DOOH Archives - Page 4 of 26

This first appeared in OOH Today on July 10th 2019.

Dan Dawson, Chief Creative Officer at Grand Visual, gives a backstage view of Outdoor Cannes Lions 2019, including insight into the jury room, the winners, the USA, plus a look at Digital’s progress in the outdoor category and beyond.

Dan Dawson

It was a great privilege to be the UK creative industry representative on this year’s Outdoor Lions jury. To work alongside fellow crafters, directors, illustrators, art directors, writers and creatives, from Thailand, USA, Canada, Italy, Germany, Chile, Brazil, France and Australia, all previous winners here at Cannes and experts in their field. Some of the most famous advertising work in the world in recent times has gone across our desks… it was an exceptional gig, with exceptional people.

The Judging

The entire process was incredible, inspiring, challenging and arduous in equal measure. Together, we looked at every single one of the 2,389 entries in Outdoor this year. The categories and criteria were studied each time, evaluating entries not just on creative concept, but on craft, rationale and against the high benchmarks set by this category in previous years.

We had animated, constructive and fair discussions about the work we were judging, with everyone was given a voice by our highly effective jury president, John Patroulis, Chief Creative Officer of Grey Worldwide. We were encouraged to have creative and craft-driven discussions around the work which ensured we’d covered every angle and every juror until the voting tablets kicked in.

John promoted more creative discussion before finalizing our shortlisted campaigns, and I think the Lions we awarded were the better for it. The result of that diligence was challenging time-wise, working late into the night searching for the golds, silvers and bronzes. But it ensured we gave all the entries the respect they deserved.

The Winners

Outdoor is one of the few Lions where the jury can award not one but two Grand Prix if they wish. The thought being that it’s frightfully hard to compare a ‘simple’ billboard to an ambient /immersive /interactive/ special build / technologically driven campaign execution.

However, this year’s sole Outdoor Grand Prix transcended both categories. Created by WK Portland, Nike’s “Dream Crazy” featuring Colin Kaepernick, originated from a tweet by Nike, that went on to become a Billboard for maximum impact. That impact was a thunderclap that pushed all other media to cover the story.

Post-awarding, the jurors were still swapping stories about where they’d first seen or heard about the campaign. For some, they had seen the billboard on social before the social post itself. For others, they’d heard the story on the radio or seen it in the news. For me, that’s the real power of Outdoor. Impact. Audience. Moment. Message. The brand story became real when it went Outdoor.

In fact, I’d go further. The Grand Prix was a ‘Dynamic’ campaign. It used insight and data to decide on where the media was placed. It was placed in reaction to an online audience’s appetite for the message, it was reactive to a moment in time, a culturally sensitive moment in a country where the conversation on the subject was waning. It used this contextually relevant subject to convey Nike’s all-important brand message… To Dream Crazy…

Get ‘Outdoor’ in the USA

The US market was rich in this category as always. With two-thirds of the top awards heading back across to the shelves of US agencies. There were some huge budget campaigns whose activations spanned traditional, digital, and ambient outdoor categories. There was excellent and well-publicized work from Skittles, Dominoes, and Adidas, that had it not been for Nike’s thunderclap would have been fighting it out for the Grand Prix.

Digital Out of Home

In 2018, Cannes’ Outdoor awards program underwent a complete overhaul. I was part of the committee that helped rewrite the Outdoor Lions categories to ensure Digital became more a more ubiquitous part of the program, mimicking what we are actually seeing on the ground.

It’s great to see this has been embraced by the entrants, with both winning entries showcasing their work on DOOH screens around the world as part of the media placements, and as hero shots for their campaigns. I was impressed by both Nike and Adidas’s winning entries, traditional campaigns that used digital to add context and convey the message, proving that digital billboards have become part of the fabric of OOH.

