Outdoor Network has broadened the scale and reach of its national digital network with the addition of two new rotating digital LED billboard sites in the prestigious town of Ballito on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. The two 3m x 6m prestigious digital billboards are located 500 metres apart, with one on the R627 alongside the popular Ballito Lifestyle Centre shopping centre, and a key route leading to and from the upmarket Zimbali Coastal Estate. The second digital billboard is in close proximity to the local Virgin Active gym and Ballito Junction Regional Mall. Both sites are also a short distance from the N2 highway connecting residents and visitors with King Shaka International Airport, Umhlanga and Durban to the south. “These are two prime locations, with Ballito no longer just a popular holiday destination,” says Warren Dugmore, Head of Sales: Billboards at Outdoor Network. “It’s now a thriving town on its own and home to around 230,000 residents, with our two new sites both located on a busy route through the main attractions in Ballito.” Along with the 230,000 residents, Ballito also has a secondary catchment area of approximately 510,000 people, whilst 72.7% of the population have an average household income of R20,000 or more. There’s a sizeable working population (ages 15 – 64) of 66.7% and just under 60% have access to the internet. Ballito also draws a number of visitors and residents to its beaches and is centrally-located on the north coast, approximately 30 kilometres from the popular Sibaya Casino and Entertainment Kingdom Hotel, and about the same distance from the airport. “These digital billboards aim to offer advertisers the ability to expose brand messaging to consumers on both their morning and afternoon commute, with dayparting via campaigns tailored specifically to the needs of brands,” says Dugmore. “In this way, they can be optimised for audience delivery, mapping the unique audience profiles throughout the day and by day of week. The creative possibilities are enhanced by creative ad-serving to deliver the right ad to the right customer at the right time and place.” Digital out of home is proving extremely popular with brands, which, according to the 2017 Peter J. Solomon Company (PJSC) Study and Recall Comparison, has the highest aided or unaided recall rate of all media. Further to that, a 2017 Nielsen-OAAA OOH Compilation Report returned some interesting findings, with 75% of respondents saying they had noticed a digital billboard in the past month, whilst 60% said they had noticed a digital billboard in the past week. Interestingly, over half of the travellers (55%) who noticed a digital billboard in the past month noticed specific messages on the billboard either every time or most of the time they had passed one. “The benefits of DOOH are numerous, particularly when integrated with mobile, video, social media engagement, and more,” says Dugmore. DOOH is the future, and these two new Ballito sites keep Outdoor Network current and at the cutting-edge of outdoor advertising, whilst at the same time growing its national footprint and providing brands with the opportunity to better engage with consumers. To find out how Outdoor Network’s roadside LED can help your brand deliver flexible, immediate and effective out-of-home campaigns nationally, contact info@on.co.za. Follow Outdoor Network on Twitter @outdoornetsa, Facebook @OutdoorNetworkSA, on LinkedIn or visit www.on.co.za
Dent & Scratch go big on frequency
Recognising the value and impact of a high-frequency campaign, Johannesburg panel beaters Dent & Scratch Repairs opted for a focused approach when partnering with Street Network towards the end of 2018. The campaign ran on all nine bus shelters along Bram Fischer Drive, taking in the suburbs of Randburg, Blairgowrie, Ferndale, Linden, and Robindale. In this way, Dent & Scratch leveraged the power of frequency and its impact on recall and engagement, with the campaign reaching approximately 430,000 people and delivering around 8.9 million impacts, thanks to an average frequency of 21. (ROAD2015/16/17C) “Frequency drives online search, mobile engagement, and campaign recall from other media such as TV, and this can have a big impact on top and bottom funnel sales drives,” says Jonathan Everest, Head of Sales at Street Network. “You can reach more people more often, target the consumers most likely to be interested in your brand, drive consumer action, and optimise