Bus shelters, street poles, curbside dustbins, street name ads and shopping centre parking lots in South Africa’s major metropolitan areas are among the spaces via which Street Network (a Provantage company) has adopted a “hyperlocal” advertising approach to connect with pedestrians, shoppers and commuters in their urban and suburban backyards. Simply put, hyperlocal targets an audience in a highly-specific geographic location – such as local parks, main streets or grocery stores. These colourfully activated spaces serve a dual purpose: enhancing the visual appeal and functionality of public spaces and providing opportunities for brands to enhance their footprint in local municipalities. Street furniture advertising – also known as street-level urban media – offers high-impact messaging for advertisers looking to engage with targeted audiences as they walk, drive, wait for transportation or navigate through parking lots at stores and malls. This hyperlocal approach has become an essential component of local landscapes. Positioned at eye level, these strategically placed adverts provide easy viewing opportunities, allowing businesses and organisations to connect with specific audiences in towns, suburbs or cities. John Faia, director at Street Network, says, “A well-planned and thoughtfully designed street furniture ecosystem is essential. Street furniture should be available in proportion to the intensity of activity in a particular area and carefully placed to clear pathways for the public. Creative advertising with touchpoints along the pathway make connection with consumers a more natural conclusion. “For example, a brand may choose to create a series of engagements on bus shelters en route to a shopping mall – the point of purchase. Street furniture of this nature is part of our audience’s journey, enhancing their comfort and becoming an organic part of their daily narrative. “Whether it’s providing seating, shelter, waste receptacles, signs, lighting or even gentrified fountains, street furniture addresses specific needs and creates a comfortable environment for people to enjoy.” According to Faia, street furniture also goes beyond mere comfort; it fosters a sense of community and encourages people to gather and connect in outdoor spaces. By integrating street furniture into urban and suburban landscapes, communities can establish a cohesive identity and create a welcoming environment for residents and visitors alike. “Street furniture provides functional benefits and contributes to the visual appeal of shared spaces, enhancing the image and identity of an environment,” says Faia. “When combined with careful planning and design, street furniture boosts the character and ambience of outdoor areas, making them inviting and enjoyable for everyone.” Beyond the benefits to the community, the hyperlocal street-level approach complements brands’ efforts to make meaningful connections with audiences. Faia adds, “One fundamental truth remains – proximity in out-of-home (OOH) advertising offers a powerful targeting tactic.” The 2019 Touchpoints Study from Nielsen showed that 39% of OOH viewers noticed an advertisement providing directions to a specific store, business or restaurant location; while 20% of OOH viewers visited a business immediately after seeing a directional OOH advert and 74% of those visitors made a purchase. According to Faia, 85% of those that recall OOH recall an advertisement on street furniture. Street furniture intercepts the consumer on their path to purchase – and often during the last window of opportunity to reach them. Street furniture remains highly effective because of what it excels in – driving business by being close to the point of sale, with 43% going to the relevant store to buy a product, either immediately (24%) or later on (76%). (TGI 2020C) Street furniture’s quality, organisation and distribution play a crucial role in determining the overall quality of urban spaces. They not only reflect a municipality’s commitment to providing accessible and visually appealing public areas but also set benchmarks for future developments. Street furniture catalyses conversations around urban planning, stimulating innovative ideas and fostering a sense of pride within communities. According to Target Group Index data, while traffic is returning to near normal levels following Covid-19, the location component of that traffic has changed in terms of the average kilometres travelled, which have declined since 2019. Additionally, consumers working from home no longer commute, and this is changing their shopping patterns. The retail locations consumers traditionally frequented in the pre-Covid era are, in many cases, no longer the most convenient shopping locations as remote workers shift to new locations that are more convenient. This fast-emerging dynamic creates a significant opportunity for retailers to pull in new customers from their local area and generate new business. In the “new reality”, consumers are moving around in smaller areas and making shorter trips on average, and the work-from-home shift allows local – or hyperlocal – businesses to draw on customers in their immediate vicinity. An Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) report reveals that nearly a quarter of the top 100 OOH advertisers are major tech brands such as Google or Apple. This is because OOH is one of the best ways for brands to take advantage of a mobile market. With mobile adoption universally on the rise all around us, brands