Now Near Next – The Latest View from OOH
James Byrne, marketing manager, PML Group, looks at the latest developments in the OOH industry.
Q2 Activity Brings Disney and Lidl into OOH Top 10
Next week we will be publishing our Posterwatch OOH Market Review for H1 in full. Without doubt, Q2 was a most challenging period for the medium. However, some of the country’s biggest brands continued to strategically invest in OOH during that time. Sectors such as entertainment, retail and banking were most active and, as a result, feature prominently among the top spending advertisers for the first six months of the year.
Disney’s launch of its streaming service, along with a variety of films advertised in Q1 brought the entertainment giant into the top 10 OOH advertisers. Lidl have been the most active among a competitive retail sector while traditionally strong OOH advertisers such as Diageo, Coca Cola, Mondelez and the pillar banks continue to feature.
We will be publishing more on H1 next week but please read on for the this week’s latest mobility trends and pieces of interest round our other Now Near Next themes of Retail, Travel & Leisure and Sentiment/Insight.
Mobility
Latest TII Data
TII’s latest traffic trend information, derived from a sample of ten traffic counters located on the national road network, finds that as of Tuesday 4th August, car traffic volumes stand at 84% of the equivalent day in 2019.
Apple Mobility Index
Apple’s routing requests mobility data to Tuesday 4th August shows driving in Ireland is now +54% above January’s baseline for rolling seven-day average. Dublin auto mobility has recovered to 90% of baseline. Figures indicate public transport as of Tuesday is now 65% of pre-Covid levels which is 9% up on same day previous week. Elsewhere driving in Northern Ireland is now +43% above baseline across seven days, while the UK is now +27%.
New Bigger Luas 55m Tram Now in Service
At Luas Broombridge Depot yesterday, Eamon Ryan T.D., Minister for Climate Action, Communications Networks and Transport welcomed the first of eight new Luas 55m trams into service. These larger trams will increase Luas capacity on some of the busiest sections of the network.
The first of eight brand-new Luas 55m trams have just been delivered and is going into passenger service now. Seven more 55m trams will be delivered in the coming months and all will be in passenger service by early 2021. Each of these new trams will carry approximately 100 more passengers than the existing 44m trams.
Retail
Further Detail on our Shopper Research
Last week, we published our own research showing that despite record levels of online grocery shopping in recent months, it appears that Dubliners of all age groups and are keen to do the bulk of their grocery shopping in-store. This week we publish the gender breakdown of that study, revealing the differences between males and females and how they intend to grocery shop in the coming six months. (Source: PML Group/Ipsos MRBI)
Sentiment/Insight
Nielsen & OAAA – DOOH Engages Consumers and Drives Activations
The Outdoor Association of America’s latest Nielsen studies find digital OOH produces high levels of engagement, consumer awareness and prompts consumer action. In fact, the research found consumers who notice directions from a DOOH are highly likely to visit a business and over 80% will make a purchase.
The two new Nielsen DOOH studies examined travelers in top markets across the U.S. and their exposure to digital out of home (DOOH) advertising formats including billboards, street furniture, airports and place-based (top 30 markets surveyed); and rail/subway/train/taxi transit (top six transit markets surveyed).
The results confirmed nearly two-thirds of DOOH viewers have engaged in at least one measured action after seeing a digital billboard. These actions included visiting an advertiser’s website, searching for them online, visiting a store or restaurant, visiting or posting to a social media site or blog, and more. The research also found DOOH prompts over half of consumers to take actions on their mobile devices.
The Nielsen study reiterates the power of DOOH to drive measurable and meaningful brand value for advertisers.
