Today, Sainsbury’s is launching a nationwide dynamic digital out of home (DOOH) campaign which will see screens across the UK running live copy to champion the UK Paralympic Team competing at Rio 2016.

The creative features photographs of individual athletes when they were young children, followed by current day shots of them as Paralympic champions excelling in their sport.

Live copy will celebrate the achievements of the Paralympians by wishing luck to those competing that evening, as well as reacting with congratulatory messages to successful athletes to capture the atmosphere and momentum of each day’s events.

The campaign will be live during the morning commute between 7am-9am, on 700 screens, spanning 6 different media owners, across roadside, retail and city centre locations until the 19th September, 2016.

The campaign is designed to capture the buzz and excitement of Rio 2016 whilst highlighting Sainsbury’s continued support of Team ParalympicsGB and its Active Kids initiative.

The idea was conceived, planned and booked by PHD and Talon, produced by Grand Visual, and facilitated by OpenLoop. The live DOOH push supports a broader outdoor, print, TV and digital campaign created by AMV BBDO.

Tom Howe, Project Manager at Sainsbury’s commented:

“Our ambition is to raise awareness of these world class Paralympic competitors in Rio this summer, and to help keep sports fans connected to the action.  Sainsbury’s continue to be champions of our Paralympians and we are excited to be demonstrating our support for them in a new way through our Digital Outdoor campaign.”

Becca Stafford, Business Director at PHD commented:

“Digital Out of Home is the perfect medium for capturing the dynamism and sense of momentum we saw recently around the Olympics and anticipate again for the Paras, enabling us to bring the excitement and action of Rio to audiences across the UK in real-time, and hopefully to inspire future generations to take up the challenge.”

Dan Dawson, Chief Creative Technology Officer at Grand Visual commented:

“As well as bringing the anticipation and fun of the Rio Games to fans whilst they are out and about, this campaign emphasises Sainsbury’s continued sponsorship and support of these athletes and taps into the national sentiment we hold for these professionals competing on the world stage at Rio.”

Amy Baker, Client Manager, Talon said:

“We wanted to ensure Sainsbury’s were first in line to congratulate the athletes competing in Rio. This dynamic live DOOH campaign has enabled Sainsbury’s to bring the latest news from the games direct to commuters Nationwide each morning during their commute.”

Elizabeth Arden have launched an intelligent data-driven Digital Out of Home campaign to introduce their new high-tech invisible skin shield: PREVAGE® City Smart Hydrating Shield SPF50.The dynamic campaign uses live pollution data to alert Londoners when levels are high and emphasise the benefits of using PREVAGE® City Smart Hydrating Shield SPF50 for neutralizing the impact of environmental and oxidative stress on the skin. The 2-week campaign runs on Exterion Media’s Digital Escalator Panels at Oxford Circus Tube Station, alongside a Digi-Wall domination from the 1st August.

Created by Grand Visual, the campaign provides pollution facts and statistics, with the call to action to “Outsmart the City” and protect skin against pollution with PREVAGE® City Smart Hydrating Shield SPF50. Delivered through OpenLoop, real-time pollution data is pulled from LondonAir, which provides pollution readings pinpointed to Oxford Street.

The DOOH activity was planned and booked by Talon Outdoor and PHD and supports a broader campaign including video on demand, print, and digital.

Janine Fernandes-Havenga, Senior Brand Manager from Elizabeth Arden, commented

“As the leading authority in high-tech environmental anti-aging solutions, it is befitting that we are introducing PREVAGE® City Smart Hydrating Shield SPF50, with a bespoke, high-tech Digital Out of Home campaign. What better way to drive home our message than with the immediacy and context of real-time, location-specific pollution readings.”

Dan Dawson, Chief Creative Technology Officer at Grand Visual said:

“This campaign harnesses the context effect by providing a tailored and compelling reason to pay attention. The data provides the relevance and justification for buying a product that is designed to combat the ill effects of pollution that each person is experiencing, in that location, and at that moment, delivering Elizabeth Arden’s message with much greater impetus.”

ECB_DynamicDOOH

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has launched a summer-long Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) drive to promote the action and excitement from England’s 2016 summer internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The dynamic DOOH campaign incorporates live scores from each match, campaign imagery celebrating wicket, run and other major milestones as they happen and, on select sites, the latest from the @EnglandCricket Twitter account.

The campaign represents an innovative approach to delivering the ECB’s marketing strategy, which aims to raise awareness of England Cricket, connect with existing fans and attract new followers to the sport. The campaign launched today in Leeds for the Headingley test and will run on DOOH sites within or close to each host city during each match.