need to tell their stories in the right places with more impact. Says Faia, “The adoption of technology in the street furniture environment is becoming more prominent within the urban realm. In addition, as the world becomes more connected, street furniture will become far more multifunctional by offering an increasing array of digital services.” Making a case for OOH driving online activity is a 2019 study from Nielsen, noting that “two-thirds of OOH viewers (66%) used their smartphone – looked up the brand, accessed a coupon, downloaded an app, etc. – in response to seeing an OOH ad.” Faia elaborates: “Affluent consumers tend to be tech-savvy, are keen travellers and are highly lifestyle- and wellness-focused, seeking out brands that reflect their lifestyle and surroundings. Putting your brand in front of the ever-growing urban middle market during their consumer journey is an organic way to engage with these vibrant audiences while they are out and about – whether during their daily commute or taking a trip to their favourite takeout restaurant
Street Network launches audience measurement for Street Furniture formats
For brands to achieve maximum exposure coupled with consumer ‘buy-in’, they not only need to identify premium media locations, but identify those locations that provide access to a desired target audience. This is key to ensuring that advertising campaigns are effective in keeping consumers engaged and ultimately making purchases. This is where the Out of Home (OOH) industry is getting it right with a strategic focus on big data designed specifically to elevate clients’ advertising campaigns. Street Network, a Provantage company, has partnered with Lightstone, a leader in property and automotive data, to launch a holistic street furniture advertising audience measurement. “The proprietary audience measurement will be critical in helping brands and advertisers connect with targeted consumers, while simultaneously being able to quantify campaign reach and impressions. This strategic investment in data is led by our desire to keep the OOH industry moving forward and constantly innovating,” says John Faia, general manager of Street Network at Provantage. Research already illustrates the effectiveness of street furniture. One in three people exposed to street furniture campaigns recall the advert, with 62% of them having purchased the advertised product online or in-store [ProFusion 2022*]. This new audience data tool can predict which target audiences will see the street furniture advert through real world location data. For quick decision making, the audience has also been segmented into different target markets (affluent, upper and middle markets), and can be drilled down further to provide details pertaining to household income, size and other demographic parameters, including home language. “This allows us to supply the right audience for optimum exposure to all our clients,” notes Faia. In line with OOH audience measurement standards, Street Network’s measurement is built on multiple independent data layers ranging from Tracker data, national AutoParc numbers, vehicle occupancy rates (as used by SANRAL), latest census data and Lightstone property data. Data is collected for each road segment on first-time vehicles and returning vehicles throughout the month. It then compares the total number of trips for distinct vehicles and calculates an average frequency rate. Impacts are calculated on a likelihood to see measure, as not every person who passes a bus shelter, bin or pole advert will take notice. To identify the most appropriate locations and quantify audiences, data is overlayed onto national geographic regions where Street Network’s inventory is strategically placed. The coverage areas are defined and other considerations including budgets applied. All necessary data layers are included, which not only indicates the audience type to be reached, but also the reach, impact and frequency. Faia adds that this measurement method highlights Street Network’s passion for an audience first approach. “We want to connect with audiences where they eat, live and play through our hyper local engagement strategy. Our new proprietary data brings this to life, as this approach is now possible with accurate, reliable, and transparent data.” Gauteng currently provides the highest overall reach figures of over 24 million, primarily around the Marshall, Anderson, Fox and Sauer Street environments in the Johannesburg CBD. High reach figures in other areas are also noted as follows: On average, a bus shelter in Gauteng yields 3,293,891 likely impacts, 522,042 likely reach and a frequency of 7, while equivalent figures in the Western Cape reflect 1,641,894 impacts, 167,998 reach and a frequency of 10. Based on the specific target market and location requirements of brands and advertisers, Street Network strategically packages media solutions to enable the highest audience exposure. Reaching the right people in suburbs, cities and on the streets has just become easier, with big data taking advertising campaigns to the next level. “Street network is not only big on impacts, but also big on data, ensuring impacts turn into action,” concludes Faia. *Provantage Proprietary Data Fusion statistics
Sorbet Catches the Eye with Memorable Street Furniture Campaign
