Sumaya Salejee recently joined the Outdoor Network Johannesburg office in the position of Business Process Manager within the billboard division. Sumaya’s experience and knowledge have been secured with the intention of strategically streamlining business processes and attend to any gaps that may be identified in the day-to-day workflow of the operation. Salejee’s appointment is yet a further step toward ensuring consistent quality and effectiveness of Outdoor Network’s service offering to its clients. This focused staffing approach coupled to its strategic future plans are integral in providing added momentum to delivering on the company’s primary objective of becoming the brand of choice in the Out-of-Home Media industry. Hoping to pave a brighter future for herself, Salejee relocated to Johannesburg in 2008 from Durban where she grew up. Her passion for the Out-of-Home Media industry was born soon after her arrival in Johannesburg when she joined Global Outdoor Systems, going on to become Group Sales and Marketing Coordinator. She honed her experience and abilities in the industry over a period of nine years, and she now brings her extensive knowledge and abilities to the Outdoor Network team. Currently studying towards a BBA in Marketing Management, Salejee has a ‘good eye for design’ and feels strongly about bringing attention to detail to all aspects of her personal life and career. Her ability to plan effectively, organize teams and workflows, lead, monitor and control are attributes that will positively affect all processes within the organization. Says Salejee: “Although my biggest achievements are still ahead of me, I am extremely proud and excited about my role within Outdoor Network. I look forward to continually developing my knowledge base, management skills and producing valuable and effective results for the company. With the application of innovative and industry leading workflow processes, I intend playing my part in ensuring Outdoor Network exceeds industry expectations on service delivery.” Salejee is a keen traveler with a taste for exotic foods, foreign languages, networking and socialising. She believes in working wisely and improving an organisation’s performance through delivering and implementing innovation and synergies across service offerings. According to Salejee, her driving force and life mantra is best described by the following Winston Churchill quote – “A positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.”
BIC Goes Back-To-School with Bus Shelters
As part of its back-to-school campaign for 2017, BIC recently highlighted its position as South Africa’s leading stationery brand by advertising on Outdoor Network bus shelters across greater Johannesburg. Bus Shelters provided the ideal environment for the brand to reach its target audience – purchase decision makers who make use of public transport. Since school going youngsters make up a sizeable proportion of these commuters, the Bus Shelters also drove brand awareness and affinity through impactful creative which spoke directly to them. Positioned in key suburban areas, close to schools, shopping and transit environments around the city, the brand took advantage of the geographic flexibility of bus shelter advertising to strategically target the desired consumer groups. The strong yellow brand identity and copy, coupled with visuals of school learners was key in ensuring effective visibility and message assimilation. The copy, which called out the brand proposition rather than ‘back-to-school’ further ensured that motorists, even those without school going children, would engage with the creative whether on their daily school run, commute to work or trip to shopping centres in the areas that the campaign targeted. “The benefits afforded by bus shelters are numerous, but in terms of strategic and geographic positioning alone, the bus shelters delivered on BIC’s requirement to talk to their target market within the correct environment, in a way that was timeous and completely relevant,” says Howard Lonstein, Marketing Manager for Outdoor Network. Since commuters and motorists for the most part take the same route to and from school, work and their favourite shopping centre, BIC furthermore ensured assimilation amongst their audience with high frequency. “Bic has been part of South African shopping baskets for decades, similarly bus shelters have been a part of the country’s city landscape for decades. The size and footprint of our Bus Shelters have ensured that this legacy brand continues to be part of the consumer’s day to day life and daily environment,” concludes Lonstein. Bus Shelters deliver impact and prominence with high frequency and are geographically flexible. To find out more about how Outdoor Network can enhance your brand, email streetnetworksales@on.co.za or call (011)234-7861. For more on Outdoor Network follow on Twitter @outdoornetsa, Facebook @outdoornetworksa and Outdoor Network on LinkedIn.