The campaign was designed by the ECB’s retained creative agency, Matta, and produced by Grand Visual, with Opta Sports providing the live scores and match data. Dynamic delivery is managed via OpenLoop, the Digital Out of Home campaign management dashboard, which combines the three data sources: live match data, the @EnglandCricket Twitter feed and the reactive campaign imagery.

The dynamic DOOH campaign will also be live for the England women’s Natwest IT20 match against Pakistan, which forms part of a double header IT20 alongside the men’s match against Sri Lanka at Ageas Bowl on Tuesday 5 July. The digital outdoor site for this match will be at Westquay Shopping Centre in Southampton.

In total, the dynamic DOOH campaign will run across 9 cities including Leeds, London, Manchester and Birmingham, span 4 media owners and takes in over 20 different outdoor sites. In addition, the ECB will be running their It’s Not Just Cricket campaign on a further 10 outdoor sites at key times when international matches are not in progress.

The campaign was planned and booked by Talon and AMS, and utilises large, iconic, proximity DOOH inventory to take the buzz and excitement of each match beyond the cricket ground’s perimeter and extend the action within the host city.

Rob Calder, Head of Marketing at ECB commented:

“Our ambition is to raise awareness of the world class cricket being played this summer, and keep sports fans connected to the action. Exploiting innovative digital outdoor media in this way will link to our online activity and deliver a cohesive campaign across channels.”

Dan Dawson, at Grand Visual commented:

“This campaign from the ECB represents an intelligent use of the medium that will delight fans across the UK. The campaign is fresh, geo-targeted and plugged into ECB’s all important online and social channels.”

The new Old Street EC1 screen running the YouTube Beacons campaign
By Ben Putland, COO, Grand Visual

About 30 years ago in the UK, some clever clogs at FCO Univas stuck a Ford Cortina, the ubiquitous car of its day, on to a 48-sheet billboard to sell glue. It was a brilliantly creative use of out of home, one that sits in the Out of Home Hall of Fame. But what is the modern day equivalent?

Today digital technology now drives and inspires out of home creativity in ways we could previously only dream about. Digital out of home (DOOH) is delivering intelligent advertising at real scale.

Brilliantly disruptive outdoor ideas are no longer rarefied art pieces to be enjoyed in person by the lucky few. DOOH offers creative advertisers the opportunity for their work to be experienced for real, and in context, by mass audiences.

DOOH provides advertising creatives with a richer palette of potential. Genuinely interactive and immersive experiences can be used to captivate individuals sitting at bus stops or making their way through train stations. Brands can now hack into the real lives of their audience. Relevant, emotional engagement is the critical part of the process and the creative technology solutions we obsess over work to support this goal.

Thanks to the development of smartphone technology, social networks and the emergence of the tech-savvy consumer, DOOH can also sit comfortably at the heart of an integrated ad strategy. As DOOH becomes more “digital” it becomes more agile, it becomes richer and it is more able to play its part in a big idea that is carried across multiple channels.

We see it more and more that DOOH can be more than just support – it can be an active element in a multi-layered campaign and this is where DOOH’s future lies.

DOOH allows consumers to become part of the campaign in the course of their everyday lives and to share it with all their friends. It’s the equivalent of climbing inside Araldite’s Cortina in 1983 and then driving round to your mate’s house to show off your new tube of glue.

Digital has made out of home agile. Sites are no longer simply static on which to display an unchanging message. They now can be dynamic and fleet-of-foot –topical, charming opportunities to comment on real-world events in real-life environments.

As the industry continues to invest heavily with new digital inventory, a nationwide DOOH campaign can easily communicate an of-the-moment message, invite interaction via social channels and be updated in real time through the use of tools like OpenLoop.

For example, with a precisely-timed animation, giant Oreo cookies partially eclipsed the sun to coincide with an actual solar event. The creative ran for two hours on Friday 20 March matching the trajectory of the eclipse in real time in the UK.

The proliferation of digital inventory across the US, Europe, Australia and the Middle and Far East means that tactical global DOOH campaigns are also now possible, practical and make sense in terms of leveraging campaign execution budgets. This is a real plus for DOOH as a channel boosting its chances of attracting media budget. As an industry we need to ensure that we keep up with the human investment required to make the most of this ever-changing, massively creative medium.

Digital technology – in partnership with genius creativity – has brought the scale and impact of the medium closer to the hearts and minds of consumers than ever before. Smarter and more dynamic creative should be the norm by now. Tactical and smart creative that uses data to contextualize messaging and target audiences is not “innovation” and should not go in the “innovation” box and used only for special occasions.

