James Byrne, marketing manager ,PML Group with this week’s Out \ Look on Out of Home
Double Digit growth in Public Transport Journeys Last Year
2024 saw a record 328 million public transport journeys on bus, Luas and rail, according to latest figures released by the CSO. This represents year on year growth of 10% and an increase of 36% on the 2022 total. A weekly average of 6.3m suggests there are over one daily million journeys taken during the working week.
Having reached 177 million, over half (54%) of these journeys took place on Dublin buses.
Breaking the 50m barrier for the first time, Luas journeys at 54m had a 53:47 split between the red and green lines. Luas has experienced a 66% rise in passenger journeys over the last decade.
The OOH audience is not just growing in terms of public transport. Average daily road traffic volumes increased by 7% in 2024, mirroring the growth witnessed in 2023, according to data generated using 375 nationwide traffic counters operated by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
These figures represent increased mobility among the public, more people out and about and more opportunity to engage OOH media across multiple commuter touchpoints. Travel hubs such as bus stops, train stations and Luas stops offer advertisers massive audiences and valuable dwell time. And, of course, the transport vehicles themselves are highly impactful and mobile, visible to commuters, pedestrians, and other vehicles on the road. Ultimately, these figures are about audience. More audience for Outdoor marketing activity – be it on transport formats or more generally on roadside and retail formats also.
Recently in Out \ Look, we shared the latest INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, which ranked Dublin as the third-most congested city in Europe, and the 15th-most congested in the world. Such dwell time combined with these new public transport statistics, it forms a potent and powerful mix for advertisers to communicate with a mass audience through OOH advertising.
New Dublin bus routes, including two 24-hour and airport services
A total of 13 new bus services launched this week across Dublin and its surrounding areas as part of the latest phase of the National Transport Authority’s BusConnects redesign.
The new lines, which began operating on Sunday, include two 24-hour north-south routes, serve communities between Dublin Airport, north Dublin, the city centre, south Dublin, Dún Laoghaire and north Wicklow. Overall bus service levels in all these areas are set to increase by 7 per cent, according to the NTA.
The new spine E1 and E2 routes, which run around the clock, bring to 12 the number of 24-hour bus services in Dublin’s bus network. The two new routes also provide access to third-level colleges, including UCD, TCD, DCU and TUD, and hospitals like the Mater, the Rotunda, Temple Street and Loughlinstown.
The E1 bus will depart from Northwood in Santry, taking passengers via DCU and the city centre before heading out the N11 to complete its journey in Bray.
The E2 will depart from Harristown, near Dublin Airport, travel via DCU and the city centre, before heading down the N11 and completing its journey in Dún Laoghaire.
The new 19 radial route, which runs from Dublin Airport, through Drumcondra and on to the city centre, offers direct connections from areas including Glasnevin and Ballymun to the airport for the first time.
Vodafone OOH eyes up the tryline ahead of England Clash
Vodafone is connecting with fans in the build-up to the opening weekend of the 2025 Six Nations Championship as Ireland take on England at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.
Planned by Carat and PML, with creative from Folk VML, the campaign launched this week across a mix of classic and digital OOH formats to create a national presence that connects with audiences at every key touchpoint.
The creative is an evolution of the brand’s IMPACT Award winning copy from 2024. Featuring the Irish rugby team in their iconic huddle, overlaid with the bold Vodafone red emblem, emotive statements like “10,000 team talks” and “51,700 fans holding their breath,” Vodafone positions itself as the essential network that powers both the team’s performance and the fans’ passion.
The campaign is live across a range of high-impact OOH formats around the city. Roadside and rail formats effectively target travellers coming to Dublin for the match. Digipole locations include those in proximity to the stadium, while the Transvision screens reach railway travellers commuting to the capital for the match.
Station gallery copy featuring full-motion, sequential DOOH also aims to generate awareness of the tournament and its sponsorship as star players Andrew Porter, Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen appear to ‘walk’ through the panels adjacent to consumers as they make their daily commute.
Smithwick’s goes back to its roots
Diageo-owned Smithwick’s has found fresh footing in the beers landscape with an impressive new brand platform that taps into the brand’s 315-year-long legacy.
The OOH campaign, planned by PHD and Source out of home, is developed in collaboration with agency Ringers Creative. The creative highlights Dublin bar man Hugh Hourican of the Boar’s Head as he serves a pint of Ireland’s oldest beer, highlighting its position as a cultural mainstay that has complemented ‘original’ Irish traditions including trad music, storytelling, art and sport. The campaign is live across large format retail and roadside this cycle.
The creative is connected to a wider, long-term multimedia campaign that intends to position the brand as an accompanying elements to Irish culture. The first of these centres on the ongoing Tradfest and highlights Kozo Toyota, a Tokyo-based musician who has come to Ireland to partake in festivals and fleadhs every year since 2007.
“Smithwick’s is 315 years old and has been part of many exciting campaigns and cultural moments over the years – not only in its home in Co. Kilkenny, but across the island of Ireland,” said Anne Zahan, Head of Beer at Diageo. “And as Irish people continue to re-connect with old Irish traditions, our job is to help Irish people discover and re-connect with the Smithwick’s brand.”
Blue Dragon sets the table for Lunar New Year
Leveraging contextual relevance around the Lunar New Year — which includes Chinese New Year, Seollal in Korea, Tet in Vietnam and more — Blue Dragon’s DOOH campaign invited consumers this week to explore Asia in a culinary manner.
Planned by PML and BR Marketing, the campaign is live this week across retail dPods and DXScreens near points of purchase, generating mental availability when relevance is high. The attention-grabbing, full motion copy featured the brand’s product range including sauces, stir fry, season and stir, dipping sauces.
The last few months have offered opportunities for brands to leverage Out of Home as an event-based marketing channel. The leadup to Christmas and January reset Outdoor activity has shown brands are acutely aware of OOH as a location medium and its capacity to be hyper-relevant to events happening across the physical and virtual landscape.
A recent edition of Out \ Look highlighted how Retail Out of Home (R-OOH) is changing the way brands connect with shoppers, with the benefits of superior data-driven targeting leveraging the window of influence available to OOH advertisers in the trusted retail environment.
In our IMPACT Attention study 61% of respondents indicated that OOH ads influenced their purchase decisions.
Our iQ research previously revealed 65% of respondents agree that outdoor advertisements featuring contextual information better capture their attention. Additionally, 71% of Outdoor consumers who are main shoppers enjoy eating non-Irish cuisine (TGI).