Outdoor Network implements widespread campaign for the BMW SA Open
One of the most prestigious events on the South African sporting calendar, the BMW SA Open Championship, selected Outdoor Network as its sole Out-of-Home media partner for the recently held 2017 event. The benefit derived from the partnership afforded the brand the ability to deliver targeted reach to key audience segments in environments which were not necessarily possible with other forms of media. This across high LSM neighbourhoods and within key golfing hotspots. Creating broad based brand awareness is essential to campaign success in today’s fragmented media and advertising landscape. With a view to delivering maximum exposure, the campaign ran on Outdoor Network’s strategically positioned billboards and bus shelters. The combination of the two media platforms provided the ideal reach, frequency and recall required to raise awareness and drive engagement within the selected geographic location. The coverage and flexibility of Bus Shelters enables brands to create strategic presence in areas where other media potentially do not have access to with the added benefit of being very cost effective. Billboards provide a high impact and high coverage platform, reaching 80% of urban South Africans daily. In turn, they too ensure coverage and reach in varying locations to key consumer demographics “Outdoor Network’s coverage for the 2017 edition of the Championship was paramount in delivering on the campaign requirement of effective brand messaging. This further highlights the ability of Out-of-Home to reach specific audiences such as the upper income niche golfing segment through effective targeting. Both geographically and demographically,” says Howard Lonstein, Marketing Manager for Outdoor Network. Billboards and Bus Shelters deliver impact and prominence with high frequency and are geographically flexible. To find out more about how Outdoor Network can enhance your brand, email billboardsales@on.co.za / streetnetworksales@on.co.za or call (011)234-7861. For more on Outdoor Network go to www.on.co.za or follow on Twitter @outdoornetsa, Facebook @outdoornetworksa and Outdoor Network on LinkedIn.
Q&A with Dumisani Malembe
Dumisani Malembe is Development Director for Outdoor Network and board member of OHMSA. Member of the Black Management Forum. He gives us insight into how, in just 20 years, he went from factory cleaner to director of one of the largest South African Out of Home media companies. In 2008 you became a director and shareholder in Outdoor Network. How did this come about? In early 2008 my partner and I sold our business Imbokodo Outdoor to Outdoor Network Limited Group. Luckily it was just few weeks before the global economic meltdown. I joined the group as national development manager for a period of two years and was soon invited by the board to become a director and shareholder. I am responsible for development management and oversee the Gauteng operations. What was the turning point in your career? The turning point in my career was in 1996 when I was offered the opportunity to head up the Durban branch of Moving Media Outdoor – my introduction into the Out of Home media environment. This offer catapulted me out of junior positions within sales, despatch etc, into what effectively was a senior management position. After being in the industry for twenty years, I look back on that significant opportunity with fond memories Who do you consider your mentors? I was in the privileged position of being taken under the wings of industry giants like Brian Puttergill when he was Chairman of Rent-A-Sign; and Jeremy Townsend when he was Unilever client service for MediaCom. When I moved up to Johannesburg I appreciated the insight of the late Dave Granville Roberts, who later became my partner in Imbokodo Outdoor. Ken Fraser who was development director of Clear Channel Outdoor, Barry Sayer current Chairman of JC Decaux and Bazil Lauryssen, ex-Chief Executive Officer of the same JC Decaux taught me a great deal. To what do you attribute your professional success? I was born brave and courageous and always had high ambitions for myself. I was never scared to try something and put myself forward and use initiative. Soon after matriculating I faced the reality of becoming a young father and realised I needed to earn in order to provide for my child. I saw the value of educating myself further. As a young man I was once given sage advice when I applied for a job I didn’t have the skills for. “We employ people based on their ability to meet the criteria of the job, not on their own