A discussion featuring David Trewern, Chairman of DTDigital and COO of Ogilvy Melbourne, and Brendon Cook, CEO of oOh!media, the fastest growing out-of-home media company in Australia.
Video Transcript
DT: I'm David Trewern and I'm here with Brendon Cook to talk with him about the way that digital technology is changing the landscape of out-of-home advertising.
The movie “Minority Report” showed us a future with interactive two-way billboards. How do you see digital technology transforming the out-of-home space? Is “Minority Report”, that sort of technology fanciful?
BC: In reality that sort of recognition technology is not fanciful. The process is well underway to have gender-based recognition – getting down to the individual. I believe in the future that this technology will clearly link into mobile phones if people want it to, and it will be about where that will be effective in terms of how it's used. We still have to look at the interaction with digital being about how the consumer wants to engage with the advertising.Traditionally, outdoor advertising works by positioning a sign in an environment where someone can't help but see it. If you want an engagement model, you've got to ask ‘are they going to stop? Or what will make them stop?' So there are all those other questions around the creative side of how the products are used that will determine the ultimate success of the digital solution.
DT: The mobile phone is potentially the link between out-of-home advertising and targeting of individuals, as well as having a two-way conversation and call to action. What are the latest developments in that area?
BC: Clearly we've all seen QR codes, and instant recognition technology such as Mocom, where you snap and send a picture, however I believe the reality is what we are seeing as consumers change their mobile phones over to smartphones, is the opening up of a whole variety of ways in which you can achieve interaction and engage with clients.
For example, recently in Times Square at the cheap ticketing area, one of the billboards was transformed so that people in the queue could access their Facebook page on their mobile phone and actually play a game on the billboard against other people in the queue. These are the kinds of examples starting to come through where, yes it was probably expensive, and yes it probably wasn't cost effective but it received a lot of publicity worldwide.
Those sorts of approaches to technology will continue to evolve. Really, consumers are spending just as much time, if not more time, away from home. But when they're away from home their mobile phone will still allow them to be connected to the net, to their social media sites, to asking for and receiving coupons – all those other ways that digital will be used. Consequently, outdoor advertising plays a unique role as it is the medium that engages with people in that environment.
DT: We recently did some work with Myer where we projected user-generated content onto Fed Square. How do you think advertisers can make digital signage work with user-generated content, and what do you think it can help them achieve?
BC: At the end of the day, it's all about engagement and the model –‘can I create an environment where people wish to engage with me as a client when they're away from home?' That is exactly what you did with the Myer campaign and the example I just used in Times Square. And then you have other examples where people take a photograph and their picture appears on a billboard. This engagement model will continue to evolve as particular technologies allow them to occur. If we look at outdoor advertising – it's always been great for positioning a brand and positioning a message. Now you can position a brand and a message and actually get the client to hear more and understand more about the product. Get all the rich understanding about that product delivered to them in their hands. That's one of the great changes.
DT: Google recently filed a patent for technology that allows local stores to tie their inventory to outdoor billboards, ATMs, and displays in shopping malls and so forth. With all of their rich data about customers and so forth, how do you see companies like Google changing the environment for outdoor media?
BC: We've seen how Google are very quick to pick up where the world is going – ahead of most people. Ultimately, Google also understands that if my only model is to engage with someone sitting at home or at work then I'm missing this incredible opportunity.
We also know that retailers are looking at how they can take the opportunity to use their customers' environment, their immediate environment, and are asking how can I get more response? We see that technology again, can allow them to do promotions where at 10 o'clock for the next 15 minutes a t-shirt is on special for $5. You can engage a broader audience within a certain proximity.
If you take Google's example that it's not so much about broadcast but more about, ‘can I be on all the media within an immediate catchment proximity?' someone can walk into my store and I can tell my audience that for the next fifteen minutes a t-shirt is $5 and also communicate via digital signage in my window display. Then as I enter the shop there's a digital sign above where the actual t-shirts are with a countdown clock. I think it's about that change where you start to evolve all those opportunities together into an environment where it's much smaller and much more targeted.
DT: So finally, are there any interesting plans you'd like to talkabout, short or long term, with regards to oOh!media's digital out-of-home offer?
BC: The short term is very simple. The retail area will continue to grow and expand (retail meaning shopping centres) and obviously from the large format billboard area, us and the outdoor industry are working hard with the roads and traffic authorities around Australia to move that forward so that large format billboards can be converted to some form of digital signage.
It then comes back down to the creative angle. Different forms of digital media in varying environments can have their creative behave differently. If I'm in a lift I will behave differently than if I'm in a place-based media environment where I'm actually sitting and can engage with the product. This would need targeted creative content. If I'm in a retail environment it's more like digital posters and a call-to-action component.
So as we see that involvement in creative I think we'll also see the involvement of which is the best way to place the media or the technology to involve the consumer in the correct way.
Coke did a fantastic job with their Times Square video, where they decided they wanted to make it look like people were doing something on the actual digital screen, so they made purpose-built creative around things like rock climbing. It looked like people were actually rock climbing up the face of the billboard video screen. We are only in the emerging area of where the creative side will lead how you can use the technology.