Quebecor Gets On The OOH Bus

June 22, 2012 by Dave Haynes

A client asked me to sit in with them on a meeting yesterday with Agence QMI, a company completely unfamiliar to me, except that the QMI was short for Quebecor Media Inc.

It was at that point that I learned Quebecor has started a business unit that is re-selling content from its many media publications, like the Sun tabloid newspapers, the Canoe 0nline site, piles of magazines and the TVA TV network.

I then learned the company, which also owns the cableco Videotron, is getting into conventional and digital out of home advertising.

The meeting came the same day Quebecor announced it won the RFP and concession to manage the installation, maintenance and advertising operations of the Société de transport de Montréal’s (STM) network of bus shelters for the next 20 years.

“With the creativity of its resources, the strength of its sales teams, the extraordinary attraction power of its media and its expertise in mobile communications, there is no doubt that Quebecor Media is the perfect choice to help the STM’s bus shelters reach their full potential,” says Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecor Inc., Quebecor Media Inc. and Sun Media Corporation.

Any technological advance likely to bring added value to the bus shelters will be considered, including digital advertising and wireless communication systems, so as to transform the client experience of shelter users and increase the advertising potential of the shelters.

“A bus shelter network that makes use of digital technology will help advertisers interact in real time, and in their own environment, with increasingly mobile and connected consumers. Such a vision is clearly in line with our wireless offering and with the multiplatform and convergent offering we propose to advertisers,” adds Péladeau.

Interestingly, Quebecor Media has engaged Clear Channel Outdoor Canada as a consultant on how to do outdoor. The companies would be mortal enemies in Toronto, but in Montreal, Astral Media, Metromedia and Pattison are the only real OOH players.

The impression I got from the QMI meeting is the company is looking well outside the Quebec borders for opportunities.

Part of the discussion surrounded how Quebecor has all this fabulous content it can bring to OOH, but I just flat said having access to live news and photos for most digital OOH networks was immaterial. Wrong medium and dynamics most of the time. But Quebecor does have the ability now to steadily populate a lot of street-level media with promotions for all its businesses whenever inventory is unsold.