need or situation.” What studies supported your career development? I started my career at Nampak Polyfoil in 1986 by cleaning the paving around a factory and washing cars. It took me five years to get into a position where I could afford to support my family and study part time. In the early years my studies encompassed Marketing Management and Service Leadership and Performance. By 2010 I had studied Business Relationship Management, Corporate Governance and Financial Management. A couple of years after that I tackled Senior Management Development. In the last couple of years I have rounded it all off with Human Resource Management and Law Studies. You were recently appointed to the Board of OHMSA, affiliated to international FEPE. What is the key activity of this industry body? Our focus is on educating SMMEs on what OHMSA is about and inviting them to attend meetings. Increased participation moves it to another level. The second key objective is to develop relationships with government. It’s imperative that local authorities know of our existence and that we can be consulted with to give input into their public participation process; especially when they change by-laws. We operate and understand that space and want to create harmonious relationships by offering solutions. The growth of Digital Out of Home has emerged as a key trend. What are the opportunities and challenges for the industry at large? Every industry must evolve and does well to follow international standards of upgrading its infrastructure, no matter how costly. Even though digitisation is expected to decrease the number of static sites in the long term, each site will offer good returns and bodes well for the industry’s growth. The long-term plan is to install sustainable green technology. Already new technology has moved us from using three-phase power to less energy intensive single phase (20 Volt) power. The Department of Environmental Affairs came to Outdoor Network in 2011 with a proposal to solar retrofitting, going green on six billboards in different geographic regions including Johannesburg, Pretoria,Polokwane and Bloemfontein. The project was a success for a very short period and within three months all equipments installed was vandalised and stolen from these sites Outdoor Network is in the process of rolling out 10 digital screens by April 2017. We are upgrading existing electronic billboards in Durban CBD and will go live on the last quarter of 2016. In terms of challenges, some municipalities are still reluctant to grant permissions for digital billboards, mainly because they’re concerned about how moving digital content distracts motorists. Municipalities who develop by-laws are revisiting this issue. Traffic Impact Assessment studies, conducted by independent traffic engineering consultancies are costly, but necessary. Safety is key. Does the industry have to contend with vandalism? Interestingly digitised sites don’t attract vandalism. Even those based near townships. But solar panels sites do; especially the batteries for those panels. They are generally stolen within three months. Tags linked to a security company are now being used to track batteries and solar panels, but we are still struggling. It is a challenge we face, particularly in remote areas where we can’t access Eskom power. How has the arrival of audience research from Out of Home Measurement Council (OMC) changed sales processes since you first started 20 years ago? It is adding excitement to the industry. OMC offers us ground-breaking methodology by integrating big data and new technologies to ensure reliable and empirical outputs. Billboards are being recognised for the impact we always knew they delivered,
Lenovo partners exclusively with Outdoor Network
Lenovo recently re-introduced one of the world’s best known brands to South Africa with its ‘hellomoto’ campaign. Key to the brand re-launch was the inclusion of billboards, which saw Lenovo partnering with Outdoor Network as its exclusive Out of Home media provider on a national basis. High profile iconic locations were selected in key metropolitan cities for their ability to effectively drive brand awareness and messaging reach. Campaign creative was designed specifically for each city, ensuring targeted delivery and emotional response from consumers. Aimed at upper income earners, the billboards were perfectly positioned within key areas to reach the desired target market. By their very nature, billboards elevate branding and status, and with their ability to target specific geographic locations, provided the ideal platform for the brand.
