Digital Display Strategy for the LA Times

The Los Angeles Times is teaming with Clear Channel Outdoor to bring news headlines and images to 10 digital billboards throughout LA. The Times is the first newspaper to use the company's digital billboards and web-based interface for news alerts and branding. The partnership is a key strategic move for the newspaper, which desperately wants to increase exposure of its local news reporting. Link: Media Daily News, Mar 5, 2008 - New Digital Displays For 'LA Times

Proven Value of Dynamic Digital Signage

In another resounding example of the power of digital signage, Clear Channel Outdoors' digital billboard networks reached more than 12 million motorists and commuters during last week's Super Tuesday voting session. The changeable, LED-equipped billboards posted updates of tallies in 14 out of 17 of the markets where CC Outdoor has networks providing the public with real-time results of the Presidential Election Primaries through live RSS feeds from MSNBC and CNBC. Link: Clear Channel Outdoor – Feb 19, 2008 - Millions Of Voters Looked To Clear Channel Outdoor Digital Displays For “Super Tuesday” Primary Results

Clients Creative Changes with the Temperature on Digital Signage Network

It may not be changing water into wine but it a ingenious way to utilize common technology to deliver a very creative approach to timely copy changes. This summer when temperatures in southern Ontario exceed 20 degrees Celcius and people are primed to want a cool beverage, a digital video board ad campaign for California’s Leaping Horse wines is programmed to display an ad for their cool, white Chardonnay wine.

Outdoor Broadcasting Network ’s (OBN), is a Canadian media company that markets the largest network of LED video boards in Country. They have come up with this cleaver idea and have developed and deployed a new technology which programs weather triggers into a video board campaign so that creative will change from Leaping Horse’s Merlot red wine (when the temperature is under 20C) to Chardonnay when it gets above 20C. This provides Lifford Wine Agency (the wine agent for Leaping Horse in the province of Ontario) with a terrific way to target consumers when they may be more receptive to one wine choice over another.

The campaign starts in mid June and will run in Toronto, Hamilton and Cambridge. Production was handled in-house by OBN who took static OOH ads and created full motion video spots. Digital signage networks are turning up everywhere these days and leveraging technology to create unique advertising solutions that engage viewers will help the emerging industry win many future loyal clients.

TV Ads becoming Commonplace Outside the Home

Place-based advertising in settings including grocery stores, gas pumps and office buildings is becoming a viable medium for marketers to send their messages to consumers -- in a forum in which they can't change channels. New standards for buying and selling the ads, as well as rating their success, are emerging for the fledgling segment, which has a presence in at least 37,000 venues nationwide, according to Profitable Channels. Link: The New York Times 03/02/07 - Away From Home, TV Ads are Inescapable

Outdoor Advertisings Future holds Promise & Problems

2006 was a big growth year for outdoor advertising industry. In the final quarter of the year we witnessed several big moves for the business, including the awarding of the country's most valuable municipal mass-transit contracts and a new state law to substantially reduce outdoor signage which could become a model for copycat legislation by other states. Outside the United States, however, the second-largest city in the world São Paulo, Brazil passed even more drastic legislation banning outdoor advertising altogether. Link: Media Daily News, Dec 28, 2006 - 2006 Great Year For Outdoor: Future Holds Promise, Problems

Outdoor Advertising and Wireless Technology

Kudos to CBS for its willingness to try something radically new. They are about to introduce a new marketing campaign that combines outdoor advertising and wireless distribution. I think that you'll agree that they have stepped out of the box by developing video clips to preview their fall primetime lineup and are streaming them to anyone with a Bluetooth-enabled mobile device that passes within 36 feet of a technologically enhanced billboard. Located in Grand Central Station in New York City, the billboards will enable a person to watch a clip from a number of the new season upcoming programs including Shark, Smith, Jericho, The Class and CSI. Once a viewer activates their cell phone or PDA, the clip is downloaded via Bluetooth connectivity and then played on their wireless screen almost instantly. The content then can be saved or passed on to someone else. Link: WSJ 08/24/06 - CBS Touts New Shows in Video Clips, News.com 08/24/06 - CBS to Use Bluetooth wireless to Market new Shows

Outdoor Ad Spending

Outdoor advertising's value has been a well-kept secret among advertisers who, since 1993, have steadily pushed revenue higher. Recent estimates released by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America state that Outdoor ad spending rose 11.4 percent in March with the overall 1st quarter growing at 7.7 percent. This makes the business the fastest growing major ad medium next to the Internet. The industry is currently experiencing a long-term expansion with the advent of new technologies, including digital billboards. Links: MediaPost 5/04/06 – Outdoor Marches On, CNNMoney.com – Look up! Big Bucks in Billboards

Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor Advertising upsurge

I do my best to say abreast to all sectors of the Advertising industry because I enjoy spotting tends and studying how they effect each other. In the resent past the Outdoor Advertising business has been witnessing a lot of sizable growth. The leading companies in this group are Viacom, Clear Channel and Lamar. On Tuesday evening I caught a quick segment as Jim Cramer was commenting on the business, “Billboards are making a comeback” he said on his "Mad Money" CNBC show, and he is Bullish on Lamar Advertising.

“Lamar has ad space on billboards, buses, bus shelters and benches all places you can't miss, Cramer noted. Because of the increase in the use of digital video recorders such as TiVo, advertisers are moving away from TV advertising. Other forms of advertising, such as the Internet and billboards, are gaining share.
You can't TiVo a billboard," he said.

Lamar is adding digital billboards, which allow it to show multiple ads on one space and should increase sales. And Nielson is coming out with a rating system (more on this soon) for billboard advertising, Cramer said, which should make advertisers more comfortable as the can quantify the effectiveness of their ads. Enhancements and dropping cost on digital printing, flat panel displays and emerging technologies like electronic paper displays (see E Ink) will also revolutionize this industry in the not to distant future. Links: Lamar Advertising Company, OAAA’s – History of Outdoor Advertising