Digital media has been transforming the face of marketing for quite some time. It now looks set to revolutionise outdoor advertising in many different ways, reaching business decision makers by targeting commuters via transport sites, particularly the London Underground (LU).
Outdoor has traditionally reached many people: huge billboards at road-sides have been a long-standing feature, which are now seen almost everywhere.
LU is one of the more popular, historic sites on which to advertise. Opened in 1890, the network has been running advertising as far back as anyone can remember, and is now one of the largest potential ad sites in the UK.
With three million journeys made each weekday on the tube – a majority of which are business commuters – it is easy to see why the site is worth so much in ad revenue. Transport hubs are already well established sites for major B2B companies: Microsoft, Vodafone, IBM, Orange, Bank of Scotland Corporate and O2 are just a few of the big companies who already target business commuters at train stations around the UK.
Viacom Outdoor has unveiled plans to transform LU – since it won the £800 million advertising contract in May – utilising both non-digital and digital means.
The company will invest £72 million over the next 18 months, with the aim of enhancing every advertising site at the 275 stations in the tube network.
Nicky Cheshire, director of impact & digital at Viacom Outdoor, comments, “Before the end of 2007, we will have 2000 digital panels in total, incorporating cross-track projection, LCD panels in exit corridors and digital panels in a further 19 stations.” These modifications will make the LU the largest single digital advertising network in England.
Media mogul
Viacom Outdoor is not taking its contract win lightly. In fact, the tube is set to become incredibly hi-tech within the next year. Its plans include the upgrade of all 33,000 tube ad sites, the introduction of approximately 2000 digital screens to 30 stations and the installation of 150 cross-track projection screens at 24 stations.
The company will manage advertising on all LU stations as well as the Victoria Coach station for the next eight and a half years. Viacom Outdoor is not only aiming to introduce LCD screens – as other sites have previously – but is launching an entirely new ad medium.
Cross-track projection (XTP) will be introduced to 24 LU stations, with an average of two screens per platform. It involves the silent projection of high-resolution TV-style advertising onto the walls opposite platforms. These advertising messages can be changed as frequently as required in a wide-screen format.
Stations will also be fitted with digital escalator panels (DEPs) which will replace static ads. These screens will run up the escalator walls, showing ads in sequence, which can also be reversed, as the escalators are when the stations experience high traffic volumes.
Some of these DEPs have already been installed at Tottenham Court Road, targeting consumers, while business commuters are likely to be targeted in the future at stations such as Bank and Moorgate.
Not only will the volume of advertising on LU increase, but the way in which it is delivered to target audiences will evolve with the introduction of new digital media.
Body of evidence
It is clear to see that Viacom has great faith in the worth of digital media for LU. The company is investing such a large amount of money in order to streamline advertiser opportunities for targeting business commuters on the underground.
Cheshire comments, “People welcome ads on the underground and it lightens their journey. LU has a really high ‘dwell time’ [time spent waiting in a particular area] as there is nothing else to do on the underground except consume ads. Digital gives us the opportunity to capitalise on dead-time and brands are coming up with more creative, which allows you to do this in a more compelling way than static.”
Digital media also allows for a high ad turnaround time. Some static advertising – for example cross-track posters – can only be changed every two weeks and are quite messy to stick up, being pasted onto walls with glue and brushes. This proposed influx of digital advertising has also prompted an increase in specific targeting.
Chris O’Donnell, head of digital at agency Kinetic, comments, “Up to now the media could offer day-parts, e.g. buying breakfast time on the radio and TV, but outdoor couldn’t do this. The underground is different: there are commuters at the beginning and end of the day, tourists in the middle of the day and then people going into town at night. The flexibility of the digital infrastructure can now be used to reach them.” Business brands will therefore be able to make more cost effective use of the medium.
Cheshire comments, “The Underground is part of the fabric of London, it’s an iconic place in its own right, which weaves itself into everyday life. The Underground allows brands to capture the London audience in a unique fashion and deliver to a huge number of people as well as discrete audiences. This is what the market has been waiting for.”
