Audio, gesture-based interactivity, video, holographic displays, and augmented reality encompass the technologies that Inwindow Outdoor leveraged in its most dynamic and largest ever digital window campaign. The seven city, fourteen location (Inwindow uses the term Storescape) campaign was created for the upcoming motion picture Coraline, an animated stop-motion horror fantasy film.
The campaign is an impressive use of varied technologies and represents Inwindow's coming out party in a way. Even though Inwindow pioneered the window-based outdoor advertising market, many of their previous digital campaigns were done in tandem with Monster Media. The partnership ended some time last year.
I, for one, questioned whether or not Inwindow would be able to deliver comparable interactive campaign's without Monster's technological expertise. This campaign proves, in a resounding way, that Inwindow Outdoor has the innovative technology side covered.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Inwindow Outdoor Launches Largest Ever Digital Window Campaign for Coraline
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Access 360 Media and Endemol to Deliver Original Series for Digital Signage
How does it make you feel when you see a digital signage network running little more than PowerPoint slides? Or how about when a network's idea of editorial content is a scrolling ticker at the bottom of the screen? Worse yet, when a network doesn't have any content other than advertising?
As our industry continues to grow and gain its footing, questions will continue to arise as to the optimal content and advertising to run on digital signage networks. Akin to the content/advertising experimentation fervent not only in the early days of the Internet, but an oft examined subject of what works and what doesn't today, the digital signage industry is undergoing the same exploration. Such is to be expected from a new content delivery platform that has the potential to shape how our society receives information both now and in the future.
That it is why it's so existing to hear of new developments in the area of content specifically produced for the digital signage and digital out-of-home arena. Access 360 Media, whose in-store networks reach over 14,000 locations including f.y.e, Journeys, Quicksilver, G by Guess, and Hollywood Video, is bringing an original series to consumers in those stores. In partnership with Endemol, the Hollywood production company behind such shows as "Big Brother" and "Deal or No Deal," Access 360 is delivering a new scripted reality series - "Waiting For a Ride" - exclusively to its retail partners.
"Waiting for a Ride," which is currently filming in California beach cities such as San Diego, Santa Barbara and Manhattan Beach, will a "Laguna Beach" -esque docu-series that follows five surfer friends on a road trip in search of the next wave. The show will be updated monthly in two-and-a-half minute installments, which will run on the in-store content loop broadcast in participating locations.
David Armour, VP-Endemol Digital Studios, said digital out of home was an appealing new area for Endemol to invest in original content because of its ability to reach younger audinece in targeted on-the-go environments. But like any new content platform, the show will be measured and even filmed differently than a typical TV series.
"For this to be a success, we need to engage an audience and prove a model that we can make this work," he said. "Just as with online video, you want to make TV-quality content as lean-forward programming, so it's not a passive viewing experience. There will be different techniques we use in how we shoot the show and the music and things we'll do creatively to get people's attention."
Outside of its potential to emerge as a true in-store series that draws people to digital screens in retail locations visit after visit to catch new episodes, it offers a wealth of opportunities for integrated sponsorships and product placements. Branded entertainment is the future for many digital signage networks.
The format embodies where media buys and advertising placements are headed. The platform offers an infinite amount of creative possibilities and opportunities for brands to elevate beyond traditional advertising. Branded entertainment is ideal content for digital signage networks.
It provides digital signage network owners with a "two birds with one stone" solution that delivers engaging, dynamic content to capture people's attention while providing advertising revenue on the back end. When people get pulled seamlessly into a branded advertisement, unaware that what they're watching is trying to sell them something, advertisers and digital signage network owners both win.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Augmented Reality Meets Digital Signage in LEGO Kiosk
Japan Tests E-Paper Displays for Disaster Response
Power consumption for the whole unit, which can pull data from servers via Wi-Fi, is a mere 24W, and E-paper can keep displaying data after power has been cut, though it can't change it. A smaller unit, installed at bus stops, consumes just 9W. This test is just to explore the possibilities of low-power digital signage, but the advantages seem obvious. (via Gizmodo)
Monday, January 26, 2009
Schering-Plough to Spend Millions on Digital Signage Media Buy
How wonderful is it to sit down at your desk on a Monday morning and be greeted by a major announcement in the digital signage industry? I experienced such an event just a few moments ago when I landed on Mediaweek's website and found a "breaking news" article on digital out-of-home media at the top of the page. It wasn't the title of the article - 'Plough' -ing New Terrain - that set fireworks off in my head, but the sub header that set my mind a flutter.