Johannesburg, September 2021 – Beauty therapy brand Sorbet is using eye-catching colours and striking creative to drive greater brand awareness, with a bus shelter campaign designed to grab the attention of commuters and remain top of mind. This, in partnership with Street Network, with which it has partnered for a six-month campaign that has been rolled out in the upper-income Johannesburg suburbs of Bryanston, Sandton and Rosebank. The objective of the campaign is not only to increase levels of brand awareness, but also drive potential customers to nearby Sorbet stores in Rosebank, Killarney and Hyde Park. Further strengthening the creative execution is the clever use of ‘mini extensions’, with Sorbet working with Street Network to produce razor blades and Sorbet ‘badges’ that extend from the street furniture and increase the size of the creative on each bus shelter. “As a brand, we knew that Sorbet’s salons had striking colours we could use and there’s great synergy between these colours and the ability to roll out a really effective and memorable campaign that leans heavily on the creative,” says Vaughan Berry, Director of Provantage Media Group. “The response has been incredible, with these bus shelters creating increased levels of ‘talkability’ around the Sorbet brand and driving much higher levels of awareness.” Whilst this six-month campaign remains focused on the areas of Bryanston, Sandton and Rosebank in Johannesburg, Sorbet has plans to roll out a national campaign in the near future, taking in South Africa’s other major economic centres.
Street Network Granted Key Street Pole Advertising Rights in Bloemfontein
Johannesburg, August 2021 – Provantage Media Group (PMG) is strengthening its presence in South Africa’s judicial capital Bloemfontein, thanks to a transformative piece of business won by its division Street Network. Street Network was recently awarded rights for the next five years to erect street pole advertising in various key locations within Bloemfontein by the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality. The initial roll-out will compromise 600 sites on some of the city’s busiest roads and routes – including Nelson Mandela Drive, Parfitt Avenue, General Dan Pienaar Drive and Walter Sisulu Road among others – with another 600 sites in the pipeline. The timing couldn’t be better, with the Free State province showing increased levels of mobility in recent weeks, with noticeable spikes in “public transport” (+33%) and “supermarket and pharmacy” (+31%), compared to the baseline of the latest South African mobility report1 – indicating greater economic activity and movement of commuters, as the province looks to bounce back from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. PMG is well-placed to service this growing need across the board, thanks to its regional office in Bloemfontein, which manages the advertising rights that all of PMG’s divisions enjoy in the city. “This is a significant development for Provantage Media Group and is testament to the over 30 years’ experience in the street pole advertising arena that PMG has in various jurisdictions throughout the country,” says John Faia, Director of Street Network. “It’s also just reward for a reputable holding company that follows council regulations and by-laws, and we are grateful that Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality has placed its trust in us. We plan to repay that trust by not only generating additional income for the council, but also improving the aesthetics of the environment by replacing approximately 1,500 old advertising frames with cutting-edge large format posters.” Street Network will be adopting a hyper-local targeting approach, with a focus on local Bloemfontein businesses and those ‘big’ brands with a regional presence in the city. In the process, it plans to leverage the benefits that street furniture offers, with small format Out of Home (OOH) proving itself as one of the most effective platforms in driving engagement and influencing purchasing decisions close to the point of purchase, along with increasing levels of brand awareness. That’s largely due to the captive audience of commuters it enjoys, with Street Network focused on strategic sites in high-traffic locations. “Not everyone is online—and in particular online at the social media sites you’ve selected for your campaign—but within a community, chances are that almost everyone will see a local billboard or other outdoor campaign in the course of their daily activity,” says Faia. More broadly speaking, outdoor advertising is high impact, it demands attention, impacts the path-to-purchase, and is a highly effective and engaging medium, with the statistics bearing that out. According to the 2019 edition of Nielsen’s ‘Out-of-Home Advertising Study’2, nearly one in four (23%) OOH viewers talked about an ad or product with others after seeing an OOH message in the previous year, whilst one third (33%) of OOH viewers searched for the advertised brand online, and nearly a quarter (23%) visited an advertised website in the previous year. Further strengthening that last point was a recent study conducted by the Out of Home Association of America, titled ‘Increased Notice of OOH Drives Engagement and Online Activation’, which, among many findings, found that 49% of the people polled went online after OOH ad exposure to “look up information about advertisers”. All of which makes Street Network perfectly-suited and geared up to provide prospective and current clients, whether large or small, with a suitable street-pole advertising solution designed specifically to deliver a creatively impactful, effective and value for money advertising solution.
