% of all the impacts. It appears that advertisers are prepared to sacrifice cover for the ‘Wow factor’ digital screens provide.

Return on Investment (ROI), accountability and econometrics seem not to apply with the same rigour to this sector. The fact that the product is digital is all that seems to be important. This is not a sustainable position and unless we can prove the effectiveness of what digital delivers for stand-alone campaigns or what they really add to national traditional OOH campaigns the future of OOH may not shine as brightly as the digital screens have done on our streets for the past few years.

We spoke to some of the leading figures in the industry to understand their views and opinions towards the challenges that digital out-of-home (OOH) has yet to overcome.

Jason Cotterrell Managing Director,Exterion Media

Naren Patel CEO, Primesight

Spencer Berwin Sales Managing Director, JCDecaux

THE CHALLENGES FACING

49A FUTURE VISION48

Grant Branfoot Sales Director, Outdoor Plus

Digital OOH is at the heart of OOH’s growth and is changing the face of London. It is a hugely exciting time for the medium. Twenty years ago, if Martians landed on Earth they would have taken over the TV networks. Now digital OOH represents the best way to communicate with the largest number of people in the quickest time. Outdoor Plus has invested over GBP 10 million developing super premium digital with 6 new launches in 2014 and more planned for 2015. Whilst digital OOH continues to grow and the potential to advertisers is huge, there are still a number of challenges for us to overcome as an industry. Dave Trott talks of digital OOH as the “thinking client’s choice”. However as the inventory grows, clients and planners need to start thinking of digital OOH as the solution, not the cream on top. Whilst we’ve had some great successes with tactical campaigns and digital OOH is now seen as a viable alternative to press for short-term or tactical communications, there is still greater potential to be gained from the strategic use of the medium. The best clients are adapting their creative across the campaign period, be that daily, hourly or according to their own data sets. There is a value in digital OOH as a whole, in the same way that advertisers don’t simply buy peak airtime on TV. Another challenge is that we need consistent pricing models across the industry. We need to effectively flip the model so that fourteen days is no longer the norm. Clients should be accruing discounts as they buy more airtime rather than feeling penalised for buying less. In addition to this and linked to the effective creative use of the medium, clients should be optimising their budgets, not reducing them. Super premium digital OOH has a key role to play in driving awareness and brand fame, as Dave Trott recently commented: “It is one of the quickest ways to get into the national conversation and make your brand famous.”

Tim Bleakley CEO, Ocean Outdoor

Digital OOH has had a stellar year. Investment, technology, data, creativity have all been pushed on to the next level, delivering many impressive campaigns for clients across many categories. Could there be a more exciting media to be working in? - I can’t think of one.

The OOH market has shown single-digit growth, yet has an ambition to grow to 12% share of all media spend (source: OMC). We therefore need to be telling the digital OOH story to new people, demonstrating the role digital OOH plays in priming other screen-based media. If we get this right as an industry, we can overcome the challenge of growing the overall size of the market.

For me the biggest challenge is achieving critical mass. If you really think about the upcoming AdShel Live expansion; one hundred really isn’t that many. Don’t get me wrong, they will be fantastic and they are creating a whole lot of interest. They are getting people to do creative things that you could never previously achieve with traditional OOH. Our work with Walkers for the ‘Do us a flavour’ campaign is a fine example of the new opportunities OOH is presenting. We created the world’s first Twitter-activated vending machine inside a bus stop and gave people the opportunity to sample one of the new crisp flavours in exchange for a Tweet, while a digital screen appeared to show Gary Lineker sat inside. The results were brilliant, and it would be fantastic to see this kind of technology used again on a larger scale to create brand fame and generate buzz for the industry as a whole.

Andrew MorleyCEO, Clear Channel UK


CONTACT US

Managing Director Chris Marjoram | [email protected]

4th Floor The Place, 175 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7AA, United Kingdom

+44 (0)203 049 0400 www.rapportww.com/uk @RapportWW


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