How do reading the words - "Schering Sets Biggest Digital OOH Media Buy via New MPG Unit" - make you feel? This could be a landmark media buy for the digital signage industry (set to include a heavy research component to gauge the success of the campaign).
The article can be read in its entirety below:
Paving the way for new respectability in the digital out-of-home space, health-care and packaged goods advertiser Schering-Plough plans to place the industry’s largest paid buy, estimated to be close to $10 million. The campaign, set for second quarter for a number of its brands, is not only gutsy, it could also be the kind of buy that will help move the medium into the media mainstream.
Digital out-of-home is still one of those tempting, emerging media that is so new and so fragmented, it generally falls into the experimental column of the budget, (if the advertiser is lucky enough to have one of those these days). That’s why last summer, 22 networks ran a pro-bono campaign for the Michael J. Fox Foundation to demonstrate the medium’s capabilities to reach a national audience.
While all the details have yet to be worked out, Schering-Plough’s plan, developed by MPG’s newly-formed Chrysalis unit, will deliver more than 1 billion impressions over the course of the campaign. Neither the client nor the agency would comment on the estimated cost of the campaign, which observers said lands somewhere between $8 million and $10 million.
Over a period of eight to 12 weeks, Schering-Plough advertising for several sun care, footcare and upper respiratory brands will run on 17 digital networks in nine venue categories. To target consumers closer to the point of purchase, Schering-Plough chose networks that reach consumers in varied lifestyle locations from health clubs and physicians’ offices to malls, coffee houses, golf courses and airports.
The campaign is a departure for Schering-Plough, which like most packaged goods companies, has relied on traditional media. “Consumer mindsets are very different in this environment and we think it is important to explore a variety of ways to reach our target audience,” said Chris Meringolo, director of global media services and digital marketing for Schering-Plough Consumer HealthCare Products. “Digital out of home offers new touch points for communication, many of which are closer to purchase opportunities.”
Moving at least some of its advertising and marketing closer to the point of purchase makes sense for Schering-Plough. While the overall sales for its consumer healthcare products rose 2 percent in third quarter 2008 on the launch of new constipation product MiraLAX, sales of its other over-the-counter products, such as Claritin, were low. After spending about 84 percent of its media budget on TV (per data from Nielsen Monitor-Plus through November ’08), and at least $2 million for one ad in a first-time Super Bowl spot in ’08, the company may have figured it was time to try a medium that was less costly and more targeted.
Schering-Plough’s willingness to try something new and the growing interest in digital out-of-home from other national advertisers is why Havas’ MPG formed Chrysalis in November as a dedicated unit to focus on “touch point communication planning,” including digital out-of-home, event marketing and other location-based media channels.
“Traditional media doesn’t have the same power it had before in terms of reach,” said Steve Lanzano, chief operating officer for MPG, whose clients include Volvo, Exxon Mobile, Sears, Kmart, McDonald’s, Pearl Vision, Autozone and Fidelity. “When you’re dealing with ratings of 2, it’s not the mass medium it once was.”
Chrysalis, right now a small group of six people led by OOH vet Connie Garrido as president, has high hopes that the planning and execution of the Schering-Plough campaign can provide insight for other advertisers that have been nervous about harnessing the nascent medium.
Just as important as placing the dollars, Chrysalis is planning a heavy research component to gauge the success of the campaign using metrics requested by the client. Talks are already underway with a number of research providers and consultants including Arbitron, Nielsen, Acxiom, GfK Group, OTX, Millward Brown and Sequent Partners.
“TV is a safe haven because there is a comfort in the research,” said Garrido. “If we’re going to go to consumer-centric planning, we need to better understand it and make it comfortable for the advertiser to take a risk. No one has quite figured it out. There is a multitude of approaches agencies use to plan and buy alternative media.”
For Chrysalis, the planning process was a critical component in understanding and advancing the medium. Chrysalis worked with the Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau to bring in scores of OVAB-affiliated network companies, which made brief presentations. To narrow down the choices, Chrysalis held another series of meetings with a smaller group of networks, leading to formal requests for proposals in late December. In the last week, Chrysalis selected the networks that made the most sense for Schering-Plough’s brands.
