Linear Archives - Grand Visual

You may be reading this whilst relaxing, but for consumers, the busiest quarter of the year is just getting started!

With events such as Black Friday, Halloween and Christmas all packed into Q4 consumers are constantly on the lookout for the best deals, and digital OOH has the ability to engage shoppers on-location, showcasing products and displaying offers in real-time.

Almost a third (31%) of all consumers expect to still be shopping during December, while 43% plan to have finished their shopping before Black Friday (IPA, 2024).

Younger generations are most likely to take advantage of the Black Friday sales with 82% of 18-24s and 75% of 25-34s planning to spend at least a quarter of their budget during this time (IPA, 2024).

Last year, shopping centres saw footfall rise by an average of +27.3% during the period before Christmas (MRI, 2024).

Let us show you a few examples of contextually relevant campaigns that harnessed OOH during the festive period…

Pepsi MAX Christmas 2023

We delivered Pepsi Max’s best-performing Christmas ever with their market share significantly increasing YoY.

John Lewis Christmas Tease

We launched two high-impact, bespoke billboards complete with brand ambassadors within proximity to key John Lewis stores in Westfield London and Liverpool One.

Sainsbury’s – A Dazzling Christmas Billboard

A series of special break-through billboards were installed across 3 major cities to promote the Christmas treats Sainsbury’s can offer.

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

Once upon a time, all digital out-of-home (DOOH) campaigns were “linear.” No live data feeds, contextual content or interactive elements. Simply motion creative delivered as movie files to the media owner.

Smarter, contextual and dynamic advertising is infiltrating the world of DOOH at a pace, evolving the medium beyond the simple creative efficiency it began with. However, linear campaigns aren’t going anywhere and as DOOH proceeds with its expansion across the world stage, linear creative will continue as the content that drives this growth.

Linear creativity has advanced over the years; it’s no longer an afterthought. DOOH adverts are no longer simply repurposed print or TV content… they are now filmed, designed and developed specifically for outdoor ads. And as more markets begin to adopt DOOH as a media standard, we’re starting to see brands deliver this bespoke content across multiple territories.

DOOH continues to bring ever-growing challenges to the creative table: a myriad of formats, shapes, sizes, durations and environments to consider. With the increase in demand & complexity for linear ad content, how can we remain effective as an industry where global rollouts are becoming a new standard?

Other media channels, such as online banner advertising, have already faced these obstacles within their own field and have developed tools to cope with the challenges. Toolkits containing master layouts, animation guides and designs to standardised sizes (MPUs, Leaderboards, Skyscrapers etc) are now commonplace, helping to define the creative for the wider rollout. In fact, HTML5 ads can now be built as responsive content using these master standardisation techniques.

Grand Visual has been at the forefront of international DOOH creative execution for several years: we currently deliver linear creative to over 55 markets for a major entertainment client (across Europe and the US and as far afield as Kazakhstan and Guatemala). A wide range of localisations, formats, durations and creative options have become commonplace in our production process.

The constant growth that we have seen with this global rollout for our entertainment client has mirrored the adoption and expansion of DOOH as a medium across the world. It has enabled their smaller international markets to take advantage of what is being created for the larger ones and it has unified the production process so that campaigns retain the same creative quality across the world, regardless of format.

To meet the challenges of delivering market-specific, format-specific, environment-specific linear creative at volume, Grand Visual’s production process has taken a leaf out of other media channels and developed a DOOH toolkit. Once the creative masters are developed, we adapt these to a selection of standardised shapes: Portrait, Landscape, Super Landscape and Ultra Landscape. Multiple durations, subtle and full-motion animation options are made available. There will always be bespoke formats to deal with, but these master files give the market’s flexibility in their media booking and give us the foundation to deliver across a multitude of territories under the pressure of tight timescales.

An additional supply of textless copies extends localisation options and gives added value as the supply of animated elements means they can be used across other media such as online banners, social content and even broadcast. After all, it’s important that we bridge the gap between online and DOOH – there is an opportunity to unify certain assets, layouts and animations, especially as HTML5 signage becomes more prevalent.

