‘DOOH growth not at the expense of classic media’

Addressing the 2-day International OOH Congress in St Petersburg, Russia on the theme of ‘OOH Transformation & Evolution’, Annie Rickard, ex-Global President, Posterscope, stated that DOOH media is expected to account for 25% of total global OOH revenues by 2021. Tools like eye tracking and dynamic ad serving, and the interactive media’s ability to talk to specific groups are rendering new dynamism to OOH. Illustrating the quantum growth potential of DOOH, Annie referred to the UK market where digital OOH media that makes up 5% of the total OOH inventory in the country aggregating about 50% of the total OOH revenues. In the US, DOOH makes up 4% of the total OOH inventory and yet contributes 35% of the total OOH revenues. Advertising and media are transforming in the wake of consumers becoming hyper-connected.

Pointing out that consumers today expect one-to-one dialogue with the advertisers, Annie said that agencies are now called upon to plan advertising in an integrated way. She also cited that consulting firms like Accenture and EY by digitising their market services are in some ways posing competition to the agency business.

OOH is doing well to deliver growth, “but we want faster growth”, she asserted, while adding that the current DOOH growth is largely happening at the expense of classic media. Instead, DOOH must make all OOH grow. That can be achieved if the industry players make concerted efforts to deliver superior experiences to the advertisers and consumers. For instance, free wi-fi and telephony can be leveraged toward this end. If the results improve, clients will spend more. On a larger plan, there is the imperative to develop a ‘digital-led’ mindset.

Annie asserted that “if OOH does not grow”, it would be because the industry has not done enough in that direction. “Make campaigns more relevant,” she said, while adding that advertisers, specialist agencies and creative agencies should work together in enhancing the relevancy of OOH advertising.

Annie underlined the need for a collaborative approach and said, “We have to make it easier for the advertisers”. At the same time, “We have to automate to survive”. In time, another challenge to be tackled is, how to measure the media in an automated world and how the metrics will be consistent with other media measurement metrics.

She urged the industry to develop a more discerning sense of consumer behaviour toward all different mediums. She also advocated the need for developing a global OOH currency.