Key highlights of the studies include:
Among consumers noticing digital billboards
- 52% noticed digital billboards that gave directions to a store, business, or restaurant
- 57% of them immediately visited the business after viewing the ad
- 93% of those visiting the business made a purchase
- 52% of viewers with smartphones have engaged in actions on their mobile device after seeing a digital billboard in the past year
Among consumers noticing digital street furniture
- 51% noticed digital street furniture ads that gave directions to a store, business, or restaurant
- 65% of them immediately visited the business after viewing the ad
- 92% of those visiting the business made a purchase
- 62% of viewers with smartphones have engaged in actions on their mobile device after seeing a digital street furniture ad in the past year
Among consumers noticing digital rail/subway/train transit
- Over 50% noticed digital transit ads that gave directions to a store, business, or restaurant
- 48% of them immediately visited the business after viewing the ad
- Over 80% of those visiting the business made a purchase
- Approximately 60% of viewers with smartphones have engaged in actions on their mobile device after seeing a digital transit ad in the past year
The full report can be accessed here: https://oaaa.org/ProofOOHWorks/MarketingResearch.aspx
WorkShopPlay
The number of people seeing OOH advertising remains robust, according to the latest WorkShopPlay survey, carried out by Exterion Media. The study finds that despite the current circumstances, OOH advertising is delivering high levels of audiences, with 83% of those surveyed ‘seeing an Out of Home ad in the past week’.
While some restrictions remain in place OOH audiences have been active across a number of areas in the past week including grocery shopping (87%), dining out (38% in a restaurant, 20% in a pub), shopping for clothes (33%) and doing DIY around the house (38%).
Leisure
Leisure Travel Pans – Deloitte
Deloitte’s latest State of the Consumer Tracker shows that travel safety concerns remain elevated, but there are early signs of easing. Travel providers remain mindful of travellers’ long-term financial uncertainty, but in the short term, travel safety will likely continue to be the more powerful driver of holiday decisions.
37% of Irish adults are planning to stay in a hotel for leisure during the next three months with a further 27% planning to stay in private accommodation. These figures are up 61% and 29% respectively compared to the end of May. 18-34s, a bullseye audience for OOH, is the group most inclined to plan for leisure travel whether it be at home or abroad with 24% actively searching for travel deals at the moment.
Nine in ten planning a Staycation
New Circle K research reveals the nation’s holidaymaking plans for the coming months. According to the Circle K research study of 1,302 adults, 54% have chosen to holiday in Ireland due to COVID-19 related safety concerns regarding overseas travel while a further 16% are staying closer to home to support the local economy. Despite 59% admitting that they were not planning to stay in Ireland this year for their holiday, almost all polled (94%) are now looking forward to exploring more of the country they live in.
Over half (54%) plan to take a holiday within Ireland as they feel safer staying closer to home. 16% of those who are planning to staycation are doing so to support the local economy. Kerry is this year’s most popular (19%) staycation destination for Irish holidaymakers followed closely by Galway (14%), Cork (13%) and Wexford (8%).
The state of the restaurant industry
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced restaurants to limit and change operations. Even as cities and states begin to reopen, restaurants continue to face unprecedented challenges. OpenTable has summarised data from its community of 60,000 restaurants globally. A comparison of year-over-year seated covers demonstrates where we are seeing recovery start to take shape. This chart shows year-over-year seated covers, averaged by month, across all channels at only the restaurants that have chosen to reopen in a given market. For this chart, only the seven markets with 500+ restaurants on OpenTable of which 10%+ are accepting online reservations are included.
The sharp recovery after lockdown in Ireland across July and August is evident, with yearly comparison volumes leading other markets by a substantial and increasing margin. Business has also recovered in the UK, albeit to a lesser degree.
And finally..
Out of Home continues to play its role as a means of public information messaging during the COVID-19 crisis. A new campaign has been launched this week by the HSE which encourages people to continue safe behaviours of hand washing, physical distancing, wearing face coverings and using the COVID tracker app. The creative was designed by well-known illustrator Fatti Burke and placed by Spark Foundry through our team at PML and campaign is primarily aimed at those out commuting, socialising and shopping.
Dr Ronan Glynn said: “We know how important communicating clearly with the public has been throughout this crisis and I thank everyone for their engagement with public health advice.”