In fact, I saw some great DOOH work at Cannes in alternative award categories. Notable examples included Volvo’s “Competitors’ Sale”, a DOOH push which used contextualized creative to help motorists sell their existing vehicles, to buy a Volvo XC60, genius. Netflix’s Censors Cut, used DOOH in Thailand in response to market and cultural conditions around content censorship, and XBOX’s “Football Decoded” did well at the festival – dynamic, data-driven, and contextually relevant. Outdoor at it’s very best, but for some reason, this work did not make it into the Outdoor category.

cannes outdoor lions

The Upshot

A really impactful billboard or poster is understood in a matter of seconds, milliseconds even – heck if it’s not then it’s not doing its job. The judging process is similar – but the static creative served straight-up. For an ambient entry, setting the scene, showcasing the activation, understanding the concept and how it was received can take more time. The greater the immersion, the greater the need for a jury to understand its impact.

It’s an interesting task and it’s difficult. Rather than just submitting your poster or billboard, ambient entries need to convey their story in the form of a ‘case study film’, with more time given to process. The quality and craft of the case study film is therefore paramount, it can make or break your quest for a Lion.

Although this year’s Outdoor Grand Prix was awarded in the traditional billboard and poster category, and the work entered into digital specific categories was a little underwhelming, I don’t think this is a fair reflection of the current creative climate. Great work is taking place across the global digital OOH landscape. It’s just that those standout examples did not make it into this year’s Outdoor Lions.

So I reiterate here – Outdoor Cannes Lions has embraced Digital in the category awards, and so should you – by submitting your best projects in 2020. Just be sure you communicate the story to the jury with the same level of creativity and craft you applied to the campaign itself. Go watch ANZ’s ‘Signs of Love’ case study video and learn how to give your entry the best chance of winning.

There is a global shift taking place…. Traditional Outdoor is now Out-of-Home, a connected, multi-platform, cross-discipline creative arena. One that is immersive, ambient, dynamic, scalable and interactive. It’s more than ‘just a billboard’ and we’ll know it’s arrived when the largest global festival of creativity calls it so…. ‘Out-of-Home Lions 2020’ anyone?

As part of its continued international growth, Talon has extended its global independent OOH offering, with the addition of market-leading digital OOH creative services specialist Grand Visual, and its digital OOH Ad tech provider QDOT.

The strategic acquisition enables Talon to further enhance its abilities across the US and to manage the increased demand for dynamic utilization of the digital landscape as the OOH industry evolves. Through this extension of services and abilities, Talon will continue to develop new ways to better serve clients and contribute to making the industry ‘Smarter as Standard’.

Grand Visual and QDOT employ 48 people globally, across London, New York and a development hub in Montevideo, Uruguay. Both companies will continue to run with the existing management structure, led by founder and chief executive Neil Morris, and Grand Visual managing director Dan Dawson and QDOT managing director Ben Putland.

Grand Visual will retain its identity, and continue to work autonomously with agencies, media owners and client brand teams, including Warner Brothers, Amazon Studios, Netflix and Spotify.

The purchase follows Talon’s acquisition of US independent OOH media agency Grandesign earlier this year, along with the launch of international network Plexus, connected traveller offering Latitude and proprietary Ad tech platforms Plato and Ada.

Barry Cupples, Group Chief Executive Officer at Talon commented:

“As we continue to invest in our proposition as a global independent OOH media specialist, we are excited to bring Grand Visual and QDOT into the Talon Group. QDOT’s world leading technology platforms and Grand Visual’s expertise in digital storytelling, means we are in an enviable position to offer true end-to-end service for our clients – as well as providing a tailored solution to those who need to plug specific services into their own OOH ecosystems.

As the industry moves towards a more evidence-based economy, we feel confident that the breadth of our experience, services and capabilities will help to elevate client services further enhancing our smarter as standard approach.”

Neil Morris, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Grand Visual and QDOT said:

“I am proud of the entrepreneurial teams we have in place and the global, future-facing services we have developed. Digital OOH offers an incredible canvas that is crying out for intelligent, interoperable solutions to help brands drive meaningful results. Joining the Talon Group will enable Grand Visual and QDOT to integrate with complementary services, such as Plato and Ada to facilitate scale at an even faster pace.”