reach and frequency at a relatively low cost.” Dent & Scratch Repairs has built a loyal following of customers in the broader Randburg area, offering a range of services, including bumper repairs, repair work to doors, fenders, bonnets and boots, polishing out of scratches, and hail damage removal, along with reupholstering. This service offering was communicated on the bus shelters in question, with Dent & Scratch looking to engage with consumers who regularly use Bram Fischer Drive for their daily commute, or who live in the surrounding areas. The thinking being that a customer looking for a panel beating, auto detailing and a vehicle sales service would be more likely to look for something relatively close to home, or with the convenience of being on one’s daily commute route. “Bus shelters are positioned to catch the attention of consumers on their daily commute,” says Everest. “In this case, they were close to the point of purchase (Dent & Scratch) for those consumers looking for a conveniently-located panel beater, whilst also attracting high levels of brand awareness among consumers using Bram Fischer Drive every day.” In this way, Street Network and its collection of bus shelters was able to assist Dent & Scratch in meeting two objectives: the almost-immediate driving of a purchasing decision for those with a pressing need for a panel beater nearby, and the raising of awareness of the Dent & Scratch Repairs brand. To find out how Street Network can help your brand deliver effective out-of-home campaigns nationally, contact info@on.co.za Follow Outdoor Network on Twitter @outdoornetsa, Facebook @OutdoorNetworkSA, on LinkedIn or visit www.streetnetwork.co.za
Digital out of home in Africa sees double digit growth
Out of home is exploding across Africa, aided by infrastructure development, reduced costs and technological developments. Following the September 2018 PwC Outlook on out of home (OOH) advertising in Africa, it’s clear the platform will hit explosive growth in the next five years, where digital out of home (DOOH) has tipped the scales. “Digital has exploded across the continent with forecasts reflecting double digit growth over the next five years,” says Howard Lonstein, marketing manager of Provantage Media Group’s Outdoor Network. “Locally it is forecast to account for 40% of OOH spend in the next four years.” Digital has been, and will remain, a key area of focus for all the major media owners. This bodes favourably for OOH, contributing to continual growth in the industry, he says. In key markets where OOH is a high demand channel – the top five markets in Africa being Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Kenya – Provantage uses a host of different data sources to assist in research and insights regarding the respective markets, media habits and consumption. DOOH is increasingly prevalent with large supersites (100m2 and larger), of various formats. Examples include wallscapes and massive gantries lighting up the cities and night skies. According to Lonstein, these developments have been made possible as a result of reduced costs and technological advancements. “Today the medium is far more accessible and affordable than it was just a few years ago, and this drives growth.” This is an extract from an article that appeared on The Media Online on February 7th, 2019. Click HERE to read the rest of the interview with Howard Lonstein, Marketing Manager at Outdoor Network.
Outdoor Network’s rotating LED digital billboard brings innovation to Umgeni Road, KZN
Outdoor Network’s state-of-the art rotating LED digital billboard on Umgeni Road in Springfield, KwaZulu-Natal delivers high impact advertising for brands. The area has become known as a key shopping destination for residents in the greater Durban area with national retailers, mega stores, motor vehicle dealers all complemented by a range of specialist outlets. The rotating billboard is strategically positioned in the heart of this vibrant shopping destination alongside the Springfield Value Centre. A link via the newly built fly-over onto the M2 highway has significantly improved access to the area, ensuring increased traffic patterns along the route. With the likes of the Springfield Value Centre’s Hirsch’s and Makro in close proximity, the 3×6 rotating digital billboard reaches over 7% of the total population in KZN – an audience of over 339,000. With an average frequency rate of 9, the site is expected to deliver over 3,15m impacts per