Bus Shelters – A canvas for advertising genius
Howard Lonstein, Marketing Manager for Outdoor Network unpacks the advertising impact of bus shelters and why they have historically been underutilised and undervalued in South Africa. Globally, street furniture is a highly sought after media. It is used by a host of top end brands for a range of campaign types, using innovative technology such as augmented reality, social integration and Near Field Communication (NFC) to deliver campaign messaging. Campaigns range from key creative and digitally enhanced bus shelter activations as executed for Coca-Cola in Singapore, to strategic static and geographically specific campaigns designed to raise awareness around events such as football matches. Internationally, street furniture accounts for a substantial portion of Out of Home spend in developed and mature media markets. This clearly positions the various advertising options available within the platform as highly sought after demand inventory. This however is not the case when evaluating the South African local landscape. The reasons for this are varied and include lack of detailed research data, which is now starting to become available, including defined audience information such as reach, frequency, and Gross Rating Points. Understanding the exposure they offer, and the reach they provide seems to be an area of confusion, exacerbating the situation. This results in media planners and strategists often overlooking the inclusion of street furniture into overall media, including digital and social media campaigns, which have proven to be a great extension to achieve desired reach and frequency. Allow me to unravel the uncertainties around commuter shelters. Firstly they look good, they fit into the city landscape and serve a purpose – to both commuters and advertisers. Local metropolitan councils have recently upgraded bus shelters and have added more shelters to the city grids. Also in terms of visibility, approximately 813 million passenger trips are made on buses annually, and this number is set to grow further with the addition of new BRT systems. From the point of view of geographical location, bus shelters are very strategically placed on main arterial routes and are thus also visible to motorists and pedestrians. Commuter shelters also allow for flexibility in terms of the size of a campaign; from directional branding on a single commuter shelter advertising a school or a restaurant, to branding that covers every bus shelter in an entire city from north to south and east to west. So what makes commuter shelters as an out of home advertising platform truly unique? The coverage and scalability of street furniture enables brands to create strategic presence in areas where other media potentially do not have access to. They’re also really good value for money. Small brands and multi-national brands that have harnessed the power of street furniture have experienced excellent return on investment. With this in mind, street furniture has been adopted and well received in certain regions, such as Cape Town and Tshwane. In these areas, large brands such as Standard Bank and H&M (to mention a few), have featured broad campaigns. Street Furniture also allows for high creativity. Take for example the recent Med Lemon ‘Sneezing Shelter’ and BMW Motorrad ‘Blink and you’ll miss it’ campaigns. In both cases, the brands received additional reach through extended and viral digital campaigns spurred by the bus shelter creative. In the Out of Home environment, location plays a vital role, as such the opportunities for street furniture are endless; limited only by the imagination and the ability of the creative to deliver an effective message. At Outdoor Network we have seen and produced bus shelter campaigns with illumination, extensions, sound effects and more, all designed with the specific intention of creating impact and extending reach beyond simple roadside visibility. Well-located and sophisticated shelter design provides agencies and brands with ideal advertising opportunities and creative execution possibilities. While South Africa may not necessarily match other developed economies’ use of street furniture, its use locally ticks more than just one single box. Street Furniture, bus shelters in particular, are a valuable asset within the marketing mix. They provide a great platform for clever creative execution, they offer frequency, reach and geographical targeting. And in terms of getting a brand message to the target audience, the medium really hits home.
SA’s traffic congestion adds value to billboard marketing
Traffic congestion in South Africa’s major cities is on the rise. So what does this have to do with billboards? Howard Lonstein, Marketing Manager for Outdoor Network, looks at an ongoing traffic index and other related research to show how the compelling spectacle of supersized, extended and illuminated billboards wins the lion’s share of South African commuters’ attention. Dwell times on our congested roads are escalating and the commuter’s use of public transport is increasing. These increases are providing added value and opportunities for brands. Congested roads result in longer commutes. This in turn increases the opportunities commuters are exposed to in terms of Out of Home advertising. Specifically, well-positioned, highly visible large format billboards. TomTom’s annual Traffic Index, which measures the impact of traffic congestion in over 200 cities around the world, states that commuters spend up to 11 days per year in traffic – with South Africa included in the index. According to the study, Cape Town is the most congested city in South Africa, followed by Johannesburg, with East London in third place. New Out of Home advertising ‘spaces’ and ‘opportunities to see’ are created on an ongoing basis; however this process is accelerated during periods of rapid urbanization and implementation of infrastructural improvement. The nett effect of this is a further