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.
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