month. (ROAD2015/16/17C) The billboard provides brands and advertisers with a highly effective offering in the area, designed specifically for impactful creative, which assists in positively influencing brand image while driving improved recall and engagement. “The Umgeni Road site is part of Outdoor Network’s continuing national roll-out of our highly effective and captivating rotating billboard network in key, high-demand locations. The billboard’s innovative technology allows it to rotate through 360˚, aligning to traffic flow, density, and peak congestion periods and thus engage motorists on both sides of Umgeni Road. This strategically located digital billboard is an ideal advertising platform for the host of motoring and retail brands in the area, providing the last window of opportunity to engage prior to point of purchase,” says Howard Lonstein, Marketing Manager at Outdoor Network. The billboard offers advertisers the ability to expose brand messaging to consumers with true dayparting via campaigns tailored specifically to the needs of brands. Advertisers can engage target audiences when affinity for specific brands, services and products are heightened. “The benefits of DOOH are numerous, particularly when integrated with mobile, video, social media engagement and more, and forward thinking brands taking full advantage of this. When you add to this the ability of OOH to deliver contextually relevant messaging at a relatively low cost, advertisers are presented with an ideal advertising solution,” concludes Lonstein. To find out how Outdoor Network’s roadside LED can help your brand deliver flexible, immediate and effective out-of-home campaigns nationally, contact info@on.co.za. Follow Outdoor Network on Twitter @outdoornetsa, Facebook @OutdoorNetworkSA, on LinkedIn or visit www.on.co.za
Fourways Mall invites shoppers to Play@4WM with bus shelter campaign
Fourways Mall has turned to out of home media to draw shoppers from surrounding areas, tasking Street Network with a visually striking promotional campaign on bus shelters and taxi ranks in the surrounding area to grab the attention of commuters in the general Fourways area. These locations are key, as their proximity to the Mall greatly increases the chances of a Mall visit directly after experiencing the visual elements of the campaign. One of the findings of Arbitron’s 2013 OOH Industry Report found that bus shelter advertising drives response, with as much as 26% of consumers of a campaign immediately visiting the business in question. “Bus shelters a high reach and frequency media, providing directional signage to visitors and residents of the Fourways area,” says Howard Lonstein, Marketing Manager of Outdoor Network. The Fourways Mall creative is dominated by a bright pink background and features an animated ‘family’ riding a rollercoaster, with the invitation to mall visitors to “Play@4WM” and promoting a family-friendly offering. Fully ‘wrapped’ bus shelters are being used a means of attracting shoppers from surrounding areas to the Mall as new shops open. The creative will be updated as new stores open, keeping consumers engaged and up to speed on the latest retail developments within the mall. Fourways Mall opened its doors over 30 years ago and has become a landmark shopping destination in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, and specifically the greater Fourways area. The last three decades have also seen the Fourways area expand dramatically, with a number of businesses making their home in the suburb, along with numerous housing complexes such as Steyn City, additional shopping facilities, and nearby entertainment destination such as the Fourways Farmers Market which draws thousands of visitors on a weekly basis. Once completed, the 178,000m2, Mall will be the ultimate shoppertainment family destination, with several exciting venues already opened as construction on the broader centre approaches completion. Stores in Fourways Mall cater to just about every need, from luxury homeware to arts and crafts, electronics, fashion, jewellery, banking, health and wellness, along with everyday essentials. There’s also an extensive entertainment offering, with a brand new Ster-Kinekor movie complex and kids’ cinema, as well as a wide variety of restaurants and fast food outlets, along with play areas for children. The first phase of the campaign was concluded at the end of December 2018, with the second and third phases due to follow in 2019.