Street Network Makes it ‘Rain’ with Bus Shelters
Johannesburg, April 2021 – Rain, South Africa’s first mobile data-only network recently adopted a targeted bus shelter advertising approach to attracting potential customers in geographically-defined areas. This, in partnership with Street Network, with rain opting for bus shelters as the ideal partner to drive awareness to a targeted audience. That’s due to the fact that rain needed to go to market to draw attention to its new 5G service, but also to advertise the service in areas where it has coverage. Rain has made use of bus shelters on the MyCiti route in Cape Town and will be launching a Johannesburg campaign shortly, as it seeks to ultimately roll out its 5G offering across South Africa. Using bus shelters has proved the ideal solution for this campaign, as these highly visible Out of Home media options are strategically-located in specific suburbs and speak directly to their desired target audience. “Street Network is a system that allows us to plot our sites at street level, and for this campaign we were able to overlay rain’s audience requirements,” says Vaughan Berry, Director of Provantage Media Group. “It’s a unique offering in terms of a localised advertising platform and Street Network’s bus shelters are the only visible medium in the suburb, ensuring that rain is able to benefit from specifically targeting people in the areas where it has coverage. In summary, Street Network was able to execute on a plan that was both targeted and ensured minimal wastage.”
PMG partners with TAPTAP to launch Ground-Breaking Geo-Location Technology to Drive Greater Integration of Mobile and OOH
Provantage Media Group has taken its digital offering to the next level with the launch of ‘Sonar’, an audience powered mobile geo-location offering that will allow for the extension of campaigns from Out-of-Home (OOH) into the digital realm. PMG, through its various divisions, will be offering this geo-location service to all its campaigns to create additional reach, fostering a greater integration of OOH and mobile, and offering brands the opportunity to drive more personalised engagement and a closer connection with consumers. This follows PMG signing an exclusive agreement with Africa Media Alliance that will see it roll out Sonar across all its divisions, with a focus on PMG’s digital platforms, in the form of its digital place-based networks and digital boards. Africa Media Alliance is the sub-Saharan Africa venture partner of global behavioral and location intelligence technology platform, TAPTAP Digital, having launched the TAPTAP product in South Africa in 2019. Technology TAPTAP leverages geospatial technology and artificial intelligence for multi-dimensional audience planning, omni-channel media activation, and advanced online and offline measurement. “This venture is the result of extensive research into finding the right partner (with an advanced technology stack, deep audiences and scale into many markets?) and has been driven by the growing link between OOH and mobile. The link is further enhanced through the ability of pairing geo-locational technology with campaign roll-outs in order to deliver even more effective solutions for brands,” says Jacques du Preez, CEO of Provantage Media Group. “It is well known now that OOH and mobile integration drive brand lift, recall and ROI, and we’re excited to be able to offer our existing and future clients a world-class mobile integration service alongside our various OOH platforms. This will change the OOH landscape in Africa.” The TAPTAP technology focuses on three key platform utilities: Profiling: building custom audiences and using multi signal location qualification – navigation patterns, intent, digital profile and consumer affinity. Activation: driving engagement via TAP2actions and an omni-channel approach, focused on relevance and context – right person, right time at the right place. Attribution: full funnel reporting – both physical footfall and digital reporting, with full transparency. Applying these principles to PMG’s new Sonar product, it will allow for campaigns delivered within the airport space, for example, to extend their reach using location-powered mobile Out-of-Home. “By geo-fencing airports, malls, golf courses, billboards, commuter nodes and activation zones we can drive additional awareness and engagement across the various locations, as well as retarget consumers who have been in these locations, via their mobile devices,” says Du Preez. “Based on the brief, we can build custom audience segments using multiple location-enhanced data points, to effectively amplify specific sites/locations.” Scale, Reach and Engagement What sets Sonar apart from its competitors and other location-based marketing players is its access and large footprint. It is able to run campaigns in 36 African