Spending by e-commerce companies on outdoor advertising is set to
rise more than 400 per cent this year to reach pounds 84 million,
according to a new report by the poster specialist Poster Publicity.
This follows an increase last year of 1,600 per cent to pounds 16
million.
That points to an interesting paradox, that the world’s oldest medium is
the favourite of the globe’s newest media. For these powerful new
clients, TV has often proved to be too expensive and, with the
fragmentation of the medium, it is sometimes not perceived as being as
potent as outdoor. While outdoor allows for media standout, e-commerce
clients argue that their brand could easily get lost in a series of
commercial breaks. The challenge is to stand out from the crowd
immediately, which goes hand in hand with the e-com clients’ simple
message to go and visit the website. ’It’s a much simpler proposition
than trying to get over myriad product benefits,’ Annette Smart, the
managing director of Business Intelligence, says.
Further, the demographic of the UK internet user has a significant
influence on the use of outdoor. Poster Publicity’s report states: ’The
majority of users are younger than the national average (the average age
of internet users is 35). Forty per cent of web users have a degree
(against the national average of 12 per cent). Seventy-nine per cent of
web users are ABC1 and 24 per cent live in London.’
Steve Wilson, the managing director of Blade, says: ’Outdoor is firmly
placed in the real world which makes the demographic feel more
comfortable as they spend a lot of time in the virtual world. People
look out for posters in dead time, such as when they are driving,
commuting, going to leisure activities or visiting friends, and it is a
welcome interruption. Also this group does not stay in and watch TV -
they’re out and about all the time.’
Yvonne O’Brien, the head of marketing at the More Group, adds: ’Outdoor
is the ultimate banner ad. These sites perform a role in the often
hectic daily lives of young adults and their messages imply ’here’ and
’now’ - almost demanding swift action to experience the brand being
advertised.’
Added to the role of the poster site is that of ambient media, although
O’Brien is sceptical as to whether it is capable of building a brand as
successfully as posters. ’Ambient is a useful addition to the dotcom
mix,’ she explains. ’But it isn’t capable of brand building as it is
never going to reach the market in the same volume as posters.’
Philip Vecht, the chief executive of Admedia, is achieving exceptional
results for e-commerce clients via a combination of both ambient and
posters.
The national poster contractor owns and operates 10,000 washroom poster
panels in 180 of the nation’s busiest shopping centres plus those in
every motorway service area in the UK.
’We have ambient ads in the washrooms of 660 motorway services as well
as illuminated six-sheet sites across the locations. The six-sheets have
proved to be able to get to a mass internet audience and this initial
impact is followed up by the A3 ads in washrooms. More than 400 million
people visit a motorway service each year and 95 per cent of those
people go to the loo,’ Vecht says.
The results for a variety of direct response campaigns have been
impressive, he adds. ’ONET, an internet service provider, received more
than 1,000 calls a day, 23,000 in total. As there is nothing else to
look at in the washroom, people read the text on the posters and then
often act on the message by either looking up a website or buying the
product in a shop within the service stop. Haymarket Publishing, for
example, ran an Admedia washroom campaign for the net magazine at
motorway services and the title sold out at some of the sites within two
weeks of the posters going up.’
Outdoor is winning in the popularity stakes over other media. It is yet
to hike up its rates to capitalise on the e-coms clients’ financial
success, unlike some print media. And radio doesn’t appear to have the
reach in terms of appealing to the target market, as well as being more
difficult to track. Outdoor provides lengthy exposure to the message
and, through geodemographic mapping, can enable campaigns to be targeted
to tightly defined areas, so eliminating wastage.
So it would appear that outdoor and the dotcoms are all loved up. Only
two thorny issues have to be addressed to ensure that the relationship
is long term. First, the creative standard of e-commerce posters is a
concern. Carole Kerman, the managing director of Outdoor Connection,
says: ’The creative could be a lot better. But this is because agencies
don’t have a creative history for these clients.
Outdoor is fantastic for a launch but the creative has to work with the
medium to take the brand through.’
The second issue is the lifespan of the clients themselves. ’There is
significant increased traffic on the sites from e-coms clients,’ Kerman
adds. ’But beneath this there is a lot of venture capital aiding the
advertising.
The future of how these clients use outdoor has more to do with whether
these clients stay around for the long term.’
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