“Most of the vendors of new media never find out how planning and account people think,” said Mitch Oscar, executive vp of televisual applications for MPG, who spearheaded the initial meetings as part of MPG’s regular series of roundtables with different new media segments.
“This is about moving a medium forward and bringing clarity to the space.”
Friday, January 23, 2009
When Enqii President Stuart Armstrong Speaks the Entire Digital Signage Industry Should Listen
Stuart Armstrong, Enqii President and the head of the Digital Signage Association, is one of the top minds in the digital signage industry. In every article he writes, it's evident that in addition to immense passion for our industry, he has the knowledge and experience to back it up . He has a complete grasp of the benefits of digital out-of-home media and its potential to reshape the boundaries of retail, advertising, and cross-platform communication.
I wasn't able to attend the recent NRF Show in New York City and hear Stuart Armstrong's speech on the strengths of digital in-store media for retailers. Thankfully, a transcript of the speech has been published at the website of Retail Customer Experience Magazine. To say it's worth a read is a gross understatement. It should be tacked to the walls of every company that has, or is thinking about deploying, a digital in-store media network.
I implore you to read his speech and think about how you can apply his thoughts to your digital signage network, media company, advertising agency, technology consultancy, or...
We are lucky to have a thought leader like him in our industry.
In the speech, Stuart highlights 11 benefits of digital in-store media. Here are my favorites from his list:
Build your Store Brand
To counter the "sea of sameness" between competing retailers, many are putting increased emphasis on their own store brands. In-store TV can be a powerful communication and promotional medium to convey the in-store brand essence and value.
Drive traffic to your Web site
Leveraging both the in-store and Web-based shopper touch-points, "clicks and mortar," to drive sales and loyalty is now an essential part of many retailers strategies. In-store TV is a digital on-ramp, an opportunity to introduce to your shoppers your on-line presence and promote cross-channel engagement.
Strengthen your mobile marketing/loyalty program
Retailers are addressing a new breed of shopper. A shopper who has ready access to all sorts of information, who can stand in your store and do competitive price comparisons or look up consumer product reviews on their mobile devices. Their shopping list, their coupons — virtually everything — can be accessed via that mobile device.
Conversely, you can reach them with useful information such as promotions, event updates, and last-minute over-inventory blow-out sales through this device. However, there is a delicate line between annoyance and attraction when it comes to a device that is regarded as highly personal as a person's mobile device.
Therefore, people need to explicitly opt into a program. Like e-commerce, digital in-store media can be a powerful way to promote adoption and begin to grow that highly coveted mobile marketing list of shoppers.
Influence inventory and supply chain efficiencies
One of the most powerful benefits of this media is the ability to do just-in-time messaging and leverage its ability to drive incremental sales to move over-inventoried product at the specific store level. Take, for example, women's apparel. When the next season's fashions are due, last season's line starts to make its way toward the back of the store, getting markdowns along the way.
Pre-markdown, heavy-up promotion of that line in the stores with excess inventory results in selling more product at full margin. This also applies to product over-inventoried at the distribution center, using the digital in-store media to pull product through the supply chain.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Hotels.com Adds Digital Out-of-Home Courtesy of Ideacast
I don't really think that an advertiser choosing to add digital out-of-home to its media mix necessitates an article - in this case, courtesy of Mediaweek. As a kid, I remember coaches telling me not to dance or celebrate after scoring a goal or making a big play. "Act like you have been there before," they would say. I think the sentiment rings true in this case as well. If we act like it's a major event every time a company adds digital out-of-home to its media plan, our industry will never fully be taken seriously. Think of it this way - would you rather be like Chad Johnson, a showboating athlete that legally changed his last name to Ocho Cinco, or Jerry Rice, a consummate professional who just handed the ball off to the ref after each touchdown.
But, who knows, I could be wrong. Our industry is still in its early stages after all. The more press we get the better, right? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. The article, as it appears on Mediaweek.com, is attached below:
For the first time, Hotels.com, is adding digital out of home to its media mix, which includes TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and outdoor. As part of its 2009 campaign, Hotels.com will advertise across three IdeaCast platforms: Airline TV, Health Club TV and Six Flags TV.
In another first, Hotels.com is developing a custom :120 spot, in addition to the standard :30 ad unit, in order to speak directly to its target of business and leisure travelers and mobile professionals.