countries and its total reach across the continent is over 200 million users and billions of impressions. What this means is that PMG could provide an integrated OOH and Mobile campaign for a client that runs concurrently in South Africa, the Ivory Coast and the United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) – all countries in which PMG has a presence. “We are very excited about this partnership – it further entrenches TAPTAP as an omni-channel, scalable location intelligence and technology-rich platform driving business for brands, both big and small,” says Garth Rhoda, Director of Africa Media Alliance. “We were looking for a partner in the OOH space and were attracted to the Provantage heritage, their innovative approach with their products, and their diversity in their offering, covering many demographics in the market. We look forward to assisting more clients in amplifying their messages into the digital space, focusing on extending the reach and driving engagement and performance for brands.” Continued Integration of OOH and Mobile Out-of-Home and mobile are increasingly being integrated as the platforms complement each other, and, if combined, are able to optimise interaction with an audience and represent an efficient way to maximise reach. In an October 2018 piece titled ‘Case Studies: OOH + Mobile Integration Drive Lift, Recall, and ROI’, Rainbow Kirby-Stearns and Elizabeth Rave suggest that “Data + Mobile + OOH = Results.” They go on to cite research shared in Campaign, which showed that mobile click-through rates increased by up to 15% when supported by OOH. Additional research from Outsmart stated that better performing OOH campaigns created a 38% uplift in short-term brand action taken via mobiles, with 66% of all actions being direct to the brand itself. The days of treating advertising touch points as if each works in isolation is long past and marketers are being forced to ask themselves which combinations of ad exposures work best to influence customers. Specifically, this applies to a consumer segment for which the smartphone has become an ever-present tool. Marketing Week has predicted that incorporating cell phone connectivity with OOH will “become the norm, not a ‘special’ part of a campaign”, and that’s difficult to dispute. PMG recognises this and is proud of its market-leading Sonar mobile location technology partnership, which allows it to offer the best in breed to brands to enhance their campaigns. In doing so, it is putting mobile OOH in the hands of consumers and giving brands the opportunity to drive greater engagement and specific, measurable actions.
Hollard’s #STARTSWITHHELLO Bus Shelter Delivers ‘Surprise and Delight’
Hollard has leveraged the marketing power of ‘surprise and delight’, with an innovative and engaging Street Network bus shelter campaign that uses the element of sound to grab the attention of bus commuters. The South African insurer has employed this method with its ‘Starts with Hello’ campaign, rolled out on shelters on Oxford Road, outside the Hollard head office in Parktown, Johannesburg. The sound is emitted via fitted speakers within the bus shelters and the audio runs through the various ways and words with which to say ‘hello’ in a number of languages. As the campaign says: “Our better future starts with hello. Hello is a little word with a huge impact. It has the power to make someone’s day, spark a connection or inspire a conversation.” “Hollard continues to push the creative boundaries and explore the possibilities that street furniture offers as a marketing tool, and it’s been a pleasure to partner with them on this project,” says Mariette Erasmus, General Manager of Street Network. “Specifically, they’ve used one of the best attributes of Out of Home and street furniture, that of localised special builds in conjunction with pinpoint geographically targeted audience selection.” Not only does the Hollard ‘Hello’ campaign make effective use of sound, but it also taps into a valuable marketing tool identified in the respected Harvard Business Review described as ‘surprise and delight’. The article points to the fact that “surprise and delight are two key ingredients for a successful marketing strategy. They are powerful tools to create memorable experiences among customers.” It goes on to say that “one of the most powerful marketing strategies companies can leverage is surprise and delight, as it plays on the strong emotions and memories that can be created through unanticipated happiness. When businesses decide to cut through the predictability of everyday life and offer unique experiences, they will be sure to generate increased loyalty and customer retention, which in turn bolsters their bottom lines.” Music to the ears of Hollard and hats off to the insurer for a creatively engaging and innovative campaign that is not only sure to get South Africans saying ‘hello’ to each other, but also ensure greater awareness and engagement with the Hollard brand. #StartsWithHello