increase in traffic congestion. With motorists and commuters spending additional time commuting to and from work daily, opportunities for reach, impact and frequency of brand exposure abound. In a developing economy such as ours, it is not surprising that the rise in traffic congestion has been exponential. Even though we have one of the most advanced road infrastructures in the developing world, congestion continues unabated. The more we extrapolate data and delve into the numbers, the clearer it becomes. Congestion has been increasing year on year, and will continue to do so for the immediate future. A further constant is that congestion peaks during the morning and evening commute. Tom Tom data shows that travel time during peak periods is close onto 60% higher for Johannesburg when compared to a free traffic flow situation. Figures for other cities are similar in nature. Increased congestion leads to more time spent on the road, and thus greater opportunities for brands to communicate with their target market in this environment. Figure 1: These graphs show the increase in morning and evening peak travel times in Johannesburg, when compared to a free flow situation. Stats provided by TomTom’s 2016 data Local and national government-led infrastructure improvements further impact on congestion levels in the country. One need only to look at the effect of the M1 Rehabilitation project in Johannesburg. Due to the project, the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) estimates that travel times have increased by up to 40%. Rapid urbanisation often acts as a catalyst for change, across all spheres of society. One of the results of this move to the cities in the South African context has been the increased percentages of households that make use of public transport. More and more commuters are opting for public transport, from the Gautrain to mini bus taxi’s. Not to mention the eagerly awaited BRT transport system. The general increase in the percentage of households who use taxis is up from 59% to 68,8%, and those who use buses from 16,6% to 20,1% and those who use trains from 5,7% to 9,9%. With the planned introduction of additional BRT systems and the compound impact of an additional 40,000 new cars added to our roads monthly, congestion remains an ever increasing reality. The question is: how can brands and advertisers positively influence consumers perception, attitude and awareness through the medium of outdoor media canvases against the backdrop of ever increasing congestion? With brilliant creative, marketers can transform the consumer’s frustration with traffic congestion into inspiration and capitalise on it. Simply put, by combining brilliant creative and opportunities afforded by strategically placed billboards, marketers have the ability to transform traffic frustration into inspiration. Billboards are a highly effective medium through which to deliver brand messaging in a captive environment, and our congested roads provide just that. As a result, large format advertising platforms such as billboards should always be a leading/ integral inclusion in any strategic and integrated marketing campaign. *The TomTom Traffic Index is based on 2015 data. ** National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) of Aug 2005
Provantage Media Group and Outdoor Network announce merger
Provantage Media Group (PMG) and Outdoor Network (ON) are pleased to announce the merger of their respective Out Of Home media operations. The merger, which has been approved by the Competition Commission, sees Provantage Media Group taking up the major shareholding in Outdoor Network. The balance of the shares in the company will be held by Sanlam Private Equity. Provantage Media Group has positioned itself as key player in the South African media and marketing industry and offers services across a diverse portfolio of Out of Home media categories. Outdoor Network offers national coverage across a range of portfolios and the merging of the operations allows the two entities to leverage off each other’s strengths. The combination of PMG’s holdings, specifically within the activation, airport and transit space, and the ON billboard and street furniture offering will deliver a diversified range of services and media opportunities and better service offering to the media and marketing industry. “Global and local trends reflect steady growth within the Out of Home sector. The merger will substantially improve the positioning of the two entities through the extended media portfolio. It will drive growth and focus, reduce operating expenses, provide increased resources and ultimately lead to greater investment in innovative media solutions within the industry,” comments Jacques du Preez, CEO Provantage Media Group. PMG will play an active role in the day to day management of Outdoor Network, ensuring that any required changes are seamless, whilst maintaining exceptional service levels at all times. All billboards and street furniture products held by Provantage Media Group will be incorporated into the Outdoor Network portfolio. The Outdoor Network brand will continue, and the business will be contactable at its current operating locations. Clients are assured of a continuing high quality of service. “This is a great step in the right direction for Outdoor Network. It will allow the business to grow and compete effectively with the two leading companies within our industry. I believe the business, under the leadership of Jacques du Preez and his team, will grow from strength to strength. I wish Jacques, his team and the Outdoor Network staff all the best for the future,” says Billy Basson, outgoing CEO of Outdoor Network. Billy has elected to exit the business following the conclusion of the transition and hand over period to pursue and further his own career. “We live in exciting times! The media landscape is constantly evolving and we endeavour to be a catalyst in this evolution and contribute to the consolidation of the OOH media industry. The merger will propel PMG and ON forward, it will provide extended growth and will deliver greater diversity and reach to our clients. We are excited at the prospect of broadening our portfolio to now include the sizable Outdoor Network billboard and street furniture holding and will be looking at significantly improving our research, innovation and stakeholder relationships within these portfolios ” concludes du Preez
