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Out-of-home and into your pocket

Out-of-home and into your pocket

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With consumers' eyes fixed on mobile screens event while on the move, how is the out-of-home medium getting them to look at large-scale billboards, display screens and train wraps? Rezwana Manjur explores how these gentle giants have shrunk to fit the consumers' palms.

“Good afternoon, Mr Yakamoto,” says a loud cheery Gap employee through a giant flat-screen monitor. “How did you like that three-pack of tank tops you bought last time you were in?” she says. That’s a scene from Minority Report, a futuristic movie starring Tom Cruise.

The scene is well on its way to becoming a reality.

Almost every medium consumed today is either fully digitised or soon will be, especially traditional ones such as TV, radio and print.

Once static, digital has infused life into these mediums bringing vast potential to interact with consumers in real-time.

OOH is no exception. In fact, as one of the more proactive media to take to digital, it has been constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation to offer marketers the best bang for their bucks. According to Nielsen, the OOH ad spend in Singapore in 2011 stood at US$228.7 million, up 29% compared with five years ago. In 2012 the figure stood at US$275 million.

A significant part of the overall marketing mix, the goal for many marketers is to make OOH a poignant point of interaction and a stepping board for engagement with consumers on the go.

A huge help on that front is coming from mobile. Mobile devices and technology, while helping marketers up the engagement level with their audience, have also helped them better gauge the efficiency of OOH, read measurability.

In markets such as Singapore where smartphone penetration is at an all-time high, marketers know that shrinking the OOH giants to fit the size of consumer palms, that is mobile phones, allows their brand greater mobility and awareness.

Locally, OOH media players such as Clear Channel, SMRT Media and others have made their move into mobile spaces. Clear Channel introduced Mobile Life! to its existing service brands, its comprehensive OOH mobile solution comprising all the technologies in the mobile space.

SMRT Media also added a new mega outdoor theatre screen at Orchard and another digital screen at Raffles MRT station, while building quickly on its mobile outdoor integration programme. These additions were aimed at allowing marketers to maximise campaign effectiveness with more interaction and transactions from their consumers.

A recent campaign which ran until February this year was that of chocolatier Royce which leveraged the platform to specifically target commuters and shoppers at Orchard Station and on SMRT trains.

The campaign presented a selection of Royce chocolates in life-sized catalogues and engaged commuters with a photo contest on iViewSMRT and Projection Screen @ Orchard. To help travellers further, a virtual store was set up at Orchard MRT Station that allowed commuters to scan and buy selected products.

During Christmas last year, SMRT Media also brought on board online merchants such as Zalora.sg, Red Mart and Love Bonito to offer Christmas hampers that could be purchased off the walls of the stations using just mobile phones.

Most recently, Tiger Beer launched an activation utilising augmented reality to engage fans online and on-ground as part of its “Game Time” campaign, aimed at igniting the nation’s passion for football. Utilising the platform for the first time, the activation at Dhoby Ghaut MRT station reinforced Tiger Beer’s challenge to fans to suggest creative ways to get out of tricky situations and make it in time to catch not-to-be-missed “live” football matches.

An interactive Tiger Beer video wall, situated along the connecting walkway within Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, detected passers-by through infrared motion sensors, displayed the persons walking past and triggered speech bubbles to appear above their heads, as if they were thinking out loud.

The speech bubbles contained quotes about what fans typically think about when planning to catch the next big football match “live” such as “I’d skip the morning meeting” and “I’d take urgent leave”.

To participate in the campaign, fans could simply log onto the Game Time application at tigergametime.com.sg and share their most original and innovative suggestions on how to make it in time for a match based on four tricky scenarios posted by Tiger Beer on a weekly basis. The best submissions were featured in the “Tiger Playbook” – a tongue-in-cheek guide for fans where each play would be illustrated in detail using a step-by-step approach.

An “SOS SMS” automated service was also activated during the campaign period where soccer fanatics could request for a pre-set SMS from a chosen set of characters, including their boss, sweetheart, mother, brother and lawyer to give them an excuse to leave and catch a “live” football match in time.

Each week, fans who submitted their ideas received one chance to enter the final draw to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch a Barclays Premier League match “live” in London with three friends.

“Singapore has the right infrastructure that is critical to the success of mobile usage and development within the OOH industry,” says Rene de Monchy, head of marketing at Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore.

Last year, as part of the festive campaign, the beer maker held its “Have You Been Good” contest on the brand’s Facebook page. The campaign saw Tiger Beer asking Singaporeans to share, in the most fun and creative ways, how they had been “good this year”.

To garner additional submissions from consumers on the go, Tiger Beer included QR codes on all OOH ads that linked to the campaign’s microsite when scanned. This additional step allowed the brand to keep consumers updated on the campaign while deepening engagement with them at the same time.