Underground bombardment
However, the increase of digital ads on the underground may in fact have the opposite effect to the desired. Will such an increase in advertising be welcomed by business commuters?
Steve Hounsham, head of communications at pressure-group Transport 2000, comments, “Many people will find the increase of digital advertising on LU intrusive and some will find it irritating. The point is that you can ignore a poster, but a flashing digital screen is hard to ignore; the eye is drawn to it whether you like it or not. This is why it is more intrusive than other forms of advertising.”
He continues, “The technology is fantastic, but it should be used for the right purposes; providing information about public transport or broader information about society.”
While the new ads will aid the specific targeting of B2B prospects, irritating and annoying potential customers will have the opposite effect: prospects may remember the ad, not for the product or service, but for the level to which it intruded on their journey. Alternatively, these ads may become part of the background in time.
Adaptations
Although the face of LU will significantly change with the introduction of further digital media, overground train stations are also adapting their previous ad sites in order to target business commuters. B2B companies are catching on to using the adbarrier medium from T4 Media.
The system involves covering the leaves and bases of overground train ticket barriers with advertising, which is usually booked in blocks of adjacent barriers.
Some of the first B2B users of this advertising medium were Bank of Scotland Corporate and O2. Phillip Watts, marketing director at T4 Media, comments, “This advertising works as it’s so intrusive you cannot help but notice. You actually have to touch the ad and you’re literally coming into contact.This is virtually the only non-computer based advertising medium that’s truly interactive.”
Tom Sutton, head of advertising at O2, comments, “This is a timely and effective environment with which to communicate your message with good frequency. Train barriers are also a relatively new format, and any new media format generally drives extra standout. People are almost interacting with the advertising in so far as they walk through it! In that sense it is relatively unmissable.”
Adbarriers are displayed on all overground train operator platforms, largely in the south-east and south-west of England, Scotland and the home counties.
However, the notion that ‘any new media format generally drives extra standout’ does not hold weight in the case of Media Steps, who are reportedly experiencing financial difficulties.
The company sells advertising space on overground train station staircases: strip advertising appears on the vertical sides of each step, which build up a bigger picture when viewed from the bottom of the stairs.
Although this ad medium seems innovative, Media Steps’ demise has arrived in conjunction with a digital ad explosion (the company reportedly never had more than 10 per cent of its sites in use).
Perhaps this shows that static ads are being undermined by the digital explosion, or perhaps the demise of Media Steps was just an unfortunate misadventure.
Visions of the future
It is clear to see that the influx of digital media is set to radically change the LU ad environment.
However, one company has incorporated the notion of moving media on the underground with more traditional methods.Canadian technology company Side Track has announced the launch of a new ad medium, designed for the inside of underground train tunnel walls.The technology involves mounting ads on light boxes through the tunnel, which act like a flick book to produce animated images while the train moves.
Rob Walker, CEO of Side Track, comments, “People like to be entertained and the riders are very captive and often bored, which makes them readily acceptable to receiving the message. There are no other ads competing for their attention in those windows as the ad plays. There is always the shock value of seeing something where normally there is nothing and there is the ‘wow’ factor.”
The ads are due to be installed on the Heathrow Express line at an undisclosed time. While only B2C companies have used the technology to date, there is potential for B2B companies to use this new medium in order to target morning and early evening business commuters, particularly on the Heathrow Express.
The influx of digital media advertising on LU can therefore be seen as something of a digital revolution, replacing static ads and expanding the potential for targeting those hard-to-reach business commuters.
Static ads have longevity
Although it seems likely that digital outdoor ad media will increase in popularity, will it eventually replace static ads? Alan James, CEO of the Outdoor Advertising Association (OAA), thinks not. “Digital will not totally replace static ads and the move to digital will be quite slow when it comes to billboards. The cost is enormous and the returns are uncertain. Expansion will only happen on the back of profitability.”
The use of digital media on the underground and its potential for specifically targeting business commuters, seems to be increasing in popularity. The digital revolution, it seems, has arrived and is set to change the LU environment entirely.