To capitalise on the British Summer weather, San Miguel have launched a temperature-activated digital OOH campaign.

San Miguel Temperature Activated Digital OOH

The UK-wide campaign tempted consumers in the hot weather with a refreshing San Miguel and directed them to the nearest retailer. The campaign was displayed on sites in close proximity to grocery stores, pubs and other San Miguel retailers nearby.

Created by Pablo London, the dynamic campaign was only activated when temperatures rose above 18 degrees Celsius. OpenLoop, the DCO ad server from ad tech specialist QDOT, used the weather API feed to update creative in real-time.

Produced by Grand Visual, with planning and buying by Initiative, the summery campaign was live from 20th June through to 27th July 2019.

To promote the cold drinks available on its McCafé Iced menu, McDonald’s has launched a weather reactive digital OOH campaign.

Weather Reactive Digital OOH - McDonald's McCafe Iced

The UK-wide campaign showcased the brands’ latest cold drinks, just in time for Summer. Created by Leo Burnett, the bright campaign creative featured two cold drink products, “Strawberry Lemonade” and “Millionaire’s Frappe.”

When temperatures rose above 22 degrees Celsius, campaign creative was played out on screen. If temperatures rose above 25 degrees Celsius, campaign creative updated to also include the live temperature and city name. During the evening as the temperature dropped, the live temperature and city name was removed from the creative.

The campaign was produced by Grand Visual, with planning and buying by OMD and Talon. OpenLoop, the DCO ad server from ad tech specialist QDOT, took the weather API feed to update creative in real-time. Live from 27th May, the campaign will run through to 28th July 2019.

To promote its latest TV series “Good Omens,” Amazon Prime Video launched a thrilling digital OOH campaign.

Good Omens Times Square Mixed Reality Digital OOH

The series, based upon Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name, follows the unlikely pairing of an angel (Michael Sheen) and a demon (David Tennant) as they join forces to save the world from the apocalypse. As one of the most hotly anticipated shows of 2019, Amazon wanted to bring the surreal scenarios faced by the protagonists to life with a takeover of Times Square.

As the digital OOH roadblock took over Times Square, the crowd was plunged into terrifying Armageddon scenarios through live animations and a countdown to the end of the world. The mixed reality digital billboard towered above the pedestrian plaza bringing Good Omens to life, with Kraken tentacles, UFOs and giant fish raining down on the crowd below. Just as the audience recognized themselves on the big screen the doomsday scenarios unfurled around them. The mixed reality experience created a fun and memorable experience giving participants the ability to share the moment on social media.

Good Omens Times Square Mixed Reality Digital OOH

Supporting the apocalyptic takeover, were additional large-format digital OOH billboards around Times Square, featuring the countdown to doomsday and the start of the highly-anticipated series.

The campaign was conceived by Amazon Studios and produced by Grand Visual.

Ric Albert, Creative Director at Grand Visual, said: “The Apocalyptic AR activation stops people in their tracks in an engaging race to save the world. It provides content that connects the audience to the series storyline and immerses them in a 5-screen Times Square roadblock. The live countdowns build on the excitement and anticipation of Good Omens debut on Amazon Prime Video.”

Runaway Train Geo-targeted digital OOH. Melvin Diaz Cruz Missing

As part of the cross-industry initiative created by M/H VCCP, the out of home (OOH) advertising industry has donated ad space valued at more than $3 million to feature regionally targeted photos of missing children across the U.S.

Today, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and advertising agency M/H VCCP have launched Runaway Train 25, a cross-industry initiative to reinvent the search for missing children in the U.S. As part of the initiative more than 450 digital billboards and transit screens will support the campaign ahead of National Missing Children’s Day on Saturday, May 25th 2019.

