Out-of-Home Advertising - Isn't that sooo Yesterday?

Outdoor advertising has been around for hundreds of years because it’s a proven method of reaching a wide audience. Even in today’s digital world, outdoor advertising is gaining new momentum. According to Nielsen, one in four Americans has posted an image of a billboard ad on Instagram, delivering double exposure for the businesses involved. In the past decade technological advancements that have incorporated digital technology has helped OOH advertising become more versatile than ever before. Digital Billboards can change the ads they show based on the time of day, the weather or just about any data set that you like. This has dramatically improved their ability to have greater relevancy and be more engaging.

What are the benefits of Out of Home Advertising?

At this stage you’re probably thinking that Out of Home sounds interesting, but why should you choose it above any other form of advertising? How will it ensure that your business gets the best bang for your buck?

Good question. If you haven’t run a campaign before (or even if you have!), the world of Out of Home Advertising can be very overwhelming, and no one wants to jump into a marketing platform that you don’t understand and might not suit you. However, there is a reason (several) OOH has remained relevant and is the only legacy ad medium that is still growing….

Here are the main ones:

People see them!

We’re always on the move. So, one of the biggest advantages of Out of Home Advertising is that more audiences will see them when they’re out and about. Billboards and other forms of OOH ads have also become a natural and accepted part of most landscapes; they can’t be avoided with ad blockers!

 It is cost effective

Although OOH is used a lot by big B2C brands, the increased flexibility of ad placements and the reduced cost of putting them up due to the invention of digital billboards has lowered the barriers of entry meaning lower costs and more effectiveness.

It can create a lasting impression

Billboards create a lasting impression on those that see them. From brand awareness to response marketing OOH works on both the conscious and subconscious levels. Their huge reach also makes them the perfect tool for mass marketing.

This is perhaps best explained by Bob, who is a Marketer and the Writer of the D Connector Blog. In a piece published on the Future of Outdoor Advertising, he writes: “There is a piece of research that has always stayed with me. In focus groups, people will remember seeing a brand’s new television ad, even though no such ad has been on air. It turns out that what people are recalling is the billboards they pass each and every day. People don’t forget billboards. Although they sometimes mislabel them.”

How digital has changed Out of Home Advertising

As statistics show, Out of Home Advertising is only going to get bigger and better. According to Magna, Out of Home holds around 6% of global ad spend (which totals a not-too-shabby $500 billion), and its market share has remained stable for the past 5 years. However, its growth is being propelled by the emergence of Digital Out of Home (DOOH).

Why DOOH is an affordable form of advertising

Although OOH has always brought many benefits to advertisers & brands in terms of raising awareness, these have only been amplified by digitalization. This is one of the key reasons for its continued growth and dominance. Previously, Out of Home was costly, competitive, and difficult to do. However, DOOH is solving many of these problems.

Firstly, let’s look at cost. DOOH is far more flexible in terms of placement than traditional OOH. They do not require installation, there is greater flexibility on the minimum periods assisting marketers in delivering campaigns that are both contextually relevant and timely.

Production costs are significantly lower. Static bulletins & posters needs to be printed and distributed. Digital formats just need to be resized to a few variants.

Other advantages of DOOH include the fact that your creative can be live within hours, incorporate video as well as animation plus you can choose exactly when your campaign ends.

DOOH is encouraging user engagement

Advances in DOOH technology is helping it to have a bigger and longer lasting impact on consumers. After Porsche unveiled their first interactive billboard in 2015, many brands are now adding interactive elements to their ads by making them tappable and/or interactive. One example of how the former is being used is by Warner Bros. “The Dark Knight Rises" campaign. You can check it out here - https://youtu.be/2pnr_nP-Ek0

All’s good, but what’s in it for me?

This form of advertising has many benefits, and with the help of digital, it’s safe to say that it’s here to stay. Marketers are certainly noticing the opportunities it holds in terms of targeting audiences at various touch points throughout the day, ensuring they get the best results. With OOH becoming more flexible and affordable, it’s something that all businesses should be considering. And if your competitors aren’t using OOH, then you’ll have an edge on them if you do.