Veronica Katay joins Outdoor Network as Key Accounts Manager
Key Accounts Manager Veronica Katay has recently joined Outdoor Network’s Johannesburg office to service the company’s agency portfolio. Her experience and expertise have been secured to develop even greater levels of service excellence in the out of home media specialist’s account management team. Katay’s impressive reputation within South Africa’s media and marketing industry has developed over 20 years, through her noticeable success in the management and direction of leading and high-revenue out of home media accounts. Her expertise is demonstrated by her long term management of one of the most sought after global FMCG out of home media accounts. In this period the brand gained appreciation for the return on investment offered to it by out of home media. With a clear and focussed approach, coupled with strategic direction, Outdoor Network’s primary objective is to become the brand of choice in the out of home industry. Outdoor Network’s geographic footprint and choice of media solutions is vast, providing advertisers with out of home media opportunities that are exclusive, suitably located and highly visible. Under Katay’s leadership, Outdoor Networks’ account management team attends to the intricacies of managing all client campaigns. Katay is a firm believer in using information systems and data as means of demonstrating the impact, reach and penetration that out of home provides. She brings with her an impressive network of leading local and global brands, as well as local and global marketing and media agency teams who service them. Says Katay: “I find this sector incredibly dynamic. Nothing satisfies me more than seeing client’s expectations exceeded with regards to the way their account is on-boarded and managed on a day to day basis. I look forward to working with a team that has extensive collective experience in the industry. One that is able to offer invaluable strategic direction coupled with exceptional service to clients.”
Q&A with Jonathan Everest: Head of Sales, JHB – Street Furniture
What will your first order of business be? To bring attention, focus and creativity to agencies and corporate marketers who are curious about how clusters of out of home media can be packaged in a way that makes sense for them; particularly street furniture. Media buyers rely on innovative strategy and packaging, based on the thought leadership you command when you constantly review credible research and have it at your fingertips. I will be leveraging all the resources available in our long-standing company to make this easily available and accessible. What is your core strategy as Head of Sales? A strategic mindset. I’m working with my team to help our clients shift paradigms and think of street furniture like real estate. By working in multiples, the return on investment becomes immense. Take for example the high impact that a specific message placed on one commuter shelter delivers when positioned in front of one school. Then imagine a national campaign that is spread across various touch points and seen over and over again by a consumer group travelling multiple times a day past shopping centres and through dense commuter nodes, on their way to and from places of work and play. By nature, and location, street furniture delivers a high consumer frequency reach, coupled with excellent media density at extremely cost-effective rates. The biggest trend to note in your industry? Alongside the digitisation of billboards, the trend in street furniture is to make the format a creative enabler of social media campaigns. Consumers can engage with the surprising and creative elements of a campaign execution, positioned at eye level, in the here and now, and immediately share images of it with their own digital social communities. One only needs to look at the use of commuter shelters internationally to understand the exciting creative executions that are possible. We’re starting to catch up here in South Africa and Outdoor Network will soon be showcasing some of our own. What is your main business challenge? The current economic climate is calling for ingenuity in the way we conduct business. There are a lot of great media deals available right now due to widespread cost cutting. We are educating the industry on the value of working with a media company like ours which has national reach, a wide range of inventory and a team with skills sets gained through 360 experience in the marketing industry at large. Key staff recruitment and retention becomes more and more important. Most important attribute needed to do your job? It’s vital to have insight and knowledge of our country’s media landscape, and the trends affecting it. Then you need the kind of perseverance that ultimately wins confidence. In tough economic times you especially need a creative and innovative mind-set that distinguishes you in the market place. Personally, I have always made it a priority to have regular and personal interaction with clients so that I am in tune with their needs. What inspires you? The potential of our unbelievably beautiful country and the people that live in it. It’s exciting to see both home-grown and multi-national brands perform well on our media, and to support and grow the talent I work with on a daily basis in this exciting industry. What’s at the top of your bucket list? Professionally: Seeing all of South Africa’s great brands advertising on ON Street Furniture. Personally: The long road to Cairo on my motorbike with the Rooikat beckons…
