Outdoor prospers from the mobility of consumers

by Colin Grimshaw Media Week

It's a supreme irony that, when we are spending more and more on improving the living quality of our homesteads, we are spending less and less time there - 51 per cent less over the past decade, according to IPA TouchPoints.

There are many developments behind this - more people in the workplace, multiple car ownership, mobile phones, PVRs, and the soaring divorce rate - singletons have less reason to go home of an evening.

It's a social phenomenon of our age that is complicating marketing communications - how to reach these mobile consumers, where, when, in what mindset and with what message.

Outdoor (or Out-of-Home to give it its new handle), commuter newspapers and radio have been the first beneficiaries. Advances in technology and applications in mobile devices will see the web and TV follow.

Right now, it is that Cinderella of the media world, outdoor, that is making the headlines. Last week, JCDecaux announced third-quarter revenue growth in its international business of 12.2%. In the UK, it is believed to have grown at more than 10% and, next week, figures for the whole of the UK market are expected to show growth of around 7%, the 21st successive quarter of year-on year increase. While advertisers are clearly following the audience, there are other factors in outdoor's media out-performance - only the internet is performing better.

Over the past six years, £170m has been spent on ridding the industry of its tatty paste and paper image with backlit posters, digital screens, embedded Bluetooth and computer chip technology, even a format with an outward-facing camera that records who looks at it. Another £290m will be invested over the next six years.

The humble billboard is even enjoying a renaissance - the replacement of paper with vinyl allows faster turnaround of campaigns and the ability to react to news events.
There remain challenges for outdoor - pressures from environmental groups and local councils limit the growth of sites, and there are still big accountability issues that have yet to be fully addressed.

As the only medium that is a pure ad-play, devoid of entertainment content, its biggest risk is that it is entirely dependent on advertising agencies' creative genius.

Outdoor might need to reduce this risk by getting more involved in the creation of the message.

Colin Grimshaw is the deputy editor of Media Week.