Sub-Optimal Creative Equals $2.3 B Opportunity Loss in Digital OOH: ClearChannel
June 17, 2013 by Dave Haynes
Clear Channel Outdoor has a new study out about what it has dubbed Digital Asset Wastage, claiming most brands are running sub-optimal creative and losing media opportunity they value at $2.3 Billion a year.
The media giant says it sampled activity across its global network of digital screens, and calculated that just 1 in 4 campaigns were maximizing the benefits offered by digital technology. Using outdoor media planner Kinetic’s assessment that the worldwide digital out-of-home sector is worth $3 billion, that’s $2.3 billion, reasons CCO.
Wastage is one of the big arguments in the CCO ScreenPlay study, which promotes and pushes the unique features and benefits of digital panels to advertisers and brands. The study includes research with consumers in shopping mall and rail station environments, including over 1,000 shoppers and rail commuters in four French malls and in Belgium’s Brussels Centraal rail station.
The study found that consumers have very high expectations of digital out-of-home, but brands are failing to make the most of the unique opportunities for creative richness, relevance, immediacy and engagement that digital screens offer over static panels.
The ScreenPlay study found that by a clear majority, digital out of home advertising is considered modern (79%) and innovative (69%), appealing (67%) and entertaining (63%), and as standing out from other forms of outdoor advertising (70%).
The research also identifies five ways in which digital creative content can unlock the full and unique potential of digital out-of-home advertising. CCO has found that the most powerful digital ads:
1) Play with people and spaces
2) Use movement
3) Tailor executions or messages to reflect relevant consumer needs
4) Deliver real-time information and live messages
5) Build strong brand narratives
The study found that brands which successfully incorporate one or more of these features into their digital campaigns connect more powerfully with people, build a stronger brand identity and ultimately have greater impact.
David Boyd, Digital Director at Clear Channel International, said: “The message found in our ScreenPlay study is that digital out-of-home has the potential to be transformational for our industry and that the best is still yet to come. At Clear Channel Outdoor, we look forward to working in collaboration with brands across the world to build creatively rich and effective digital campaigns which engage the consumer and allow the medium to reach its full potential. Our survey proves that consumers see digital out-of-home advertising as innovative, modern and engaging and in an increasingly competitive world, it’s a message we will be taking to all of our customers.”
Parveen Bdesha, Research & Insight Director at Clear Channel International, added: “The ScreenPlay research has provided us with invaluable insight into the mindset of consumers and their response to digital out-of-home media. This will enable our teams across Clear Channel Outdoor’s global business to work in close collaboration with advertisers and agencies to help them to utilize the unique features of the medium more effectively, and ultimately allow them to enjoy the benefits this will bring to their brands.”
Beats me how you get the study. That’s not evident in the release or on the website.
The research premise, from the perspective of someone who admittedly has never done more than budget and pay for research, seems a bit of a reach. It would, first of all, be a $2.3 B opportunity loss if the medium was a fully sold out, all the time. Which it is not, as anyone who sells this stuff will confirm.
The premise also skips by the reality that not all digital is in optimal locations in terms of sightlines and dwell times.
Still, the key recommendations are important (though movement and audience relevance are hardly revelations).
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