The Age of Mobility
We have entered a new age of mobility according to The Future Foundation. The amount of time we spend outside the home will increase by 30% by 2020. With so many people outside of their living rooms, advertisers can no longer rely on mostly in-home media such as television.
Engaging consumers on the move is becoming a major focus for many clients.
Furthermore, ad avoidance devices will have an even greater impact on traditional advertising models as consumers selectively filter and receive advertising messages.
Outdoor is the only advertising medium that is virtually immune to consumer avoidance. It can’t be turned off, flipped to the next page or thrown away. And it is free to view.
Outdoor truly is the last of the mass media.
What Does Outdoor Media Do for Advertisers?
- Outdoor builds brand saliency
Outdoor can be used to establish brands and elevate a brand’s perception and credibility. Its ubiquitous presence helps to drive significant gains in brand awareness. The medium’s strong carry-over effects ensure that brand awareness levels strengthen over time.
- Outdoor creates a big impact
By its sheer size, outdoor advertising demands attention and creates high impact. It provides a blank canvas for a vast array of creative opportunities to generate brand stand-out and dominate different environments. Ranging from wrapped buses and Spectaculars, to custom installations and giant digital billboards, the scale and cut-through nature of outdoor cannot be avoided.
- Outdoor reaches the masses
Many campaigns are targeted against a broad demographic and as a broadcast medium, outdoor is perfect for reaching mass audiences. As media audiences continue to fragment, outdoor has increasingly become an attractive option for advertisers to ensure their brand and message gets noticed.
- Outdoor also delivers niche audiences
The outdoor industry has evolved to develop an abundance of targeted options to reach different, niche audiences. Consumers can be targeted by environment or lifestyle. Bus, tram and rail advertising offer a highly targeted way to reach the elusive Gen Y audience, which represent over one third of transit commuters. Proximity mapping allows advertisers to target specific audiences within range of certain stores, such as supermarkets, liquor outlets and petrol stations, as well as facilities such as schools, gyms and pubs. Our Cosmopolitan Large Format sites have been hand-picked to target affluent audiences in lifestyle suburbs. Meanwhile, digital billboards enable advertisers to target consumers in different day-parts. Consumers can be reached through a plethora of options while they are on the move and on the path to purchase.
- Outdoor generates heavy frequency
High frequency is a fundamental strength of outdoor advertising, and repeated exposures ensure that brands and messages are remembered. For example, rail commuters travelling to work through the same CBD stations each day could be exposed to a Station Surround campaign up to 40 times in a month. Bus and tram advertising packages offer high frequency, and have been proven to generate up to 47% ad recall*.
*Source: APN Outdoor HPO Research 2007
- Outdoor multiplies the effect of other media, reinforcing the message
TV audiences are declining and one third of people are light TV viewers, making it hard to reach them cost-efficiently. But outdoor advertising has a high propensity to reach light TV viewers. Combining TV and outdoor can deliver a greater campaign net reach and awareness than using TV alone. When Dove launched a campaign using TV and combined it with outdoor, post-campaign research revealed that outdoor added an extra 22% of ad awareness*. Outdoor advertising is an ideal reminder medium when other activity tapers off.
*Source: APN Outdoor/The Leading Edge Research 2006
- Outdoor provides a Path to Purchase
Outdoor advertising reaches consumers on their path to purchase and can be very effective in driving sales. Its high frequency and proximity to point of sale has been proven to generate product trial and purchase. Increasingly, outdoor is being used as a direct response medium through innovations in digital technology such as Bluetooth and LED screens.
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Who is the Outdoor Audience?
Consumers who are “out and about” more often are more likely to be exposed to outdoor advertising. But what defines this audience and how do they consume other media?
Roy Morgan Research profiles heavy ‘Out and About’ consumers as more likely to be:
- Light commercial TV viewers
- Medium newspaper readers
- Medium commercial radio listeners
- Heavy magazine readers
- Heavy Internet users
- Heavy cinema attendees
- Earning $50K+ pa
- Big spenders (high discretionary expenditure)
- A, B and C quintile
- The main grocery buyers of their household
- Young singles and young couples*
*Source: Roy Morgan Single Source 2008
How is the Outdoor Industry Performing?
Outdoor industry media revenue rose to $453.8 million in 2008, up 3.2% on the previous year. This was the industry’s sixth consecutive year of solid growth. Outdoor revenues continue to outpace those of the other traditional mediums.
Total Outdoor Advertising Spend
Australian Outdoor Market by Format
2008 saw an overall growth in the outdoor media industry, with Roadside Posters experiencing the biggest increase of 12.2% year-on-year.
Source: Outdoor Media Association
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Who Uses Outdoor?
Increasingly, advertisers are realising the effectiveness of outdoor advertising and incorporating it into their media schedules. The top 25 advertisers in outdoor represent 36% of all outdoor ad spending. In 2008, the top 25 advertisers in outdoor spent an estimated $169 million. This also represented 1.7 cents of every ad dollar spent in Australia’s main media.