"While TV, radio and magazines add mass reach with appropriate frequency levels, DOOH in airplanes and health clubs has been added to the media plan in order to be much more targeted," said Vic Walia, senior director of brand marketing for Hotels.com, a company of Expedia Inc. "Ideacast's solution allows Hotels.com to find consumers at key aperture moments when a travel message is much more relevant," he said.
Throughout the month of January, 30-second spots will air across IdeaCasts's Health Club TV Network nationwide. Through a year-long Airline TV content partnership beginning in March, Hotels.com will run branded content and TV ads in-flight. In June, a schedule of ads will run on Six Flags TV.
The Presidential Inauguration And The Future of Media
People watched President Obama's inauguration on various screens and from a range of vantage points- digital billboards in Times Square, desktop computers, social communities, mobile phones, cinema screens (just to name a few). This inauguration represented a historic moment for our country, as well as, a watershed moment for connected media's ubiquity in our society.
From Twitter feeds on Current TV to Facebook comments on CNN, people experienced the inauguration in ways that had never been seen before in welcoming a President to office. While there were some glitches with streaming video on the web, and delays in feeds and comments, you would be hard pressed to deny the long-term prospects of these types of multi-platform initiatives. Many would argue that this is the future of media as we know it - interactive experiences that transport a person from their living room into a vibrant round table discussion with people from across the world, reacting in real-time to events unfolding before our eyes.
Seeing an event through different people's eyes (Thank You Flickr) captures a wealth of emotions and insights that a single frame of reference is unable to provide. Harnessing people's diverse thoughts and ideas the moment they happen and sharing them on a universal platform(Thank You Twitter), lead to conversations (and new ideas) that would never have been born without the existence of such a boundless community of varying viewpoints.
The time is upon us where you would not just describe our country as a melting pot. Our media now shares the same attributes. It's an amalgam of what it once was. It's rigid boundaries giving way to a fluidity shaped by communities. The conversation is no longer dominated by a select few. It lives and breathes amongst us all.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Ban on Digital Billboards in Los Angeles?
The story of Los Angeles' proposed ban on digital billboards came out last week, but it's a topic that I believe deserves broader attention. Following the recent 3-month ban on the construction of new billboards in L.A., a state assemblyman introduced a bill last week that would restrict the construction of digital billboards in the city until 2012. The bill calls the safety of digital billboards into question, claiming that the potential driving hazards caused by electronic billboards must be examined further.
In passing the proposed bill, policymakers claim that it would give them the necessary time to review the results of pending safety studies - including a two-phase study from The Federal Highway Administration. What I fail to understand is why city officials would need three years to review reports that will soon be published. It would seem more practical to extend the existing ban for another 3 - 6 months to review the pending studies.
I am all for ensuring the safety of motorists, but it appears that the politicians stewarding the proposed bill are using driving safety as a smoke screen for the true reason the bill was created: the assemblyman's utter disdain for outdoor advertising of any form. An issue such as driver safety, which is a concern that digital billboard owners will continue to contend with, is impossible to disregard. But, as evidenced in the quotes below, it appears to be less about safety and more about legislators issues with billboards and their presence along the city's landscape:
- "Electronic billboards are starting to clutter our neighborhoods and we need to stop them before they take over our communities. This state moratorium is the first step toward giving cities the tools we need to create stronger local ordinances," said Council President Eric Garcetti.
- "The City of Los Angeles has struggled with billboard blight for many years, and my district's neighborhoods would welcome state legislation to help limit the assault of new advertising. I appreciate Assemblymember Feuer's strong effort to fully understand the impacts of digital signs and to control them," said Councilmember Jack Weiss.
In their attacks against digital billoards, Mr. Feuer and his colleagues have conspicuously failed to highlight the existing studies whose findings draw no statistical relationship between digital billboards and the occurrence of accidents. (The reports can be viewed in their entirety by clicking on the links below)
http://www.oaaa.org/UserFiles/File/Legislative/Digital/6.3.9a%20Accident%20Reserach.pdf
http://www.oaaa.org/UserFiles/File/Legislative/Digital/6.3.9b%20Driver%20Behavior%20Research.pdf
Furthermore, a 2008 Arbitron study found that the public believes digital signs to be valuable in making drivers aware of weather and traffic conditions and Amber Alerts for missing kids.