Outdoor Network unveils SA’s largest digital billboard in KZN
Outdoor Network has taken the latest step in growing its already-sizeable network, by unveiling a large format double-sided digital billboard site on the M3 highway in close proximity to the Durban CBD. The site is significant in size and commands an imposing presence, measuring 4.5m x 18m (81m2 on each side), and is located adjacent to the M3, facing all east-bound traffic from the N3, N2 and Pietermaritzburg into the CBD, and the south and west-bound traffic exiting the city. “It is the single largest digital out of home billboard in South Africa and demonstrates Outdoor Network’s commitment to investing in state-of-the-art out-of-home advertising in strategically-positioned locations,” says Warren Dugmore, Outdoor Network’s Head of Sales, Billboards. Each side of the billboard is expected to reach an audience of well over 500 000 consumers. With an average frequency rate of 6.5, the site is expected to deliver 3.3 million impacts every month (ROAD2015/2016/2017C), offering significant exposure and value for any brand taking up the space. Whilst there’s no doubting that the size of the digital LED structure will turn a lot of heads and garner most of the attention, it shouldn’t be forgotten that its strategic location alongside the key highway heading into the Durban CBD is another key factor in its desirability. Durban is the third most populous city in South Africa and forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, which includes neighbouring towns and has a population of about 3.44 million, making the combined municipality one of the biggest cities on the Indian Ocean coast. It is also one of South Africa’s major tourism centres because of the city’s warm sub-tropical climate and extensive beaches, and Durban has also positioned itself as an important business events destination, largely due to the success of the Durban ICC. Digital out of home is the second fastest-growing advertising medium globally after social media, and an international study of 3,500 consumers in the UK found that by a clear majority, digital out of home advertising was: considered modern (79%); innovative (69%); appealing (67%); entertaining (63%); and stood out from other forms of outdoor advertising (70%). Further to that, according to Media Caddy’s ‘The Metrics of Digital Out of Home Advertising’, “digital place-based out of home advertising has some of the highest recall in the industry, at around 47% after a month’s time. Better recall means more customer recognition and more brand engagement, even a month after the ad was shown!” No surprise then that digital forms an integral part of Outdoor Network’s growth strategy, an area it is heavily invested in. Outdoor Network is maximising the advantages of this cutting-edge technology and using it to reach key consumer segments, while positively influencing recall and engagement with an effective digital out-of-home solution.
Heineken invites football fans to share the drama in a South African Out-of-Home first
What do you do when one of the world’s biggest beers and one of the largest sports events on the planet ask you to ‘share the drama’? You engage…particularly when they’ve used cutting-edge billboard technology and a visually-captivating creative execution to grab your attention. That was the case when UEFA Champions League sponsor Heineken collaborated with Outdoor Network to roll out a national campaign across Outdoor Network’s digital network, inviting football fans to watch some of the world’s biggest teams go head to head on television. This provided the perfect platform for Heineken and the globally-watched UEFA Champions League to build anticipation and drama, leading up to the final in Kiev, Ukraine on the 26th of May. Outdoor Network was able to tap into strategically-located digital out-of-home sites in key locations across its national network, while at the same time offer up ground-breaking digital LED rotating billboard technology that provided real-time dynamic content change, which was a first in South Africa. “Major international sporting events provide brands with an opportunity to not only extend their marketing reach, but also push the limits when it comes to campaign creative and execution. Digital out-of-home offers a solution designed specifically for impactful creative, which assists in positively influencing and elevating brand image. Our national digital platform delivered on this and on Heineken’s objective of heightening excitement about the upcoming games,” notes Howard Lonstein, Marketing Manager at Outdoor Network. The Heineken creative invited consumers to ‘share the drama’, with additional anticipation being created by the insertion of a ‘live’ clock, counting down to the kick-off time of the tournament matches. Delivering real-time, updated brand and event messaging, the campaign enjoyed a reach of over 995,000 consumers nationally, with over nine million impacts and an average frequency of nine. Lonstein adds: “This ability to update in real time while rotating according to traffic flow allows Outdoor Network to offer brands a unique and compelling offering across its national digital network, ensuring extensive coverage. This was the very first of its kind in South Africa, and we’re very excited that we were able to partner with Heineken and their agency Red Star on this campaign, to deliver great value.” The specific sites for the Heineken campaign were located on Umgeni Road and Sandile Thusi Road in Durban, along with key sites in Centurion and Menlyn (Tshwane), and Nelspruit (Mpumalanga).