According to Posterscope UK, “currently less than 5% of DOOH incorporates an element of real-time in the UK. So there is huge ‘head room’ for growing the level of dynamic activity to reach client ambition. To do that we must challenge every brief response with smart digital enhancement and, by doing so, make dynamic campaigns ‘every day not ‘special’”.

Finally, if we want a truly digital medium – one that can offer flexibility, intelligence, speed and relevance – we must embrace a campaign flow that is complex to manage and maintain. Smart campaigns inevitably bring an abundance of permutations from scheduling through to triggers and outcomes. Stakeholders must have visibility of all of these moving parts as a campaign runs. Monitoring and reporting are key to ensuring a campaign runs correctly. So if we want this truly digital medium to continue its success, visibility and reporting must come as part and parcel of it.

As an industry, we have come a long way over the past 10 years but where do we go from here?
● We must lose the “emerging media” badge for DOOH – it’s an excuse to be sub-optimal.
● We must not rest on our laurels or be resistant to further change.
● We must be proactive in terms of process, systems, infrastructure and talent.

Albert Einstein said:
“Life is like riding a bike. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”

And that is definitely true for DOOH. To not fall over in a constantly evolving digital media ecosystem we must be proactive and keep moving forward.

**This article originally appeared on YourOAAA’s website as part of their Thought Leadership programme.

Looking at our success over the last ten years, our most successful projects have been delivered with efficient processes and great teamwork.  Here are some tips for creating and delivering successful DOOH projects.

It all starts with the idea

At the start of any project, there’s a brilliant idea that needs to be brought to life. The project stakeholders will have different visions of what the idea looks like, which are influenced by their remit, skill set and will all be very different.

Finding an equilibrium, getting stakeholder buy-in and keeping focus throughout the project’s lifecycle is an artform and a big key to success.

The idea will change (often a lot) along the way and morph into something that will hopefully win that missing bit of silverware for your trophy cabinet. You’ll need patience, trust, flexibility and sensible controls to achieve the goal.

Has this ever been done before?

When you start on a project, the idea is often just an abstract concept. If you are really lucky (like us) you might be asked to do something that has never been done before.  There is an element of risk when venturing into the unknown, but these are normally the projects that will win you awards…

There is a big difference between your project team not having delivered a project like this before and no project team in the world having ever delivered a project like this before. If you are in either situation you need to very quickly research everything similar to what it is you are trying to do. Read white papers, case studies, look at ‘how to’ videos and any other insight you can.

The best thing you can do is to engage a consultant or company that has the experience you need to deliver the project. This is the best investment you can make so trust the advice you are given as you are paying for it.

Who’s involved? Define roles and responsibilities

On projects, we frequently have the following stakeholders: the client, media and creative agencies, media owners, fabricators, social media, PR and ourselves. A project can range from a minimum of 5 and sometimes up to 15+ individual companies who all need to work out how to collaborate and deliver the project on time.

Defining and agreeing individual roles and responsibilities must be done as soon as possible. Typically there needs to be a single driving force behind the project as a whole. Our producers are well positioned to take on that task and work on solving problems and removing friction.

The most successful projects feature true collaboration with all stakeholders sitting around the table and engaging with the project as a team. The quality of a project is not determined by which agency takes the lead, what makes the difference is a team working together for the sole purpose of creating great work.

Use standardised methodologies and processes

With so many moving targets in digital production it’s important that stakeholders understand what needs to happen. Simply sticking to a time plan isn’t enough, using standardised methodologies will help to navigate the complexities involved with digital production.

In the UK we are members of the APA and use the IPA/APA guidelines (that we helped write) for delivering successful interactive projects in advertising. In the US the AICP has national guidelines for digital production. Both of these guidelines are well thought out and offer standardised processes to help deliver projects, although they are not definitive by any means as every project is different. Their methodologies need to be used in conjunction with a sprinkling of common sense and be driven by someone who understands what it’s going to take to actually deliver the objectives.

We have enhanced these methods, which typically focus on traditional digital projects, to align better specifically for Digital OOH, based on our 10 years of experience working with the medium. We have our own documentation and processes set in place to effectively deliver for Digital OOH.

Five top tips

Managing a Digital OOH project can feel like managing a series of problems, however some common issues can be mitigated. Here are our top five tips for smooth project delivery.