Coca-Cola is an example of a brand using mobile to scale up a campaign globally. The test campaign allowed users to share a Coke with someone on the other side of the world that they had never met. For the campaign it paired up with Google. The ad ran on Admob’s rich media platform.

When clicking on the ad, viewers could decide where to send the Coke to, among the various locations worldwide, where a specially designed vending machine was set up. Along with a Coke, the sender could share a customised message and also receive an email or video response from the recipient.

“Mobile is enabling brands such as Coca-Cola to engage with consumers in even more personal, real-time and innovative ways. This is from the augmentation of outdoor display advertising, to integrating mobile experiences to vending machines,” says Coca-Cola’s Rommel Fuentebella, the integrated marketing communications manager for Singapore and Malaysia.

With more and more brands marrying the two in their marketing mix, Leela Nair, managing director of Mindshare Singapore, says mobile as a medium has evolved to a point where it can now be considered an extension of OOH.

“Both the mediums are highly complementary and can provide marketers with endless opportunity to drive engagement and interactivity for those on the move, via Bluetooth, QR codes, near-field communication (NFC) and other similar technologies,” she says.

With more of these solutions being offered by OOH media owners, Nair believes the market will see many more innovations to capture the consumer’s attention on the go.

Spoilt for choices

The growth in mobile technology and the pace of change, while driving much greater integration, has also given rise to a perennial problem for marketers – what works best? 3D or augmented reality, NFC or QR codes? Or a combination of them all?

For some time now, QR codes have been the norm – on print ads, on bus shelters, taxis and so on. It has been the marketers’ go-to solution for testing the waters of mobile and OOH integration.

QR codes, which simply are an evolution of the bar code, require the user to download an app and scan the code to access the related content. On the other hand, NFC requires no extra step and allows users to simply swish their phones near the NFC area and receive information.

While the QR code takes time to analyse the link, the tag and the reader in NFC work together to bring information to the user instantly.

QR codes, although having a wider reach, pose a challenge – to generate a new code every time there is something more or new to communicate and get it printed across all marketing collaterals. NFC offers brands much more in terms of flexibility.

In using NFC, changing content as per the brand’s wish and requirement, needs no change in the tag as there is an option to overwrite the existing one. Is there an edge NFC has over QR codes then?

“While QR codes within OOH are fantastic at amplifying talk-ability around on-ground or OOH activation, the reality is they are currently rarely used,” says Marie Gruy, managing partner of PHD Singapore.

Even Japan, says Gruy, arguably one of the most tech-savvy test beds in Asia, has not seen QR codes take-off as much as was anticipated.

According to a joint research project between OMG and Microsoft released last year, “Mobile Love Affair”, 96% of all smartphone owners in Japan are aware of QR codes, yet they have not been fully optimised.

However, QR code-led OOH campaigns, argues Gruy, does make mobile shopping fun by offering spontaneous purchase opportunities that disrupt typical behaviour.

While QR codes within OOH are fantastic at amplifying talk-ability around on-ground or OOH activation, the reality is they are currently rarely used.

Marie Gruy, managing partner
PHD Singapore

Coca-Cola’s Fuentebella says apart from mature mobile markets such as Japan, QR codes and NFC are still not an integral part of a mobile phone for many consumers.

“NFC has been around for a fairly long time and we have tested it with Coca-Cola and Fanta back in 2011, but standard adoption across mobile phone manufacturers has been slow,” he says.

Currently, there are more phones that can read QR codes than those that are NFC-enabled, but experts say the gap will narrow in the future as tags get smaller and cheaper and new smartphones start to integrate NFC.

What both NFC and QR codes leverage on is essentially the location of the consumer – a factor that is increasingly playing a crucial role in marketing.

 Where you are, matters

While location-based services are still relatively new for consumers in Singapore, there is huge potential for success when weaved in with OOH ads because nearly half of what is searched for on mobile devices currently is being associated with the immediate surroundings. Marketers are able to serve personalised messages to the consumer wherever they go and if that strikes a chord with what the consumer is looking for, it has the potential to turn into immediate sales.

“Consumers face over 20,000 messages a day and it is no longer about targeting the right person. Brands have to do it at the right location at the right time,” de Monchy says

“I am sure we will see more of that (location-based offerings) coming through OOH ads in the near future.”

One of the most powerful benefits of the location-based service is the ability “to generate an immediate call-to-action”, be it through coupon redemption at nearest outlets or other promotional tactics. Fuentebella says location-based services make ads more targeted owing to “the growing data available to advertisers, alongside more precise location-based ad solutions”.

But marketers say before getting their hands dirty by testing out all the available technologies, it’s important to understand the relevance and value they add to the campaign’s message.

Any technology, which is leveraged in campaigns, should solve a purpose, that of either utility or entertainment to the consumer – a key criteria in engaging the customer long-term.