Globally, DOOH offers a vast and amazing canvas to work with. In order to capitalise on that opportunity, we must look to establish new production processes to manage the massive format variations and copy volumes. Grand Visual’s experience at successfully fulfilling international campaigns has led us to pioneer an approach to master campaign rollouts across the world. DOOH toolkits have proven to be invaluable in facilitating delivery at scale for global digital out-of-home production whilst ensuring quality and value for our clients.

Matt

How long have you been at GV for and what’s your role?
I have been at GV for just under 3 years. I am the Management Accountant, which means I report the monthly/yearly performance of the business. I also look after the day to day functions of Finance.

What’s your favourite GV campaign?
My favourite campaign would be the work that we did for the film, The Accountant. It’s nice to see a film show our profession in a good light. Even if there were not enough explosions to do us justice.

If you weren’t in the Finance Team, Would you rather be in Client Services or Operations?
Client Services defo! I love eating/drinking in new places and entertaining clients. That’s all there is to it right?

Would you rather be an amazing dancer or an amazing singer?
Singer, it’s where the ££££ is at!

Would you rather become twice as strong when both of your fingers are stuck in your ears, or crawl twice as fast as you can run?
Crawl twice as fast as I can run. I’m quite fast at running, so my crawl would be insane! Plus I’m sure my kids would love to jump on my back while I whizz around.

Nadiya

How long have you been at GV for and what’s your role?
Almost 6 years! I’m the Production Director.

What’s your favourite GV campaign?
Our Augmented Reality campaign that we did for Pepsi Max Unbelievable bus shelter. It was truly a media first that opened so many doors for GV!

If you weren’t in the Production Team, Would you rather be in Operations or Client Services?
Client Services.

Would you rather be the first person to explore a planet or be the inventor of a drug that cures a deadly disease?
Invent the drug that cures a deadly disease.

Would you rather be completely invisible for one day or be able to fly for one day?
Be able to fly.

To promote the release of the highly anticipated Google Pixel 3, Google has launched a huge digital OOH awareness campaign.

Launching on the 25th of October, the large-scale campaign gives the tech giant’s latest smartphone impressive visibility across the UK’s digital OOH media landscape. The phased campaign supporting pre-orders, launch and the Christmas period is scheduled to run right through to 10th December.

For the first phase of the campaign, the multiple creatives featured a product shot merging into a lifestyle scene – as well as the call to action of ‘Pre-order Now.’ On 1st November, when the smartphone was released, the copy was switched to ‘Now Available’ and focused on the Pixel’s various features.

Grand Visual was responsible for digital production and developed the creative provided by 72 and Sunny into an impressive linear campaign. The campaign has been booked across traditional and digital OOH media in a 50/50 split that encompasses 8 different media owners.

The impressive campaign can be seen in action at iconic sites across the UK including Manchester’s Printworks, London’s Storm Cromination and a digiwall domination at Piccadilly Underground Station.

This week Airbnb kicked off a bright, London-wide digital OOH campaign featuring real local hosts, aiming to encourage people to sign their homes up to the accommodation marketplace.

The smart linear campaign touted the financial benefits and freedoms that being an Airbnb host brings. With creative featuring real people like Dennis, who uses it to afford his jazzy wardrobe. Or Silvia and Matteo who host to help pay for their travels around the world. The campaign capitalises on the summer holidays with people planning trips away from home and provides an alternative to leaving their homes empty.

Depending on the particular digital OOH site, the creative would display suburbs accessible from that station. For example at Waterloo station, you could be asked to become an Airbnb host in Waterloo, Vauxhall, Putney, Clapham, Richmond and Windsor.

As part of a larger campaign, we worked with creative agency Wieden + Kennedy and Media Agency Starcom. Tailoring the creative for digital OOH and localising the creative assets, ensuring they displayed the relevant locations. The campaign will run for eight weeks from the 6th August across DEPs and D6s at selected London stations.

This article first appeared on Contagious on 22nd May 2018.