  1. Ensure there is enough time to deliver the project: When the producer says it will take 12 weeks then don’t expect to have an amazing piece of work if only 8 weeks are available. If you don’t have the time needed, then the scope needs to decrease, remember the “Mythical Man Month“.
  2. Define as much as possible: What you are making, how you are making it, what you are using to make it, who is responsible for each aspect, when does X need to happen, etc. Once you have compiled all of the information in a Scope of Work document, allow everyone to review it, make amends and then sign it off. This will act as a contract for the project team to work to.
  3. Build a proof of concept(PoC): Not sure how the experience will work? Spend some time to create a PoC and then share it with stakeholders. There is nothing worse than getting halfway into a project and then have someone say “that’s not what I wanted”. Building a PoC demonstrates at a high level how something might work. It’s a great checkpoint to get buy-in and understanding from all project stakeholders and most importantly the project sponsor.
  4. Control, iterate and fail fast: Use the Scope of Work to control the project and keep the stakeholders on the same page. Schedule regular meetings to facilitate good communication but keep these short and to the point. More detailed conversations should occur offline and be confined to the appropriate team members. Keep an eye on all the potential risks and assign people appropriately to monitor and manage them, think roles and responsibilities. Share work updates with stakeholders sooner rather than later, keeping their focus on what is being reviewed and what is not. Fail fast until you get it right, be flexible and allow as much change as possible within the time and budget.
  5. Test, test & test: Digital OOH is not like an online project where you simply deploy to three different environments that should all be mirrored. Digital OOH is a series of closed networks with unique characteristics and thousands of potential endpoints to keep a track of. Avoid the acid test and test the hell out of everything before you go live!
Use a team with experience

There is nothing like having a project team with empirical knowledge and it will make the world of difference when it comes to effective delivery. Our management, producers and account teams have a collective 100 years of experience in delivering Digital OOH, not bad for a medium that’s only ten years old.

Finally, always keep things in perspective; we are not saving lives but we are dealing with big budgets so stay cool when things get tough.

Gadget Show Live is an event held every year at the NEC in Birmingham by Channel 5’s Gadget Show. The event exhibits some of the latest weird and wonderful tech & gadgets that have emerged in the past year.

This year, Jon Jones from GV Labs headed down there to take a look at what was on offer.

Gadget Show Live is held in one large exhibition hall, which is absolutely full to the brim with lots of noise and flashing lights.

The first thing that I saw was straight out of the Digital Out of Home world from Kino-mo. RGB LED strips had been fitted to the spokes of a bike. As the wheel is rotated a computer works out what colours and shapes to display. The result is a video which plays out on the wheels. Could THIS be the future of DOOH?

Jeep were there with a really cool 360 capture rig. Using 48 DSLR cameras and 4 laptops they were able to take a snapshot from all cameras then stitch them together in a bullet time style as seen in the Matrix. Neo-in-The-Matrix-the-matrix-22575369-560-240 You can see the resemblance, right?

HP were there showcasing a computer that featured Intel’s RealSense hardware. RealSense is similar to Microsoft’s Kinect but provides higher detail. A demonstration showed that an object could be placed on a table and with the help of a projector beaming white lines, the RealSense could build a 3D model in a matter of seconds.

Forever losing your keys … or your keys? Lupo’s GPS tracker will help you to be reunited with them. Lupo Originally started on KickStarter, TurnsPro is a powerful yet simple turntable for timelapse photography. Gradually panning the camera over time creates a great effect. Overall it was a great day up in Birmingham, and we saw a load of different companies doing some really interesting and creative stuff . If you are a gadget geek, it is well a worth a visit. Two Thumbs up from GV Labs.

The Biographical war film, American Sniper is the latest film from director Clint Eastwood. Based on the book American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle, with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice, the film stars Bradley Cooper as Kyle and Sienna Miller as his wife Taya, with Luke Grimes, Kyle Gallner, Sam Jaeger, Jake McDorman, and Cory Hardrict in supporting roles.

The Digital Out of Home campaign was launched to support the film, released on January 16, 2015, and was executed across 10 different countries. Creative was adapted mid-way through the campaign to add on positive reviews from critics and the 6 Academy Award nominations the film has received. Being able to update the creative to capitalise on the buzz the film was receiving is a key benefit when using DOOH.

The film has been a huge financial success and has already set numerous box office records along with garnering a slew of award nominations.

A photo of the Dove Invisible Colour Recognition activation in action – Grand Visual, ground-breaking digital out of home production

Throughout July, Unilever used state of the art colour-recognition outdoor interactive poster sites to celebrate the launch of Dove Invisible Dry deodorant and its “100 colours” campaign.

