google digital ooh old street
Google extended its “Make Google Do It” campaign, with a clever UK-wide digital OOH push.

The campaign demonstrates how Google Assistant can help with a variety of everyday tasks. The activity runs across transit, retail and city-centre locations until 8th July, Old Street roundabout has an extended run which lasts until 3rd August.

google digital ooh old street

The ‘Make Google Do It’ digital OOH creative uses two creative threads. The first features the Google Home Mini and highlights the versatility of Google Assistant, its main product, by demonstrating how it can help to “Play it. Skip it. Time it. Dial it. Forecast it. Remember it. Schedule it. Prep it. Do it.”

The second creative thread demonstrates Google Assistant’s ability to help with everyday tasks in a Q&A style activation at Old Street Roundabout. Here copy is linked to time, day, location, and major cultural events such as the World Cup, Wimbledon, and Pride London. Additionally, it pulls in local and contextual information such as “Feeling hungry Old Street? or “Can’t find the mythical Shoreditch cash points?” to highlight Google Assistant’s ability to provide location-based relevance.

Created by R/GA London and Google UK, Grand Visual was responsible for the production & delivery whilst media planning & buying was taken care of by Talon and OMD. The digital OOH campaign is part of a broader integrated global campaign that is running across cinema, TV, out-of-home, press, display and social media.

Meg Ledger, Client Manager, Talon said:

“OOH was the perfect channel to communicate how Google Assistant can be your playful sidekick throughout the day. Working collaboratively with Grand Visual, Google, OMDUK and R/GA we were able to maximize the effect of OOH by deploying clever contextual creative assets to tap into a relevant frame of mind for busy on the go audiences”

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

“This campaign took over 100 pieces of copy to deliver. By using smart scheduling, Google has created a fresh, timely and engaging campaign that reaches a mass audience and demonstrates just how far the medium has come.”

Virgin Trains is combining traffic and location data to accurately tell drivers stuck in traffic how much longer their journey will take them by car compared with how long it would take by train.

The out-of-home campaign goes live today 11 September, targeting car-driving commuters in London, Birmingham and Leeds on large format roadside screen along major arterial roads. It will run until 1 October.

Executions will for instance tell commuters travelling from Birmingham: “Current journey times to London”, “by car” and “by train”.

During particularly heavy periods of traffic, additional, 48-sheet sites at service stations along the routes will be activated.

Created by Anomaly, and produced by Grand Visual, the campaign is managed and distributed through OpenLoop, which analyses Transport API’s data and automates the information according to each poster site’s location. Manning Gottlieb OMD is handling the media and Grand Visual said the campaign is a media first.

The digital out-of-home work, which supports a broader TV, digital, OOH, print and radio campaign, is part of a new marketing direction for Virgin Trains, which is innovating in its use of technology and data.

Anomaly’s first ad for the brand since winning the account earlier this year launched in June.

Katie Knowles, Virgin Trains’ marketing director, said:

“Integrating real-time data feeds into this roadside campaign produces a clear and hard-hitting message for drivers: that Virgin Trains is a quick, easy and viable alternative. During peak travel times when congestion is heavy, the live stats deliver our message in a compelling and impactful way.”

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

“Clever use of data provides a powerful call to action for using Virgin Trains. The campaign is constantly updated throughout the day providing useful, relevant, real-time information. You can’t argue with stats like that.”

Digital OOH production and creative technology company, Grand Visual, has hired David Bowry, who joins as production director, and Ben Clissen, who starts as senior producer, both will be working out of the London office.

Bowry started his career in the gaming-industry, lead producing original content for Sony Playstation. From there he went to Guerrilla Games and then on to Disney Interactive, before he co-founded games studio Noodlfoot, pioneering motion-based gaming and mobile content for Nintendo and Sony PlayStation. Most recently Bowry was with The Marketing Store managing digital content production for companies such as McDonald’s, Adidas and Carlsberg.

Bowry reports in to Ben Putland, COO of Grand Visual. He takes over the day to day running of the production studio following Putland’s dual appointment as managing director to Grand Visual’s off-shoot ad-tech business QDOT, earlier this year. Bowry will oversee all production output from the UK and US offices and manage the international production team.

Also bolstering the production team is senior producer Ben Clissen, who will be scoping and managing projects and continuing to maintain Grand Visual’s reputation for delivering scalable and ground-breaking digital OOH work. Originally from Belgium, Clissen spent over 8 years as a program manager at Microsoft, with stints in Belgium and London, before joining Mode Media in London, and most recently worked at Initial Rewards where he was responsible for the creation, development, and launch of custom advertising campaigns.

Neil Morris, founder and CEO at Grand Visual, commented:

“I’m delighted to have Bowry and Clissen onboard. With their strong technical and gaming backgrounds they are ideally placed to reinforce Grand Visual’s already broad-based skill set, and help us to steer clients and partners through the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. This is about creating depth and breadth of quality across a diverse digital landscape so that we can continue to innovate in this space.”