Ric Albert, creative director at Grand Visual, explains how film studios are raising the bar with exceptionally creative uses of digital outdoor.

Ten years ago, digital out-of-home was in its infancy; a blank canvas yet to be painted with the exciting content we see today. Film marketing was still very much focusing on the traditional channels of TV, print and OOH; video-on-demand and pre-roll ads had only just started to appear. In fact, online was where film marketing first started experimenting creatively. However, as the functionality and scale of Digital OOH has expanded, so too, has the way in which entertainment brands use it.

Fast forward 10 years, and things have changed dramatically. Today, digital inventory has given OOH film campaigns a new lease of life, adding some movie magic to outdoor executions. Now marketeers can run trailers and video content on the street, introduce characters, plot teasers, or run live-action sequences, direct from the film to whet the public’s appetite. Digital OOH has become the ideal advertising channel for the entertainment industry.

Shifting the needle

There’s been experimentation. It started in 2006 with Rocky Balboa running up the first digital escalator panels on London Underground, changing the way we thought about multi-panel creative. It continued with Legend of the Guardians, which saw a campaign pioneering subtle motion on roadside screens, a motion format that’s now an international standard.

In 2011, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 streamed its world premiere live to DOOH screens. Then there was the Jurassic World execution at Waterloo, which combined, traditional OOH, station wraps, Digital OOH and experiential. And a variety of AR and VR activations were used across the world for the release of supernatural horror IT.

There is real momentum to this creative evolution, and advertisers are changing the way they create and use OOH media. From static branding channel to high impact PR vehicle, DOOH now live streams worldwide premieres, provides immersive augmented reality events and delivers iconic treatments tailored for iconic buildings, environments and screen locations. Now OOH can be engaging, immersive, participatory, integrated and scalable.

Scaling interaction

Connecting with film fans on a deeper level is now achievable. Digital OOH offers interaction via a multitude of creative technology solutions. A campaign for Dr Strange opened up live portals between sunny Los Angeles and rainy London, and allowed people to warp the world in front of them. An AR campaign for Batman v Superman allowed participants across several markets to become their favourite superhero. And these aren’t just one-off special builds, we’re seeing interactive campaigns becoming more scalable: it’s now possible to produce engaging, responsive experiences seamlessly across borders and markets.

The digitisation of OOH has also enabled outdoor creative to become firmly embedded in the broader digital strategy, playing a central role in an omnichannel execution. The power of social media and its influence over box office results means that OOH can be a great conduit for driving audiences online, and vice versa. Digital outdoor activations can be crafted to generate shareable content for garnering audiences online.

For the recent launch of season 7 of Game of Thrones, dramatic fan reactions posted on social channels were shared moments later on digital screens across the UK, tapping into the buzz and excitement of the show whilst delivering a powerful UGC endorsement. Interestingly, Digital OOH has also begun to influence other channels, with its content nowadays seen at movie premieres and press junkets, as well as within online banner creative and social feeds.

Digital OOH’s presence and ubiquity in cities around the world is also part of its allure to the film and entertainment industries. Film campaigns demand an international rollout, and as DOOH spend overtakes traditional OOH revenue in markets around the world, this has forced us to change our approach. Nowadays scalability is vital to production processes, so now we use master creative toolkits and flexible creative that can adapt to all the different shapes, sizes, durations, environments and audiences of the screens we’re faced with.

To give you an idea of that scale, in 2017 we delivered over 12,500 files to 52 markets, from Guatemala to Kazakhstan. Localisation and delivery become paramount, as does sophisticated ad-serving technology from QDOT. Now multiple markets can take advantage of a toolkit of creative rather than the traditional siloed approach.

So, what next? It’s undeniable that Digital OOH has become a major marketing channel for film studios and entertainment brands. Moreover, the film industry has become a major driving force for the continued development and evolution of global Digital OOH campaigns.

Now that the production processes have been nailed and the intelligent ad-serving infrastructure is in place, we expect to see truly global campaigns that deliver local relevance become the new standard. Combined with tactical, interactive and cross-channel strategies, the marriage between film marketing and digital OOH looks set to blossom.