Halls SA ‘Owns The Moment’ with Street Network
Halls, the maker of the internationally-renowned menthol throat sweets, took to the streets of Johannesburg to drive awareness of its “Own the Moment” campaign, promoting the online competition and social engagement, and encouraging Google search. The mechanism by which Halls achieved this was a partnership with Street Network, which saw the roll-out of an innovative creative execution across eight bus shelters in Johannesburg, targeting daily commuters and with a specific focus on millennials ‘on the go’. The partnership with Street Network allowed Halls to stretch its creative muscles and select strategically-located shelters that talked to the target market and provided the perfect canvas on which to communicate a compelling message. The “Own the Moment” campaign encouraged people from across the country to share their ‘happy moments’ via the Halls website for the chance to win R250 000, and these moments were brought to life across the city with the help of creative studio Mrs & Mr Luke, who were engaged by Saatchi&Saatchi Cape Town on behalf of Halls SA. “We wanted to take the digital realm and bring it into the physical space, and the out-of-home medium was perfect for this,” said Tyrone Beck, Creative Director at Saatchi&Saatchi Cape Town. “Also, what we found that, as a result of the hype around the OOH pieces, the campaign developed its own ecosystem. Our target audience was driven to our social channels and then onto the microsite either by seeing them physically or via the artists’ posts on their social pages.” Halls wanted to work with local artists to create a series of public works of art in Johannesburg, as part of the broader campaign to “Own the Moment”. Mrs & Mr Luke were given a ‘moment’ as the inspiration behind each bus shelter, which they then needed to interpret in their own styles. These moments took on themes such as: “Waking up at 5 to fulfil my dreams”; “Forgot my bus ticket”; Moved to the City of Gold”; and “Making time to make things happen”. Mrs & Mr Luke were given free reign to re-imagine each bus shelter, with the purpose of creating an all-encompassing experience, inside and outside. This involved wrapping the bus shelters in bright, solid colours, which immediately created interest from regular commuters and passers-by. One shelter was even designed by artist Isabeau Joubert using a ‘yarn-bomb’, which is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre, rather than paint or chalk. This street furniture campaign was effective in reaching over 750,000 people and delivering 5 million impacts with an average frequency of 6. (ROAD2015/16/17C) “This platform allowed for creative expression in a way that no other medium would have been able to,” said Jonathan Everest, Head of Sales for Street Network. “Commuter shelters also allow for flexibility in terms of the size of a campaign, from directional branding on a single commuter shelter through to creating an outdoor art installation on a limited number of sites. Location also plays a vital role, and as such the opportunities for street furniture are endless, limited only by the imagination and ability of the creative to deliver an effective message.” In partnering with Street Network, Halls SA and Saatchi&Saatchi displayed how an effective and well thought out street furniture campaign can elevate a brand and captivate commuters in targeted high-traffic locations, utilizing a unique creative execution and enhancing and complementing activities on social media and mobile. Click HERE to view ‘the making of’ the Own The Moment Bus Shelter campaign – https://youtu.be/bHst9TqxHhc
Vodacom partners with Street Network for fibre offering
Vodacom recently partnered with Street Network to drive awareness in Cape Town of the mobile service provider’s fibre offering. To this end, Vodacom has embarked on an awareness campaign that sees it rolling out a thought-provoking execution across a number of strategically-located bus shelters along popular routes in the Mother City, targeting commuting Capetonians as they make their way to and from work, shopping and leisure activities. As prices of fibre and data come down, the demand and competition for consumer spend is ever increasing, and the Vodacom Fibre offering is compelling, with high-speed broadband coverage in all the major provinces, including Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the Eastern Cape, and the Free State. The mobile service provider continues to roll out fibre in these areas and is also focusing on outlying regions such as Nelspruit, Witbank, and Polokwane, as it moves to becoming a bigger player in the fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) market. The South African data landscape is undergoing significant change. The Department of Telecommunications & Postal Services presented its ‘SA Connect’ progress