Advertiser thoughtpiece Mobile throws its hat into OOH ring TOPIC.
From the consumers’ point of view the future of mobile phones seems to be all about apps. From the advertisers’ perspective, the future of mobile may be all about… posters, says Annie Rickard as she explores the connection between out-of-home and point and click technology
Annie Rickard President, Posterscope Worldwide
The link may not be immediately obvious, but in fact mobiles and out-of- home (OOH) are at the early stages of a relationship that should lead to new ways for advertisers to form stronger relationships with their customers, new ways to drive search, and new ways to push sales. Beyond this, the new synergies
between out-of-home and mobiles should lead to new levels of accountability, which will help bring every advertiser’s dream of payment-by- results closer to reality. People are spending more time out of home than ever before – up to 50% more in some markets since the mid-1990s – and they’re using their time outdoors in more and more productive ways, thanks largely to the increasing functionality of modern mobiles. The combination of technologies
that now live in many phones makes new forms of communications with consumers possible. Posterscope in the UK has recently been involved in a fascinating pilot study using the ‘point and find’ app available on Nokia smart phones. This app allows users to access information simply by pointing their phone at a poster that has been “tagged”. Then, the phone’s camera, GPS technology and internet connectivity combine to send the user the associated content.
BUILDING BRIDGES In the study, users could access a range of helpful local information as well as appropriate content created by advertisers. For example, pointing your phone at a movie poster accessed a trailer. Other advertisers offered price promotions, competitions, and links to social networking pages.
This is just one app on one phone but
there are other parallel technologies now being developed that perform similar functions. What’s becoming increasingly clear is that the mobile will
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form some sort of bridge between out- of-home and further content, whether it is accessed online or downloaded directly to the phone. We now know that consumers are
keen to interact with posters in order to pull useful content into their phones. For them, it’s a way of adding value to otherwise potentially low-value time. For out-of-home, it’s a further demonstration of something our research has already shown – that posters and online work very well together. And for advertisers, it creates a whole new area to explore, with potentially lucrative results. Clearly, it’s not going to do much good
to throw any old content at consumers. Advertisers have to ask key questions before deciding how to use this new medium: what kind of relationship do I have and do I want with consumers when they’re out-of-home? How should my brand behave in this new arena? How can we offer value here?
WE WANT YOU The bigger picture for out-of-home is that we are now seeing fully integrated industry audience research (roadside,
“What relationship do I have and do I want with consumers out-of-home? How should my brand behave in this arena?”
transit, environmental) around the world. At Posterscope we have taken this further by investing heavily in understanding how consumers behave out-of-home and how they interact with different out-of-home media – our Outdoor Consumer Study (OCS), which is now in 14 markets with a total global sample of 100,000, tells us this. Now the evolution of ‘point and find’ can show us who has been motivated with a call to action by viewing and interacting with the poster site. The reward for advertisers will be a
greater ability to track the effectiveness of their advertising, follow the consumer journey through to the point of sale, and therefore move closer to payment by results. First, though, they have to think about
developing high-value content. Ask not what consumers can do for you – ask what you can do for your consumers. ○
Mobile and OOH will prove to be perfect partners, as trials gather pace M&M Q2 2010 31
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