Summer is a great time of year to target people with digital OOH advertising, with nearly half of the population becoming more active during spring/summer when the weather gets warmer*.

The good weather has a positive effect on people’s mood and will make people more likely to get involved with interactive campaigns. Take this fun, engaging campaign for Hasbro Monopoly for example.

Summer is also a great time to integrate the warmer weather with a dynamic digital OOH campaign and provide relevant & contextual messages. This campaign for refreshing, cool beverages from McDonald’s, only went live when the temperature rose to a “balmy” 17 degrees.

Of course, it doesn’t need to be dynamic to catch people’s attention. This summer campaign from Tropicana brought sunshine to the stations of London with eye-catching, linear creative. 
It’s easy to see why advertisers are using digital OOH in the summer, with more people out and about, it’s the perfect time to be seen.

Sources:
*Talon Generator
OMA Summer
Media Village, Reaching the On-the-Go Consumer in Summer

Girl on the Train is one 2016’s most anticipated movies, adapted from the hit novel by Paula Hawkins, the film follows the life of Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) an alcoholic divorcee who becomes involved in a missing persons investigation.

Ahead of the film’s release, Grand Visual produced a wide-range of linear Digital Out of Home creative for both UK and Ireland. In a Grand Visual first, we produced bespoke animation for the film’s World Premiere in Leicester Square which was featured on both the large format screen outside and in the cinema just before the film rolled.

For the UK, we produced creative featuring a combination of trailer footage and our own animated artwork for London Underground and Transvision screens, creative for seventeen Ocean formats and bespoke creative for Waterloo Motion. Additionally, we produced creative for Ireland which included a massive super-landscape in-cinema format for Odeon’s Isense screen.

Bespoke animations which featured rain on the window and flashes of moments from the film reflected on the train window were produced for eOne’s social media campaign. And following the film’s number one UK debut, we produced additional creative for Ocean screens across the UK promoting the films number one position.

Virgin Atlantic’s latest campaign, created by Adam & Eve/DDB, urged people to seize the day and make those “One Day” goals and aspirations happen. The airline has picked out tweets from users who have written a message in the past about activities they would like to do “one day” and posted them across Digital Out of Home. If the selected tweeter sees the DOOH and gets in touch with Virgin Atlantic by the end of the day, the company will help make their dreams a reality.

The campaign kicked off with a tweet from @molly_bayston three years ago saying “Proper want to go sky diving one day!” Virgin Atlantic reached out to her with the message “tweet us before midnight and we’ll help make your #OneDay happen.” Molly saw it and got in touch, so Virgin Atlantic rewarded her with a trip to go sky diving in California!

Grand Visual produced over 200 pieces of copy for the campaign with the DOOH creative updating across the day as the hunt for the chosen Tweeter progressed.

Hamish Rickman, Vice President, Marketing at Virgin Atlantic commented:

“So many of us say ‘one day I will…’ but all too often we don’t allow that ‘one day’ to happen. With this campaign, we’re not only aiming to motivate and inspire people to achieve that one thing they have always talked about but for a lucky few, actually help make it happen”.

The campaign, planned and booked by PHD and Talon, was live from the 16th-20th May across ECN, Exterion, JC Decaux, Ocean Outdoor, Outdoor Plus & Storm networks across the UK.

Grand Visual has produced a large linear DOOH campaign supporting the launch of Disney Life, a subscription based video streaming service in the UK. With a Disney Life membership the whole family can enjoy hundreds of movies, TV shows, books and more from Disney’s unrivalled entertainment portfolio.

Working with Disney, we created master animations and multiple reversions per creative for ad formats in Retail, Roadside, City Centre & Rail environments over the campaign’s 4 week duration. The release of each new campaign creative is scheduled to coincide with the release date of particular content becoming available on the Disney Life app.

The campaign started 19th March and will run until the 20th April across Canary Wharf Media, Clear Channel, Exterion, Forrest, JCDecaux, Maxx Media, Ocean, Outdoor Plus, Primesight, Signature and Storm.

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