At 3sixtyReach, we’re making this even better by ensuring that our clients get the right exposure by leveraging the benefits of multiple advertising platforms. OOH/DOOH is one of the many ways we can help you with your business or brand’s Marketing Strategies. Please feel free to contact us to find out more…

TV's, Bluerays & STB's... Watching You!

In what is said to be the first global study on smart TV ad effectiveness, research from smartclip and LG Electronics has revealed that customer demand for connected TV is opening a "booming" platform for advertisers. Why you ask, because television, STB's and blueray manufacturers are beginning to produce devices that contain digital sleuthing technology that tracks the live and recorded programs that viewers choose. Knowing details about what an individual is watching could better pinpoint which ads to display, opening the door to new ad revenue

Leading the charge on the technology side company's like Cognitive and Gracenote are working with the manufactures to integrate the software into the various platforms. In a interview with Bloomberg earlier this week Cognitive chief Michael Collette stated that the software could provide manufacturers with annual revenue that would boost the one-time-only amount of around 5 percent that they make on the sale of a TV set, which averages around $4. The 4 bucks they make on a set, they can at least double with the $5 they may make a year from the new recurring revenue.

The Good, Bad & Ugly of the Second Screen

Yahoo's INTO Now

Ok full disclosure... in my paying job, during the past year I have worked with more and more companies that are involved in the Second Screen space. As a connoisseur (insert nerd) of all things tech, I've collected quite a few of them but in general my overall feeling is that most tend to lack intuitive UI's and frankly are just poorly thought out from a user’s perspective. So it brings me to ask, do they actually offer anything to the viewer? Well that's the question TV and movie critic Noel Murray recently explored for Grantland.  A self-professed second screen novice, Murray spent the month of February trying out various apps.  After using them to accompany his both live and pre-recorded viewing, Murray's general perspective was that they didn't really enhance his viewing experience as promised.  Read his story: 03/05 - The 'Second Screen': Is This App Really Necessary?

The new Fox Digital Syndication Network

Fox announced Tuesday that it is launching a syndication network that will allow outside second-screen TV app providers to use Fox's sync-to-broadcast experiences, which are currently only available in Fox Now apps. The new digital network is also designed to allow Fox to create, manage and syndicate content to smart TVs, connected TVs and television service providers looking to increase audience engagement. Most importantly, this is significant news to leading second-screen companies like: Shazam, Viggle, ConnecTV and NextGuide which will gain access Fox's social, behind-the-scenes and interactive content around Fox shows while synced to the broadcast.


According to Viggle's press release (linked at bottom), "Fox has some of the most loyal, invested fans on the planet, so we want them to have the richest, most immersive experience possible with our shows and our brand partners -- no matter which TV app or platform they use," said David Wertheimer, president, digital, Fox Broadcasting. "By syndicating the content we've built around our show broadcasts, we're extending the Fox experience to viewers across all digital platforms and providing our partners with new and valuable opportunities around our content." See More:
Viggle - 02/26 - FOX LAUNCHES NEW DIGITAL CONTENT SYNDICATION NETWORK or B&C - 02/26 - Fox to Launch Digital Content Syndication Network by Tim Baysinger

The Netflix Effect

Television viewing of both cable and broadcast networks fell among adults under age 50 in the fall season. According to Nielsen, the major broadcast networks lost an average of 15% of their viewers in the 18-49 demographic compared with the prior season. In contrast, A record 456.6M online videos were watched in 2012 by more than 182M users. The switch is obvious in my test lab (aka: household) where my tech savvy wife and highly connected teens stream 90% of the video they watch from the web. While this all makes sense I have also noticed the ginormous audience growth that each new season of shows like "Breaking Bad", "Sons of Anarchy" and the resent return of "The Walking Dead" were seeing. Is there a snowball effect to new seasons viewing because of the easy access to past episodes? Just how are streaming services like Hulu, Netflix and others effecting the viewership of television? In a quest for quantifiable data to answer these questions, I uncovered two 2012 studies, one done by Bernstein Research and the other by GfK North America that confirmed my theory and shed some light on my questions.