David Bowry, added:

“I am thrilled to be joining the Grand Visual team. Digital OOH is at an exciting juncture. It’s a medium that cannot be pigeon holed. It’s experiential, ambient, responsive, interactive, social, and integrated across digital and mobile channels. I look forward to continuing to push the creative boundaries as the medium evolves from static branding canvas to responsive, connected, interactive, power-house.”

As many people do around this time of year, we have taken time out to reflect on the year that is coming to an end. Outside of our OOH world 2016 has definitely had its moments that seemingly came out of the blue! For the Digital out of Home industry it was less surprising with another year of growth. We saw Exterion Media retain the TfL contract, JCDecaux begin their London Network roll out, whilst Clear Channel, Primesight and Outdoor Plus all expanded their digital networks.

This year saw a number of firsts and records for us at Grand Visual. A key milestone is that we have now delivered campaigns to over 38 countries. Working with an entertainment client we delivered some of our biggest projects of the year for international blockbuster releases.

When it comes to dynamic campaigns, brands and agencies have been bolder this year, pushing for their creative to be more contextual and relevant. From integrating Instagram & Twitter feeds, measuring emoji sentiment to transit timetables and cinema listings, we are seeing more creative approach to the integration of data into a campaign creative.

For Google, both in the UK and in the USA, we produced some great campaigns this year. Their long term holding at Old Street continued, and was shortlisted for a COOH Award for best use of live updates. In the USA, in partnership with D-Theory, we delivered a multi-territory, multi-network campaign for Google Play which recommended playlists based on current conditions such as time of day, weather and location.

Other dynamic campaigns we worked on this year include an activation for Elizabeth Arden (Shortlisted for a COOH Award) which monitored pollution levels at Oxford Circus station, and a campaign for Hasbro featuring a Furby commenting in Furbish on family films about to be screened.

DOOH for Child Rescue Alert Grand Visual

Our partnership with Missing People continued, and in February we were proud to be a part of their Child Rescue Alert Fortnight. We conceived and delivered a dynamic campaign that optimised it’s creative message across the UK to target specific areas and audiences where more sign ups were needed for the Child Rescue Alert system. Optimisation of the creative ensured that registrations were evenly distributed and that the CRA initiative achieved national coverage. A great campaign resulting from a great partnership which was recognised in September at the Annual Charity Awards.

One of the exciting developments for us this year has been brands wanting to maximise production value by rolling out larger more complex builds across multiple executions and territories. We had several big projects delivering not only GV firsts, but also world firsts. In Spring this year we worked with AMVBBDO and Talon to broadcast live feeds from Waitrose farms to digital screens in 9 cities across the UK. We also delivered several gesture and facial recognition campaigns for Vaillant, Lays & Canon.

Lay's 940x520 Grand Visual

At the outset, I don’t think anyone could have predicted the politically choppy waters that 2016 has brought. But when it comes to Digital Out of Home it has been full steam ahead with adventurous brands being bold, creative and brave with their campaigns -paving the way for a great 2017.

Oreo Eclipse Linear DIgital OOH

Grand Visual, in partnership with Talon and PHD UK, took home the Brand Republic Digital Award for Best DOOH campaign this month for Oreo Eclipse. Additionally this month, Oreo Eclipse also won a D&AD pencil within the Tactical Outdoor category.

Last year Mondelez – known for its tactical campaigns – set out to capitalise on the notoriously bad British weather and provide people across the country with the only eclipse they were likely to see. The #OreoEclipse campaign, which included print & social media, became one the stand out campaigns of 2015.

With the latest two additions to our awards shelf, #OreoEclipse has now become Grand Visual’s most “winning” campaign, capturing a record 18 awards including a Bronze Cannes Lion, a D&AD and a Gold Obie Award.

Riders prepare for the off on the first day of the Kinetic Tour of Lombardy charity bike ride

The weekend of the 19th–20th September saw forty cyclists, including Grand Visual’s Founder Neil Morris, take part in Kinetic’s annual charity fundraising cycle ride. This year’s challenge was a two-day ride through the mountains of Lombardy which resulted in over £70,000 being raised for the Alzheimer’s Society.

The gluttons for punishment were led by Kinetic’s Chief Executive, Stuart Taylor, and included representatives of Kinetic, Clear Channel, MSIX, JCDecaux, MEC, Primesight, Mindshare, Maxus, the7stars, and Grand Visual.

A collage of photos from the Kinetic Tour of Lombardy charity bike ride raising funds for the Alzheimer's Society

The title “Kinetic Tour of Lombardy” belies the punishing nature of the ride — also known as “The Climber’s Classic” the route took the riders up some seriously steep inclines in damp and foggy conditions (as can be seen from the photos shown here). It was not going to be an easy weekend — in the words of our boss, “it was brutal” — but the team was committed to completing the tough mountain route for a worthy cause.