report to Parliament earlier this year, and in it highlighted how much progress had been made in fibre and cellular coverage roll-out across the country. Based on data provided by the FTTX Council, the report found that the number of houses passed by fibre had grown from 439,000 in 2017 to 933,000 by March 2018 – equivalent to 112% year-on-year growth. Additionally, the number of houses connected to fibre grew from 89,000 in 2016/17 to 280,000 in 2017/18. Globally, the figures are even more impressive. According to Future Market Insights’ research publication titled ‘Fibre to the Home Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017-2027)’, the global FTTH market is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.4%. From a value of $9.5bn in 2017, the global fibre to the home market is estimated to reach a valuation of more than $37bn by the end of 2027. The creative for the campaign is simple and follows a best-in-class application of out of home and bus shelter creative, using the Vodacom brand CI and a simple message in the form of a thought-provoking question: “Wouldn’t it be better to be home streaming your favourite shows?” Site selection for the campaign was focused on strategically-located bus shelters along busy commuter routes, with a total reach of over 900 000 consumers monthly, resulting in impacts of 9.1m thanks to an average frequency of 10. (ROAD2015/2016/2017C) “Bus shelters are positioned to catch the attention of consumers on their daily commute, within targeted areas identified by the brand. Bus shelter advertising is a high frequency media platform which drives both consumer recall and engagement. Our bus shelter solution amplified and extended the reach of the campaign with high levels of recall, particularly for residents considering the switch to fibre,” says Jonathan Everest, Head of Sales at Street Network.” Street Network provides an ideal advertising medium from an audience and geographic coverage perspective, in addition to enhancing the value of a campaign and speaking directly to a targeted audience. To find out how Street Network can help your brand deliver effective out-of-home campaigns nationally, contact info@on.co.za
Outdoor Network launches rotating Digital LED outside Cresta Mall
Outdoor Network has unveiled its latest state-of-the-art rotating digital billboard site, adjacent to one of Johannesburg’s busiest malls – Cresta Shopping Centre – as it continues to grow its national network in key commuter nodes. The site is on the corner of Beyers Naudé Drive and Republic Road in the suburb of Blackheath, opposite Cresta Shopping Centre, which is the focal point for entertainment and retail in the broader Randburg area. Randburg is a highly desirable location for retail, motoring and services brands among others, as it provides an ideal mix of residential, business and shopping environments. Cresta Shopping Centre has over 260 stores and is a hub of fashion, food, décor, tech and services, ensuring consistent footfall and traffic of over a million people a month into and out of the mall. Beyers Naudé Drive is a large arterial route starting at the University of Johannesburg in Auckland Park and transports commuters from a number of feeder suburbs, before traversing the N1 Western Bypass at Randpark Ridge. It eventually terminates at the N14 freeway near Muldersdrift, meaning it’s a popular route connecting the Johannesburg CBD and its surrounds with the West Rand. “The launch of another of our innovative rotating billboards will offer brands a world-class advertising opportunity on one of Johannesburg’s busiest thoroughfares,” says Warren Dugmore, Outdoor Network’s Head of Sales, Billboards. “Our continued investment in high impact sites is with a view to providing advertisers with targeted audiences and a greater return on investment for their marketing spend.” The strategically placed 3x6m rotating LED billboard is expected to reach an audience of over 390 000 consumers. With a average frequency rate of 8, the site will deliver more than 2.98 million impacts every month (ROAD2015/2016/2017C), offering significant exposure for any brand taking up the space. According to Nielsen’s 2017 Digital Billboard Study, one of its top five findings found that: “Of travellers surveyed, 75% noticed a digital billboard in the past month, whilst of these respondents, 60% noticed a digital billboard in the past week. Over half of the travellers (55%) who noticed a digital billboard in the past month noticed specific messages on the billboard either every time or most of the time they passed one.” Watch this space for more from Outdoor Network as they continue rolling out innovative rotating digital billboard sites nationally. To find out how Outdoor Network’s roadside LED can help your brand deliver flexible, immediate and effective out-of-home campaigns nationally, contact info@on.co.za.