Organized by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA), and produced by Grand Visual, the campaign aims to harness the public’s help to join the search by publishing the names and photos of missing children and raising awareness of the number to call for sightings; 1-800-THE-LOST. The digital OOH activation spans 14 media vendors and runs across rail, roadside, and high street locations in over 40 U.S states, including major cities NYC, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, and Philadelphia.

Runaway Train geo-targeted digital OOH

The campaign is delivered through OpenLoop, the dynamic creative optimization server from QDOT. OpenLoop takes the data feed from NCMEC and publishes each missing child case in a geo-targeted push to digital billboards in and around the region the child went missing. “It’s about using clever ad tech to reach a broadcast level audience, whilst delivering tactical and relevant information at a community level,” said Grand Visual’s COO Ben Putland.

The digital billboards also promote Runaway Train 25, a new music video, released today, as part of the broader initiative, which reinterprets the 1990’s award-winning Soul Asylum song “Runaway Train” with musical artists Jaime N Commons and Skylar Gray feat. Gallant. Directed by RSA Films’ Emmy award winner Jake Scott, the music video uses geo-targeting technology to change the missing children featured based on where the video is viewed.

Both the DOOH creative and the music video encourage people to visit runawaytrain25.com and share the video across their social channels to help publicize #MissingKids and #RunAwayTrain25 through their personal networks.

Runaway Train geo-targeted digital OOH

“Last year NCMEC assisted with over 25,000 cases of missing children, the vast majority were runaways,” said NCMEC President and CEO John Clark. “Thanks to the outdoor advertising community and all of our amazing partners, this highly targeted campaign gives us visibility in transit locations across the U.S. Campaigns like this can play a vital part in the search and the ability to run multiple cases that are geo-targeted across more than 40 states will be a true game changer.”

“We know that it only takes one person to find a missing child. This powerful campaign is a great example of OOH, online, and social media working together to ensure photos of missing children are distributed as widely as possible,” said OAAA President and CEO Nancy Fletcher. “It’s about driving awareness and spurring action; everyone has the ability to make a difference in their communities.” “There is nothing more powerful than when a community comes together to solve a problem. We conceived of Runaway Train 25 to bring art and technology together in a way that resonates with communities across the country so that NCMEC can bring home more kids than ever before.” John Matejczyk, founder and Chief Creative Officer, M/H VCCP.

Sky Q Summons Augmented Reality digital OOH

Sun, Sea & Digital OOH!

With Summer on the horizon, we are sharing our top considerations for digital OOH this warm season. It’s a great time of year to use digital OOH to reach your target audience, as nearly half of the population become more active as the weather gets warmer! So why not consider planning your next digital OOH campaign just as you would plan a vacation?

Audience

Who’s your ideal travel companion? Family, friends or a solo adventure? Just as you consider who you travel with, it’s just as important to consider who is the ideal audience for your campaign.

Here’s an augmented reality experience we created for Sky Q, designed to target commuters with fun and games during the school holidays.

Moment

What’s your perfect Summer vacation? A relaxing seaside break or adrenalin filled adventure? Considering the moment you want to create with your digital OOH is key. What do you want your campaign to make consumers feel, think or do?

For the cinematic release for Inside Out, we created a user-generated experience in Times Square. As the movie was centred around emotions, the campaign was designed to capture a participant’s emotions before sharing them to the digital screen.

Lasting Impression

What’s your most memorable vacation? With digital OOH campaigns, it’s just as important to consider the lasting impression you want to leave. Focus on creating a moment for your audience that will truly leave a lasting impression.

Here’s an augmented reality experience we created for Disney. The social video has been viewed over 300 million times and shared over 5.9 million times around the world. It also earned the title of the 2nd most shared ad of 2015.

Want to discuss your upcoming digital OOH plans? Get in touch!

Sarah Hetherington, Senior Marketing Executive, shares her top tips for any dynamic digital OOH campaign.