“While these are additional platforms for brands to reach out to consumers, at the end of the day, the fundamental question of ‘what’s in it for me’ remains?” says de Monchy.

For Tiger Beer, when QR codes were integrated in the festive campaigns’ OOH ads, consumers were able to win tickets to the festive party, making them feel rewarded for the scan.

 Looking ahead

An exciting space to watch is using inaudible frequencies to trigger applications and offers inside shops and malls, says Fuentebella.

An example of this is Shopkick in the US. An Asian equivalent has also launched in Japan called Smapo. Both of them reward consumers for walking into stores and sharing their shopping basket.

An advantage of this technology is it offers advertisers more targeted location-based advertising indoors than GPS.

As for QR codes, they could be more widely adopted via instant messaging services such as KakaoTalk and Line who have a QR reader in-built and are working with brands to have accounts to be able to communicate with their target audience.

“OOH executions could then start to leverage more the instant messaging, given the human need of using IM on mobile to connect with family and friends, than highlighting the actual QR code itself,” Fuentebella. says.

The excitement lies in the big idea and what boundaries brands are willing to push in this regard, says Mindshare’s Nair. “Like any medium, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.”

While these technologies are bound to attract marketers’ attention, what will continue to help the OOH medium evolve is its ability to play moving content on digital formats.

Consumers today are already seeing more and more billboards and posters being digital, allowing more dynamic advertising, taking into account location and context.

The future will undoubtedly bring “more of the larger formats becoming digital and interactive to offer the solutions those marketers need”, adds Nair and the market has already begun using these options.

Last year OOH media player JCDecaux grabbed marketers’ attention by unveiling several new digital assets.

In Changi Airport, it launched the Digital 360 – four giant-size digital columns offering 360 degrees of branding visibility. To grab the attention of young female movie goers, JCDecaux was enlisted by cosmetics brand Maybelline to launch its latest product, the Lashionista mascara. The brand prominently displayed the ad on the building with a specially built LED eyelash structure that lights up at night.

Traditionally, brands have used OOH as an expansion platform for their print ads. However, more brands are using clever techniques to bring to life the essence of the brand through billboards and large format posters.

“I believe there will be more of that in time to come,” de Monchy says.

Tiger Beer’s three-sided billboard located along the AYE was designed with its location in mind, and showcases a 3D optical illusion creative, reflecting an image of an ice box filled with Tiger Beer bottles which “stand out” from the billboard.

“It presents a simple, yet fresh take of how Tiger Beer should be best enjoyed – chilled and ice cold,” he adds.

A recent popular example of how to keep outdoor campaigns simple, yet reflect a brand’s essence was the “billboard war” in the US between German car rivals BMW and Audi.

While these are additional platforms for brands to reach out to consumers, at the end of the day, the fundamental question of ‘what’s in it for me’ remains.

Rene de Monchy, head of marketing
Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore

The war was ignited when Audi launched a campaign for its new A4 with the sassy tagline: “Your Move, BMW”.

To this, BMW shot back with an even bigger billboard placed directly opposite Audi’s with a one liner: “Checkmate.”

Audi retaliated with its R8 series with the line on a billboard: “Your pawn is no match for our king.” Following the back and forth, the campaign ended with BMW hanging a blimp over the Audi ad highlighting the words: “Game Over.”

“Outdoor installations require an amazing execution and while it is not an easy feat to achieve, it helps brands gather top-of-mind awareness among consumers in the long-term when done successfully,” de Monchy says.

Mobile marketing and the outdoor opportunity

Everyone loves outdoor media except when it comes to how you measure it. Everyone sees your digital poster or the 100-foot building covered with the latest film poster, but how can you tell whether these creative executions actually resulted in sales or engagement of some kind?

Mobile provides brands with that answer. By introducing QR codes or NFC touch-points on or around outdoor media with some reward, prize draw, added value, vote or just with any reason to engage – which could be just a mobile-enabled website – brands are then able to track those most energised by the featured message. They can also monitor performance of each poster on each site by downloads or interactions.

This gives a brand invaluable data on the kind of person that is responding, what they respond to, why they responded and how to tweak a creative in the future to implement a more effective campaign.

It makes a creative truly accountable. You can even try different creatives to see which produces the most engagement. You can do the same with the incentive/prize to see what turns consumers on the most and track the results.

This whole mobile tracking also enables brands to segment their responder database. A brand can tell who clicks on a mobile website only for more information and who needs a greater incentive such as a freebie or competition and what their subsequent behaviour is. This gives brands more directly linked intelligence that they previously had using other methods of interactive measurement.

If brands create the right response mechanism it also gives them much more data now and in the future as to whom these people are who are interested in their brand. Who are the passionate brand advocates and who are just in it for the freebie? Mobile enables a brand to find out who is who.

Chris J Reed is chief marketing officer of CellCity

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