Transformation a business imperative for Provantage Media Group
Proudly South African out-of-home company Provantage Media Group is 52% black owned and 39% black female owned – but it says transformation is about so much more than ownership. When leading out-of-home company Provantage Media Group (PMG) was awarded a Level 1 B-BBEE rating in 2017 – the highest possible assessment – it became one of the largest OOH media companies to have achieved such a rating. It was also one of a small group of enterprise organisations within the marketing and communication sector to qualify as being truly empowered in terms of South African legislation. PMG has not rested on its laurels, however. The proudly South African company completed an equity transaction whereby it became 52% black-owned and 39% black female-owned and, having renewed its B-BBEE certificate for the third year in a row, it continues to drive meaningful empowerment throughout the organisation – and beyond. Tshego Sefolo, CEO of Agile Capital and current chairman of PMG, says the company has proved its commitment to empowerment as an ethos, not a mere compliance requirement. Sustainable empowerment is the core of the company’s value and it embraces transformation and the empowerment of others. “When we partnered with PMG as a shareholder and partner in 2011, we had a very clear of idea of what it meant to select the right partner,” says Sefolo. “We were looking for a company seeking meaningful empowerment, not one that wanted to pay lip service to equity. We made the right decision – PMG is an organisation that truly understands what empowerment is and how it can be leveraged to make a real difference in society.” In an effort to drive empowerment through targeted initiatives, PMG continues to offer intensive learnership programmes accredited by the Services SETA through the PMG Training Academy, which was founded in 2015 by its ProActive™ division. Graduates who complete the programmes successfully receive an NQF Level 4 FET Certificate. The Academy was established in order to increase the skills level within the out-of-home and activations industry, making is easier for graduates to pursue a career in media, sales, marketing and communications. PMG frequently employs programme graduates within its various divisions, underlying its commitment to broadening empowerment within the workplace. “For us, empowerment is not just about ownership structures. It’s about building the right kind of organisation – one that actively seeks to create jobs and work opportunities for previously disadvantaged people,” says PMG’s deputy CEO, Mzukisi Deliwe. “We observe that a lot of 100% black-owned media companies are extremely vocal about B-BBEE but focus only on the ownership issue and do very little about changing South African society. It is about committing to developing those sectors of society that require sustained and consistent support. Offering opportunities to a large constituency of black South Africans is what true empowerment is about – not simply enriching a few people. It’s an integral part of our transformation philosophy.” The fact that PMG scored a total of 119.12 points on the B-BBEE Scorecard – more than the 100 points required to qualify for Level 1 status – is a clear indication of its commitment towards broad-based empowerment. Companies that choose PMG as a preferred supplier can not only rest assured that they are supporting ‘real’ broad-based empowerment – they are also entitled to claim – for their own scorecard – R1.35 for every rand spent with the company, due to its procurement recognition level of 135%. Another example of PMG’s efforts to economically uplift previously disadvantaged people is its strategic partnership with MTN, whereby it manages more than 2 000 sales agents across four provinces. These sales agents can sell airtime and data to consumers, connect their SIM cards, and port them to the MTN network. This allows the sales agents to earn sustainably while taking advantage of training and mentorship. In addition, PMG is currently employing 236 qualifying individuals as part of the MTN-steered YES4YOUTH programme, which provides individuals with extensive training and workplace experience – a step up to long-term employment. “We have long been leaders when it comes to transformation in the OOH space,” says Deliwe. “Each initiative we become involved with further cements our reputation as an empowerment engine par excellence, driven to advance the economic interest of previously disadvantaged people across the board. We really want to make a measurable impact and, with transformation a key business imperative at PGM, we believe we can continue to achieve this.”