In the first use by a beauty brand, the digital 6-sheet outdoor campaign featured colour recognition technology developed by Grand Visual. When a user stood in front of the screen the technology identified and captured the dominant colour they were wearing. The application applied this to the creative on the screen – changing it to reflect the colour of the clothes worn by the person. The concept tied in perfectly with the Dove campaign to encourage women to be colour confident by using new Dove Invisible Dry deodorant. Each digital “D6” unit delivered location specific messaging, directing consumers to the local Boots store in that shopping centre.

The campaign was planned and booked by Mindshare and Kinetic and ran in key shopping centres across UK, including Bluewater, Lakeside, Trinity Leeds, Centre MK and the Bullring. The activity formed part of a wider digital out-of-home campaign that delivered reach in fashion environments and in close proximity to relevant retailers.

Callum Galloway, Dove Deodorant Brand Manager said, “It is very exciting to be working on yet another ground breaking activation to bring to life the Dove Deodorant Invisible Dry campaign. Once again we are putting women right at the heart of our campaign and encouraging them to embrace colour confidence.”

Dan Dawson, Creative Technology Director at Grand Visual added, “This innovative use of colour detection technology is a perfect fit with the campaign messaging talking about the product’s use on 100 colours. We delivered messaging tailored to the very clothes a person in front of the D6 screen was wearing, creating a fun, powerful and engaging experience.”

 

Watch here

The Cannes Lions 2014 logo

The dust has settled on Cannes Lions 2014. The hangovers have been dealt with and real life has resumed. So how did it go for the digital out of home category and for GV?

For Grand Visual it has been an amazing year at Cannes. Looking at entries to the full range of categories there were an incredible 58 submissions that specifically credited GV. This is more than double the submissions for 2013 and reflects both the increasing ambition for digital activity in the physical world of outdoor, plus the reputation for innovation that Grand Visual has earned over the years.

Those submissions were across multiple categories including Outdoor, Media, Cyber, Branded Content, Design, Innovation, Film, Promo & Activation, Mobile and Titanium. Again this points to the emergence of digital out of home and digital experiential as mainstream and integrated activity.

Out of those submissions 9 were shortlisted and 4 bronze Lions were awarded. The final tally recognized Pepsi Max Unbelievable and Google Front Row in the Outdoor Lions; Google Front Row in Promo & Activation Lions and Google Outside again in Cyber Lions.

So it’s been the best year so far for GV at Cannes Lions and a huge congratulations to all the team for this outstanding achievement. And of course a big shout to the brilliant agencies we have worked with over the last 12 months.

So what else was of interest specifically in the digital section of the Outdoor Lions? There were a few of familiar faces in the winning entries.

The brilliant bit of theatre for Samsung’s stare-down picked up a bronze.

Another S4-promoting campaign was the Smart Phone Line in New Zealand. The campaign recognises that the fans who queue up to be the first to own the latest product are the ones to be the nicest to. It’s a social campaign with a big, cool real world digital face.

“Magic of Flying” for British Airways was of course the run away (runway?) winner for any campaign utilizing digital tech and OOH. Hats off to the team at Storm for pulling that one off. Campaigns like this get everyone excited and really push the digital OOH channel in terms of consideration with creative teams.

My favourite entry (beyond the ones we delivered) was “The Social Swipe” for international relief organisation Misereor. In terms of execution it tackles the challenge of card transaction at the outdoor installation and opens up a host of thoughts on actually monetising interactions.

Finally, to get a creative’s perspective on where digital OOH is going have a look at these interviews with leading creative “grand fromages” in Cannes this year.

A photo of the Cadbury Choc-a-holic Joy creative in situ

Cadbury is the first brand to create a live augmented reality (AR) experience on the new Motion@Waterloo screen in London. The 40 metre length indoor LED screen — which spans the gate line of six platforms — featured Cadbury’s “Win Your Joy in Chocolate” promotion as a domination event over two days in June.

Commuters were delighted and surprised as 3D virtual models of “chocolate joy” appeared above their heads while they waited for their trains. Passengers were unafraid to get physical as they tried to burst the virtual models by grabbing, clapping, kicking and even kissing the virtual animations! When successful they were rewarded with a Cadbury bar by promotional staff on the station concourse.

The campaign was created by integrated marketing agency Elvis. Grand Visual developed a bespoke interactive application to create the real time, spontaneous joy experience for consumers on the concourse. The campaign was planned and bought by PHD and Talon Outdoor.