Digital OOH isn’t just putting static artwork onto a digital screen. The creative potential of the medium is huge, DOOH has the unique benefit of being able to be updated in real-time according to various data triggers like the time of day, temperature, or even train times.

You can advertise ice cream when the temperature climbs above 25 degrees Celsius and hot chocolate when it dips below 15. Studies have shown that contextual creative works and is 49% more effective* overall than non-dynamic advertising.

The challenge for our industry is how we can do more to fully utilise the technology that has been developed for these digital screens.

So how to begin? We have put together our top three tips on how to craft dynamic content for digital OOH.

How to craft stories around live data

Audience: Who are they?

Having a strong understanding of your audience is key. It will allow you to tailor your content in a way that’s engaging and relevant.

Think about what your audience will be doing when they walk past your creative. Are they on their way to work? Do they actually have time to stop and engage, for example in a shopping centre?

Once you know who you are targeting, you can begin to craft your story.

Moment: What is their mindset?

There are many different data types you can use to make your content more relevant and contextual. From location, to weather, date, time of day, trends, local events or holidays.

To decide what will be the most relevant, it will come back to your audience and what might be affecting them at that moment.

Gauge their mood, need state and attitude. This will feed into what type of trigger data will be the most effective. Are they on their way to work and thinking about their journey? Or is it hot and they’re contemplating a cold drink?

Considering the “moment” in which your message will appear can enable you to use the data that will provide the most benefit to your audience. Meaning not only will your campaign be noticed, but your message will be appreciated.

Message: What will deliver a timely & impactful message?

Message is the element where everything comes together. By strongly identifying your audience, and considering the ‘moment’ you will be reaching them, you can choose the most relevant data & contextual elements with which to craft your message.

Think about how those data types can be integrated within creative that befits your brand or product, and in a way that makes sense for consumers.

By taking the time to curate and craft creative messages, you will have the ability to update the content throughout the duration of the campaign, based on your preset data triggers.

Dynamic Digital OOH

Digital OOH is constantly evolving as technology improves, and brands are looking to be more strategic with their advertising. The challenge is to broaden the scope of campaign creative currently seen on digital screens. There’s huge potential to deliver multiple messages for multiple audiences and really maximise your impact through the integration of dynamic content.

The capabilities of digital OOH far extend using the same print creative on a digital screen. As an industry, we should be pushing to better utilise the technology available and craft some memorable data-driven stories.

*LivePoster The Dynamic Difference

McDonald’s are celebrating the return of their highly anticipated Monopoly prize game with a tactical, digital OOH campaign.

Mcdonald's Monopoly digital OOH

The UK-wide campaign encourages consumers to get “peely peely” for a chance to win, by reminding them how many prizes have already been claimed!

Created by Leo Burnett, the campaign creative features a live counter bordered by subtly-animated board game pieces and prizes up for grabs. Using data from a live API feed, the live counter capitalises on the consumers “fear of missing out.”

The campaign will run in two phases. The first phase will show consumers the number of prizes that have been claimed at a national level alongside the catchy call to action, “get peely peely for your chance to win.”

Similarly, the second phase will also show the number of prizes that have been claimed – but at a regional level. Twenty UK cities were carefully selected and campaign copy was tailored. For example, “10,000 prizes already claimed in Birmingham,” alongside the same call to action.

The campaign was produced by Grand Visual, with planning and buying by OMD and Talon. OpenLoop, the digital OOH campaign management platform from QDOT, takes the live prize data feed from McDonald’s and distributes relevant creative to Media Owners across the UK.

This first appeared in Digital Signage Today on March 29th 2019.

Ric Albert, Creative Director at Grand Visual shares 3 ways to bring digital OOH creative to life.

OOH continues to outpace other traditional advertising, fuelled by fast growth in DOOH revenue which is expected to continue at a rate of 10% per annum, globally, until 2021. In the UK, digital now accounts for an impressive 50% of total OOH spend, and other markets across Europe and APAC are on a similar trajectory, with the U.S. now also at almost a third. Globally, 2019 is shaping up well for DOOH.

