EyeCorp contacted me in August to give some viewpoints on outdoor advertising. I would like to share what I have in response to the questions that they have fielded through to me:
Q: What do you consider the biggest
challenge for the OOH sector in 2008?
A: There are a number of challenges
in the OOH sector in 2008 and the years to come. The most immediate
one, however, is perhaps the slowing down of the ad marketplace due
to the prevailing uncertainties in the business scene. It is not
entirely unique to the OOH sector, but also affects the different sectors
in the media planning and buying industries.
There appears to be a growing global
consensus that major economies are slowing down. This has a trickle-down
effect on the sentiments of marketeers in terms of the budgets that
they are willing to spend on advertising and marketing communications.
This slowdown could also affect
the way marketeers see their budgets: with a similar – if not
lower – media and advertising budget, and consequently, OOH budgets,
there is a greater demand for accountability and ensuring that all media
in the communications mix do perform and deliver in creating value for
their target consumers and their business’ bottom-line.
The demand for more accountable
media and marketing solutions, we believe, will be significantly higher
given these demanding times – and no medium will be immune to these
emergent trends in the marketplace in Singapore, in Asia Pacific, and
globally.
Q:
What do you see as the greatest opportunity for the OOH sector in 2008
and beyond?
Q: How important is measurement for OOH in your country?
A: The greatest opportunity for
the OOH sector is in demonstrating accountability, measurability,
and ROI.
Being able to demonstrate these
to clients will be one of the greatest opportunities for the OOH sector
in 2008 and beyond. In these rather ‘troubled times’ where
marketing budgets will need to work harder to achieve more or the same
with less dollars, OOH stands at a very good time to demonstrate its
ability to deliver on campaign goals and ultimately, to contribute to
the clients’ bottom-line. It is – admittedly – an opportunity
and simultaneously, a challenge.
Accountability and ROI have been
core themes in the area of communications planning and implementation
in the past several years. However, the current business scenarios
that we are facing require that OOH – and other media – look at
accountability, ROI, and measurability more carefully.
Every aspect of the communications
planning process – from designing the communications mix that will
include advertising, PR, CRM, and other marketing disciplines, down
to the selection of specific vehicles and activations – will need
to be measurable, accountable, and focused on contributing to the entire
campaign and to the creation of value to the business.
Measurability, therefore, is very
important. Measurability encompasses the different stages of the
planning and implementation cycle of the communications campaign.
Ultimately, OOH players must be able to demonstrate (1) that there is
a science and a discipline that could empower and guide planners and
clients in deciding which OOH vehicles are best positioned to deliver
against communications and business objectives, and (2) that ultimately,
OOH vehicles do deliver.
Q:
OOH has experienced continuous growth globally over the last five years;
can you nominate some of the key reasons why?
A: All these were driven – I believe
– by consumers being far more curious and knowledge-empowered than
ever before, and by clients and agencies’ realization that consumers
are not so easy to convince given this strengthened curiosity and hunger
for information.
Back then, the all-encompassing
campaign objective was to “generate awareness” or “maintain recall”.
These days, the tasks of communications planners are far wider than
ever before: help create value to consumers, help create value to the
business and its shareholders.
OOH is in a very unique position
in that it covers the “last-mile” of the consumers’ journey towards
a purchase of a brand – and in fact, to the very last minute prior
to the purchase. This characteristic of the outdoor medium has
contributed significantly to its growth and development as a medium.
Also, the OOH industry has been
more resilient in keeping up with technological developments.
For example, some OOH companies have started venturing into outdoor-media
solutions that bridge the gap between exposure and response through
Bluetooth® or mobile-messaging technologies. Some OOH companies
have also started venturing into location-based and ‘lifestyle-based’
targeting.
Q:
What are the prospects of OOH in the future?
A: We are facing some significant
challenges in the near-term. How local economies will respond
to the slowdown in the US and in other major economies remains to be
seen. Hence it will be difficult to say whether OOH will continue
to grow or stall or decline.
One thing is for sure, however:
So long as the OOH industry continues to be abreast with the evolving
needs of marketeers and businesses in providing accountable solutions,
we think that it has a good chance of emerging relatively unscathed.