The Bernstein Research analysis of viewing patterns was conducted in Tivo homes during the first quarter of 2012. What the study identified was that ratings for AMC, which exclusively licenses several of its original series to Netflix, were actually 15% higher in homes with Netflix than non-Netflix homes. Tie this back to the lift in viewers for the new season of "The Walking Dead" where it recently returned for the second half of its already much-improved third season to even higher ratings than before: 12.3 million viewers. Impressive numbers especially when you consider that it was up against the Grammys on its premier night.


Netflix itself seems to back up the finding by contending that its service gives viewers more opportunities to sample programming in its first window by providing older episodes that let them see what they've missed hence, they are more likely to watch new episodes of those shows when the new seasons return.

The GfK study concurs, stating that more than half of the Netflix subscribers in their focus groups said that it had no effect on their viewing from more traditional sources. But what’s even more interesting is how many respondents said they watched scheduled TV even "more" than they did before subscribing to the service.

Singling out first-run dramas, for example, reveals 22 percent of respondents said they watch more new episodes of dramas on scheduled TV than they did before getting Netflix, with 10 percent who said they watch less (See GfK chart below for more details on viewing patterns.)

Second Screen: Past, Present & Future

Remember way back (like maybe 2005) when there was only one screen that TV broadcasters and Cable networks needed to fill. These days, it's all about the two-screen experience. People have been watching television with their laptops, smartphones and tablets in hand for a while now. But last year, Networks and show Producers alike tried harder than ever to bring television to a second screen. Even the 2012 Summer Olympics received the second screen treatment with its very own Android and iOS apps, which let users catch live streams of events, access stats and more from the comfort of their couches. If you're starting to feel overwhelmed by the multitude of options, you're not alone so during the recent CES show I took the opportunity to spend part of my day at Second Screen Summit to talk shop and discuss the future of the industry.

Put aside for a moment the tweets and check-ins that have been typically considered the currency of social TV, despite uncertain value in driving actual ratings. TV networks in 2013 are going to make further efforts to seamlessly connect their traditional programming with the second screen in a way that reinforces both venues. That might mean more entries in the model of Bravo's "Top Chef" companion "Last Chance Kitchen" -- an online and on-demand series that pits eliminated contestants against each other for the chance to re-enter the main show. Also expect to see more like CBS'S successful CBS Connect, which infused NCIS: Los Angeles, CSI and Hawaii Five-O with second screen features. With an iPad in hand, NCIS fans can review evidence in-sync with the show, read up on suspects, rifle through maps, interact through social networks and more

Another tend shows more traditional TV shows integrating live on-screen results from polls and games conducted via apps or the web. Successful attempts will provide entertainment with substance and stakes but at this juncture no one company has the preverbal "silver bullet". What will more likely happen over the next 12-18 months is consolidation when major providers like Comcast, Dish, AT&T and others who have (or are about too) launched tablet apps with guide various remote control functionality will then buy the GetGlue's and Viggle's or whatever to incorporate their functionalities so that the operators can more effectively compete with each other." Clearly many companies are vying for a foothold in our living rooms and for the foreseeable future we will see the ecosystem continue to grow and diversify. Personally I think it's an exciting time in the business. More to come on this subject this year but for now if you seek additional info see:
Engadget: The state of the Second Screen (01/11) or Mashable: Second Screen

Interactive OOH Ad Campaign Launches in Las Vegas

At Monster Media they state that their mission is to be the leading alternative media company. Those are big shoes to fill in today embryonic digital signage business however they are certainly leading the pack and helping the industry to stretch it’s creative and technological limits. To date they have released three applications that allow people to directly interact with large projected ads using only body movements. Yesterday Travelzoo announced a partnership with them and unveiled a campaign that will create interactive place-based displays in Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport. The interactive "What's the Deal with Travelzoo?" campaign encourages travelers to participate in the advertisements. The 8’x20’ real time projected images will show travel deals and allow airport guest to directly interact with the brand. Link: View images and video of the advertisements