Creatively, for me, it is the sheer size, impact, and ubiquity, of digital screens in cities around the world that make it an exciting canvas to work with. Full motion creative is a game changer when it comes to crafting engaging stories for out of home audiences. Study after study has revealed that motion delivers more impressions, for longer, and drives ROI.

The effect of good quality creative on the medium itself also enhances the value of that media. However, I was dismayed to learn recently from one of the U.K.’s largest media owners, that just 10% of the creative delivered to their full-motion digital portfolio is animated. I’ve been scratching my head ever since.

Can it be budget constraints? Are advertisers overwhelmed by the diversity of formats, locations, and technologies that make up the DOOH landscape? Plus with so much discussion focused on what the medium can do now, and in the near future, as a programmatically enabled, blockchain assisted platform, it is easy to see how some are finding the endless possibilities daunting.

So to all those advertisers who are still unsure about how to approach the medium, or are still using DOOH as an extension of their standard print or static outdoor work – here is a back to basics guide for crafting good quality, full motion DOOH creative. Based on three simple fail-safe tips that won’t break the bank.

1. Add motion

Generate creative that works harder. I’m talking motion. Motion, motion, motion! It attracts the eye, it helps to tell a story, it delivers drama and emotion. It brings a totally new dimension. It delivers cut through. It’s the absolute must-have for visual communication. It seems so obvious and yet we still see so much DOOH advertising that is static.

If your formats have it, use it! The power of motion helps an ad come to life. Sometimes, it doesn’t need much — a sprinkle of animation can elevate the creative into something memorable. Take advantage of the video content that may exist. Seek out the TV spot or trailer. It will have shots in it that bring a depth and richness to the DOOH creative.

Digital isn’t just pixels instead of paper, it gives us the opportunity to do more. We should be harnessing the potential of DOOH and stop using it as just another delivery file. It’s all about creative impact. And sometimes, a JPEG just isn’t that impactful! We can easily push beyond traditional print with animation, videos, live and updatable content.

2. Timing is everything

Be mindful of your environment and duration. All signs point to shorter sharper messaging being the way to go, but depending on the environment and duration of the digital screens you are using and what you’re trying to accomplish — longer form copy can work too.

Consider the difference between a five, a ten and a 20-second execution. Are you giving yourself enough time to establish your brand and message? Are you using the full duration of the execution wisely? Are you putting appropriate creative into different environments? Is there the potential to deliver multiple brand messages?

DOOH allows us to build a layered and nuanced piece of communication. Delivering a complex message or a last-minute offer is something that DOOH is great at. For example, in a ten-second piece, the creative can start with a call to action, proceed to the offer and finish with establishing the brand proposition. Separating these messages into bite-size pieces allows the audience to take in each element without being overloaded. It’s digestible and impactful and works for the dwell time.

Intelligent scheduling can make all the difference. Create something for the morning commute and another message for the evening. Or communicate with your weekend audience in a different way from the midweek crowd. Subtle changes in copy can build real depth to your campaign.

3. Be contextual

Digital OOH is a connected media. We are already serving creative that adapts to real-time feeds, such as weather, traffic flow, and social media trends. The infrastructure is in place so it makes sense to get the media working hard with useful and relevant messaging that can change and evolve during the course of a campaign.

Now, campaigns can adapt and respond to conditions and real-world events, or feature last minute deals that push different products to different audiences at different times in the day. By harnessing the context effect, brands can achieve cut through and turbocharge the relevance, and effectiveness of their advertising messages.

So the challenge is on for 2019 for all of us to ditch the JPEG. To be creative. All of the time. It doesn’t have to eat up your budget, it just has to move. Let’s ditch the JPEG and get the creative working harder. Let’s maximize the potential of the medium, use the full canvas, duration, and be relevant, and contextual. Let’s capitalize on the unique creative opportunity that DOOH provides for brands and audiences alike.

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