As always, thanks for the great input!!

- Greg

Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/cEc0ln
Eric Goldman´s last blog ..Pre-planning your Website

Thanks for your comment. I don’t know about the US, it’s been a while since I spent a significant amount of time there, but certainly tourists boards use Outdoor extensively.

I think it has to do with the outdoor “target group” (which tends to be young and active), the absence of the need for the ultra fast coverage build that TV requires and the attractiveness of cheap frequency over cheap coverage.

– Greg

Thanks for your input. You have nice holidays as well.

- Greg

I’d like to add to your fine observations. A particularly important aspect of outdoor advertising is this, content. I’ve studied such advertising for years and it still amazes me that over 90% of these ads are too busy, lacking focus, or worse don’t give enough space to the company logo or contact information. Unless one is stuck in traffic and not texting or on the phone, for instance, a billboard ad has 10 seconds or less to get a point across. So the rule of thumb should be to keep it simple, eyecatching, focused on one key message, and for crying out loud make sure the company name, logo, and key contact information are clearly visible.

Happy Holidays to all.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on cave paintings. I’m sure that your wife will be interested to know that it wasn’t your daughter who made those markings all over the house!

- Greg

Thanks for the comment. I’ll answer the questions as best as I can.

1. In that case, Outdoor would be worth less. However, I don’t think we should assume that Videoconferencing will lessen traffic. Communications have come a long way: Phone, e-mail, etc. Moreover, the price keeps going down.

Yet, traffic around the world has been steadily increasing for decades.

2. That’s part of the billboard scoring. If it would be come an issue, it would be easily solved by routine updating.

3. Maybe so… You already have the same thing at sporting events. People can see some brands displayed on the field live, other brands on TV.

- Greg

Out of home is a very interesting case when we look at global communication trends.Its the oldest communciation medium (i think cave-paintings were possibly the first advertising form) and also it is not suffering from the ascent of digital adpend in terms of its share of communication spending like other traditional forms-particularly newspapers.In fact it is grwing slightly.

One reason is that it is actually becoming a digital medium itself.The advance of digital billboards, like other technological developments in communication such as mobile, has been extermely rapid as costs become more resonable.One could forsee this becoming the norm in a reasonable period of time.Ckearly digital brings it into the platform connectivity axis of other forms (internet, Tv,news etc) allowing it to converge.Also digital brings extra creativity to the mediume which encourage greater client use of the medium.

Even with the traditional forms there have been forces at work over a longer timeframe which have helped the medium undgo a rebirth.Its quite strange saying this, but actually Out of Home has become one of the most “international” of media in terms of cross-border ownership (unlike TV where the largest suppliers are predominantly local).

AS local suppliers are gradually acquired by the likes of Clear Channel JC Decuax and Viacom, they bring with it site quality standards that improve the communicating power of the medium as well as incresing teh potential for more stand-out collaboration of ambient executions between agencies and suppliers,hence again improving the share that the medium takes of the budget in many markets

Lastly…in a world where contact points with brands are increasing but communicating individually with smaller groups, this is the last medium which will continue to remain mass. In fact you cant stop it being a mass-communication medium even if you wanted to. So it will have this USP into the future to sustain it.

This isnt a sales promo on behalf of the Outdoor industry, but i certainly believe that companies in this sector will survive testing economic times better than some of their tradional media cousins.

some far fetched thoughts did spring to mind though

1) What happens when now increasing number of people don’t travel much? i.e people are giving up driving to a meeting for VC (video conferencing). Most of the stuff from groceries etc is ordered online… swinflu is keeping people at home and online learning is taking over.

2) As a result of some of the effect of 1) above occuring… traffic on highways is less so speeds of vehicle movement is faster. This will not have an effect on billboards placed at the “correct angle” on a highway, but others will not be seen when driving at higher speeds . (I don’t know where all these funny thoughts come from – trust me! ..i must have missed a few billboards while driving I suppose.

3) My all time favourite way out thought – Rogue Augmented Reality billboards.
Somewhat taking from an earlier post of yours on AR. imagine now that Iphones and other mobiles have all these AR browsers in them.. what if some rogue company starts “replacing” paper billboards with a “digital one” over the existing real world billboard.

I can see Pepsi getting prime time Billboard space in Times Square, while poor Coke pays for it. With an AR browser such as LAYAR when someone aims at the coke billboard a rogue – perfectly aligned Pepsi billboard appears …and animated at that!

Ok enough of rambling. great article!!