Vodafone reins in outdoor activity

LONDON - Vodafone is significantly scaling back its use of branded poster sites, marking a shift in its strategy.

In May 2007, the mobile operator announced that it had gained exclusive use of 1000 outdoor sites, predominantly around major transport hubs, in an initiative developed by ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty and outdoor agency Kinetic.

Vodafone has since used the sites to promote its tariffs and mobile broadband offers and services, but is now phasing out their use.

A Vodafone spokesman said: 'We are currently looking at the best way to use this key medium and the balance needed between permanent presence and flexibility of sites and timing.'


The news will come as a blow to the outdoor industry, which is suffering from a decline in revenues.


Vodafone has been forced to cut costs as it looks to reduce its operating expenses by £1bn by 2011. At the end of last month, the mobile phone operator announced that it was to cut 500 jobs across its UK business.


The company's underlying group revenue fell by 1% in the third quarter, but grew by 14.3% to £10.5bn in the three months to 31 December 2008.

The past year has brought a decline in spend across the outdoor sector. According to the Outdoor Advertising Association, in the final quarter of 2008 spend was down by 1.1%. In 2008 spend overall was down 3.8%, to a total of £938.6m.

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