Darling billboards ‘extend’ brand reach and engagement
In one of the best ‘fits’ you’ll see in the out of home space, the leaders in African hair extensions have applied a similar principle to their OOH advertising and partnered with Outdoor Network to roll out a memorable national campaign across some key sites in South Africa. Darling Hair is South Africa’s leading manufacturer and distributor of ethnic hair extensions, and has built a reputation as an innovator in its space, laying the foundation for a similar approach to its OOH campaign, which has seen it take several billboard sites in Tshwane, Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal over a five-month period. The campaign objective is to raise awareness while maximising reach for the Darling product range and the brand has opted for an approach to its creative that takes advantage of inherent design benefits the platform offers – billboard extensions. “Darling may be a first-time advertiser with Outdoor Network, but they have applied best-in-class use of design for out of home, with a strong graphic highlighting the product proposition and effective copy with a clear brand take-out,” says Warren Dugmore, Outdoor Network’s Head of Sales: Billboards. “It’s also eye-catching and memorable, and guaranteed to improve recall of the brand in question.” Embellishments and extensions are the props that extend outside the rectangular confines of the display, bringing life to a standard printed advert, and are a unique benefit to help adverts stand out. They create visual impact and gain attention. Extensions draw the attention of consumers and improve recall, but can also complement search and social media, which is what Darling has implemented with its campaign. The billboard is interesting, unique and grabs the attention, whilst there’s also a call to action for engagement with the consumer to #FindYourBeautiful, further driving brand engagement beyond the Out of Home environment and into the digital realm.
Provantage Media Group consolidates operations into new head office
Provantage Media Group (PMG) has seen substantial organic and acquisition growth over recent years rendering the well-known Head Office location on Republic Road to no longer be suitable for the leading Out of Home media company. The group has consolidated all of its operations and divisions into a new 6,500m2 made-to-fit Head Office situated at the corner of York and Bond Streets in Ferndale, Randburg. The new Head Office building houses all of the PMG divisions together with the PMG Training Academy and the central digital control room from which all digital media platforms are broadcast and managed. The company, which was started in 2003 by CEO Jacques du Preez, is today ranked as one of the biggest Out of Home media owners in South Africa and on the continent, with offices and operations across Africa and The Middle East. The international infrastructure provides advertisers with a wide range of media and activation platforms and services designed to deliver effective and targeted advertising solutions. PMG currently operates in 15 countries, and offers diversified products, services and integrated solutions including brand activation, transit media, billboards, mall media, street furniture, golf course media and airport advertising. “It has been an incredible journey of growth for the company and our new Head Office reflects not only our leading position within the industry, but represents a space that allows for all our divisions to be in one environment rather than spread out across various office locations. It is an extremely exciting period along the journey that started all those years ago, and as a team we all look forward to settling into our new headquarters,” notes Du Preez. According to du Preez, having the entire team under one roof solidifies and extends the strong company culture and spirit that defines the entire team that makes up PMG. The company operates on a set of values that define how it approaches its business operations, however these also define the company culture and focus of providing a positive, creative and collaborative working environment for the team. “Planning to have the entire PMG operation on one site was put in place some time back and it is extremely satisfying to see it come to fruition. I’ve always firmly believed that if we all work together, we can achieve virtually anything. We have built a business that can compete with the best in the world.” “This is the culture instilled at PMG. Our new office is yet another step in ensuring that as a company we uphold this. Constantly working together as one, delivering world class advertising solutions while continually striving for service excellence,” concludes Du Preez. PMG divisions housed at the new address include Airport Ads, Global Out of Home Media, Golf Ads, Mall Ads, Outdoor Network, ProActive, Street Network, Transit Ads and the PMG Training Academy. Contact details for PMG remain unchanged. The new PMG Head Office can be found at: Provantage House 7 York Street Cnr Bond Street Ferndale Randburg 2194