The Arbitron findings, which were based on a survey of Cleveland motorists who have been exposed to seven digital billboards for the past three years. Of the 402 adults polled, 80 percent of drivers think the signs provide an important community service.
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, January 20, 2009
Locamoda Takes Part in Inauguration Festivities
Locamoda is opening 2009 with a historic project that gives attendees and those of us watching the inauguration from home the ability to take part in live conversations surrounding the event which will be broadcast on digital screens in Washington, DC and across the Web. The same technology, the Company's Wiffiti platform, powering the first-ever text-to-screen experience at a presidential inauguration event was leveraged at the Democratic National Convention and as part of the Obama Minute fundraising campaign.
The inauguration version of Wiffiti will display live streams of global user generated content from people at the events via their cellphones as well as millions of people on the web via sites such as Twitter and Flickr.
On the evening of January 19th, LocaModa will light up a Wiffiti installation on a 45" by 80" projection screen at the Clarendon Ballroom, just three miles from downtown DC. The screen allows for live messages to be sent to the screen and also displays tagged Twitter and Flickr feeds (appropriately tagged "Obama," "Netroots Nation," "Inauguration," etc).
Supporters who aren’t in attendance at the sold-out event can view the screen and even participate remotely, creating a dynamic social “capture” of the historic inauguration. Various websites and blogs, including the Providence Journal, are extending the conversation even further by posting Wiffiti screens for readers to express their support and opinions on the event.
LocaModa's Director of Community, Jayne Karolow, said: "We have been very fortunate to have had Wiffiti at pivotal moments in this election. We are delighted to see Wiffiti as the social glue for the culmination of such an historic event."
To participate in the Netroots Nation YesWeCan Party via Wiffiti, visit http://bit.ly/netroots_yeswecan. Text messages can be sent in the form of "@yeswecan + message" to 87884. The event will take place from 7 p.m. to Midnight on January 19, 2009.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Digital Fuels Growth for Out-of-Home Advertising
Although digital out-of-home offers advertisers an opportunity to tweak their TV ads, an increased amount of brands are creating dedicated spots for outdoor media networks (I think we can all agree that repurposing existing TV ads is not the answer. Brands must create content that is optimized for digital signage and feeds into the unique charactestics of the medium) David Leider, CEO of Destination Media, a digital out-of-home company which includes Gas Station TV, said about 35% of the campaigns that ran on his network in 2008 were custom-created, with package-goods marketers starting to pick up some of the slack from top categories such as automotive and retail.
Jon Chait, a partner at digital-media investment firm Dace Ventures, said digital out-of-home is becoming more attractive to investors as operational costs drop and the ad market matures. "These companies have dynamic targetability, whether it's digital or video-delivered, and they have ownership of the space they're in," he said.
One of Dace Ventures' recent investments is Locamoda, a mobile-based technology company that marries social networking with out-of-home interactivity. A new Clear Channel digital billboard in Times Square, for example, features a game called Jumbli that pedestrians can play on their cellphones or on Facebook. AT&T recently sponsored the game, and signed up 300,000 fans online and in Times Square for the game in the span of a month.
Locamoda CEO Stephen Randall said the metrics from the Jumbli game indicate that advertising can be welcome in a mobile, out-of-home setting under the right circumstances. "If you give the user control over the media and you're not afraid of the user, you're potentially doing what they do on the web," he said. "It's the right approach between something that's right for the user and not too scary for a brand. You just want to give the user the loudest voice possible." (via Ad Age)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Obama Inauguration Coming to a Theater Near You
A resounding example of spreading content across various media platforms. The upcoming presidential inauguration is going to be featured on cinema screens. I would love to see the content fed out to a plethora of digital signage networks.
Nothing about where the theatres are or how to get tickets yet, but I'll keep looking and update when I find it.
President-elect Barack Obama is on his way to the big screen, thanks to a deal between MSNBC and Screenvision that will put the news channel's inaugural coverage in 27 theaters around the country.
Free tickets are being handed out via MSNBC.com to see the inauguration and parade from 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET at the 27 theaters run by 11 exhibitor partners in 21 markets. Midday Tuesday isn't necessarily a big movie time, so it helps to fill the theater -- and boost popcorn and soda sales -- at a time when it's not usually busy.