And their gruelling two days in the saddle were well-rewarded, because by the following week it was revealed that they had raised over £72,365 for the charity. Congratulations to all who participated, and to all those who helped the riders on their way.

The Grand Visual New York team – Ben Putland, Jennifer Bolnick, and Rebecca Jean Louis – by the Brooklyn Bridge

July saw the launch of Grand Visual’s New York office. The initiative brings our unique, award winning creative services and technology to the US out of home advertising market.

Ben Putland, previously Production Director has relocated from London to head up the office – and has been bumped up to COO.

Jennifer Bolnick, has been recruited as Account Director for Grand Visual NY. With over 16 years working in New York planning, buying and selling OOH media, she has a comprehensive background in OOH innovation through work for MediaCom, Kinetic and on direct sales for Outcast and General Growth Properties.

Joining Ben and Jennifer is senior producer, Rebecca Jean Louis.

Neil Morris, Founder of Grand Visual said, “This is a natural next step for the company, we have been servicing US clients from the UK office for the last few years. With a strong leadership team in place to guide the new office we are excited to begin this next chapter.”

Ben Putland added: “Clients are challenged today by the variety and complexity of Digital OOH communication opportunities. With our unrivalled experience in DOOH production together with our bespoke platforms and technology, we can help clients and their agencies to be more agile in overcoming the challenges and exploiting the medium to its full creative potential.”

The 2013/14 UK Digital Out of Home Handbook from Grand Visual and Kinetic is now available – providing comprehensive media, technical and creative information for all UK networks.

Now in its fifth edition, the expanded Handbook covers 500 additional sites, provides 1 day costs and is in a new easy to read format covering one platform per page.  Also new to this edition is an insight piece exploring the trends and technologies shaping the future of the medium.

The Handbook offers a universal reference point for all those involved in the planning, creation and execution of Digital Out of Home advertising. Check it out online here or get in touch for a hard copy of the manual.

It’s been an eventful month here at GV towers with 5 new hires joining the team! We’ve got some blinding talent on board to compliment the existing team and help us to maintain our position as the premium offering for clever thinking, execution and creative technology for Digital OOH.

Meet the new additions (from left to right):

JEREMY TAYLOR – ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

Jeremy is our newest recruit but is an old colleague from his days running the Nike account at Kinetic. Jeremy was in at the birth of OpenLoop when we worked together on Nike’s Write the Future campaign for the 2010 World Cup. With a decade of experience in Out of Home media Jeremy will be pivotal member of the senior team responsible for developing client relationships whilst providing strategic programme direction and delivery.

 

FAYE LOWREY – TRAFFIC MANAGER
Faye is another “out-of-home” old timer having worked at Primesight prior to joining Grand Visual. Faye is responsible for the day-to-day running of Accelerator – the web based service for campaign booking information, copy trafficking and campaign support.

BEN PUTLAND – PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Ben feels like an old hand at Grand Visual as he joined on a freelance basis last October to run the Windows Phone campaign. With more than 11 years of experience of handling complex digital media projects at home and abroad, Ben is now a permanent member of the senior team with a remit to continue to improve Grand Visual’s production processes and resource management whilst driving R&D into interactive and digital experiential innovation.

NADIYA ABUBAKAR – PRODUCER
Nadiya will be project managing GV’s motion and video output and keeping our clients happy. Nadiya will be working closely with Ric and the rest of the permanent and freelance talent in the MGFX studio.

DAVE CASSON – MOTION GRAPHICS DESIGNER
Dave is a fantastic MGFX artist who also freelanced with us before we made sure he couldn’t get away. He works closely with Ric and Nadiya to deliver on motion executions that make the most of the fantastic canvas we have to play with.

Grand Visual, have launched Accelerator with out of home communications agency Kinetic Worldwide as it’s first partner. Accelerator is designed to facilitate the entire creative and production process from campaign specification and copy validation, through to final delivery. Kinetic UK will recommend the use of the service on all their UK digital out-of-home business.

Accelerator is a media management and workflow platform designed to automate the process of receiving, ingesting, cataloguing, validating and distributing digital outdoor copy to media owners. It simplifies this process by handling the workflow and communicating with all stakeholders involved at each stage in the DOOH ad cycle.

Accelerator manages the initial communication of campaign formats and dates, the compliance process required by certain networks and then validates the final copy against the format specifications for each scheduled network. If necessary, Accelerator is also capable of adjusting, reformatting and converting incorrectly submitted files. Finally, Accelerator distributes the approved copy to the relevant media owners complete with detailed play out instructions whilst providing a full audit trail for clients and agencies.

Kinetic are in discussions concerning rolling out Accelerator across Europe in the next few months and globally by 2012. Kinetic and Grand Visual have previously collaborated on the UK’s first ever DOOH Handbook providing comprehensive media, technical and creative information for UK networks.