That means that Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews and other MSNBC and NBC personalities will play the big movie screen in addition to the usual MSNBC cable and satellite stream. MSNBC won't be in high-definition until the second quarter, but both the channel and Screenvision say the quality will still be high.
"It'll look great," MSNBC president Phil Griffin said. "We're thrilled about it."
Screenvision was approached by MSNBC last year about carrying the coverage in some of the same theaters that take Screenvision's preroll video, executive vp exhibitor relations Darryl Schaffer said. Since August 2007, Screenvision has had an alternative programming division that has exhibited New York Mets baseball games, operas and other events live via movie theaters. Schaffer said that Screenvision had the capability to do as many as 200 locations, though MSNBC was looking for a smaller event than that.
For MSNBC, it's a chance to continue the momentum that vaulted it into the fastest-growing channel in all of cable in 2008. That's the strategy, and Griffin said Monday afternoon to expect more in 2009 to build MSNBC's brand."
We want to reach people we've never reached before," Griffin said. "We're going to do numerous things like that to get our name out there. Ubiquity is the name of the game in 2009."
(via Mediaweek)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Digital Signage Plays a Key Role in the Movie "Eagle Eye"
When thinking about movies and digital signage, most people initially picture the gesture-controlled screens from "Minority Report." Allusions to the technology seen in the movie have become so common in editorials on the digital signage industry that it has become a cliche.
You would be hard pressed not to see a digital billboard when watching a movie these days. Think about it. Almost every major city across the country has digital signs. Prominent film destinations like New York and Las Vegas might as well be annointed digital billboard capitals of the world. But, digital billboards in movies are primarily in the background of scenes. They make up our urban landscape.
I watched a movie over the weekend - "Eagle Eye" - in which digital signage technology plays a key role in the movie's plot and facilitates ccommunication between the film's main characters (If you haven't seen the movie yet, I promise not to give anything away)
From a digital ticker on the side of a skyscraper to a projection screen in an airport, digital signage acts as an information source for the movie's key figures. Without making use of these networked displays, the movie and its characters may never have reached their final destination.
With the expansion of digital signage into all facets of our society - retail, hospitals, schools, airports, stadiums, etc., I think it's safe to predict that these screens will be seen in more films. The utility of these displays in our own lives will likely dictate what role they play in future movies.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Generative Video Wall Evolves as Audio and Video Influence Each Other
Forever at the Victoria & Albert Museum from Universal Everything on Vimeo.
Universal Everything, a UK design studio whose work extends the boundaries of innovation and art, has created an amazing installation that draws beauty from its complexity. The generative video wall evolves from the interactions between its audio and video.
“Forever is an art project formed from generative music and generative visuals and is a commission for the museum’s new digital programme,” explains Karsten Schmidt, one of the creative minds behind the installation. “Simon Pyke has composed the music and sound – he’s created hundreds of different soundscapes, drums, all in the same key so that anything can be mixed together. It will evolve over the two months it’s on, so you’ll never hear, or see, the same thing twice. It’s based on the same kinds of micro-patterns as Mozart’s generative minuets, but on a more detailed level. When the sound is intense it will trigger pulses on the visual side and visual elements will also feed back into the music.”
I am a huge supporter of the convergence of digital signage and art. Art breathes life and emotion into a digital screen. Akin to a painting or scuplture, works such as this bring us in touch with a world that exists outside of ourselves. When a digital signage network chooses to supplement advertising with artistic images and videos, its value should not be weighed by the cost of screen time. It should be measured by the breadth of the engagement that it fosters.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
HBO Uses Street-Level Billboards for "Big Love" Ad Campaign
In New York, a billboard will be in the Times Square subway station in the corridor from Times Square to the Port Authority. In Los Angeles, the billboard is on wheels, and will be at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue until Jan. 15, then in Venice Beach through Jan. 29.
HBO representatives at the sites will answer questions and, in Los Angeles, offer disposable headphones. The company assumed that New York commuters would bring their own.
“If there’s a crowd around it, so much the better,” said David Lubars, the chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO North America, part of the Omnicom Group.
Mr. Lubars said the audio billboard had been customized for this campaign.
“It used to be, you were creative within a template,” Mr. Lubars said. “Now you have to not only be highly creative in the content, but the delivery has to be creative.”
Another part of the campaign, a stunt by the Civic Entertainment Group, will feature 150 people walking around New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Chicago on Jan. 14 wearing thought bubbles on their heads, like the kind used in cartoons. The bubbles will have a secret written on the front, like “I’m in love with my boss,” and a reference to “Big Love” on the back.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Forecast 2009: Out-of-Home to Fare Better Than Other Media Formats
For anyone who has a read forecasts of advertising and media spending in the coming year, it's not a pretty picture. Industry analysts and media groups abound see 2009 as a year where almost all formats will experience declines. As a result of the economic tremors created by the financial sector fallout to the cratering of the US auto industry, advertising agencies have been shedding staff and many media properties have shuttered their doors. Companies are "battening down the hatches," hoping to survive what will surely be a year of layoffs, tightening budgets, reduced consumer spending, and continued property foreclosures.
Now that we've gotten the gloom and doom out of the way (Sorry, but the proper mood needed to be set). Here's some good news for people in the digital signage and out-of-home media industries:
While other forms of media, including newspapers, network and cable TV, radio, and the Web, are predicted to decline in 2009, out-of-home media is projected to eke out growth. And, here is the kicker - PQ Media forecasts digital OOH to be up 9.1 percent to $2.65 billion.
With our country in a recession, projected growth, no matter what size, is great news for any industry. As the following Mediaweek article points out - I've highlighted my favorite parts - growth in cinema advertising and digital signage networks will help to buoy out-of-home media in the coming year.
Forecast 2009: Out of Home
It’s unclear how much out-of-home advertising will be down, if at all, in 2009. Certain segments, which are helping to grow the scope of the business, are poised for healthy growth, including all digital components, led by cinema advertising and in-store networks, digital billboards and other alternative displays.
Traditional out of home—led by the nation’s largest outdoor companies (Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor and Lamar Advertising) and still the largest segment of the industry—is facing some of the same challenges as other traditional media. Like other media, it’s a buyer’s market for OOH inventory, and companies such as Lamar have been open about cutting rates. But unlike other media, there still seems to be plenty of activity from advertisers.
“Even though all our clients are facing challenging environments, there’s a steady commitment to the space,” said Chris Gagen, senior vp and managing director for Posterscope. “At a time when people are trying to gain efficiencies, the low cost for high reach is a great proposition.”
Estimates put the business at flat to up 1 or 2 percent, which isn’t bad compared to other media, but it’s far below the medium’s high single-digit growth of the last few years. PQ Media forecast total out of home to be up 3 percent to $8.5 billion. Growing at a much faster pace, digital OOH is forecast to be up 9.1 percent to $2.65 billion. With digital outpacing traditional outdoor, it’s expected to account for more than 27 percent of total revenue in 2009, up from 15.8 percent in 2008. “The trends in the out-of-home business are better than the other mass-media segments, especially on the digital alternative side,” said Patrick Quinn, president and CEO, PQ Media. “Digital has been a plus for this business, whereas it’s been an interrupter in other businesses.”
Still, a bad economy is expected to take its toll on how quickly the nascent digital business matures, since conditions are unlikely to improve in ’09. The credit crisis makes it harder for digital OOH startups to receive financing and for companies to merge. Only one merger of note was completed early last fall before credit markets seized up, when Fuelcast (a digital network at gas pumps) and Bhootan (a digital network at a variety of retail locations) merged to form Outcast. It’s a testament to the appeal of digital OOH that only one player, Reactrix, went under last year.
(How many digital signage companies do you think will go under in 2009? Which companies will benefit from the Darwinan "survial of the fittest" culling out period?)
And even though digital boards are a moneymaker for traditional companies, it still costs much-needed capital to build them out. To save money, Lamar Advertising temporarily suspended its digital rollout in ’09 and will convert only 100 next year versus a planned 400.
In the absence of significant mergers, aggregators such as SeeSaw Networks and Adcentricity have made it easier to plan and buy inventory across scores of networks. And with the Traffic Audit Bureau’s “eyes on ratings” for traditional out of home poised to be issued in the coming weeks, there is plenty of optimism that out of home will outperform most other media. (via Mediaweek)
So, there you have it, out-of-home media will experience some effects of the economic downturn - a slow down in the number of static billboards transitioning to digital probably being the most pronounced - but the industry is well-positioned to benefit from buyers and planners taking a closer look at what advertising mediums really work and those that do not
Wouldn't it be ironic for digital OOH to finally reach its tipping point while the country is in a recession?
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