Photo courtesy Subaru Canada
By Andy McRae
It is a time of tremendous growth in the digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising sector. The scope of digital signage network placements keeps expanding to new horizons. Marketers and agencies have realized dynamic place-based advertising is now well-established, achieving solid results and offering significant new opportunities.
The figures speak for themselves. According to the Digital Place-based Advertising Association (DPAA), the first half of 2012 saw digital advertising experience 11.8 per cent growth, compared to only 1.9 per cent growth for measured media overall in the same period of the previous year.
Unsurprisingly, it is not just out-of-home (OOH) advertising firms that want a piece of the pie. The types of networks that are accommodating the inclusion of advertising are becoming broader and broader, whether screens are mounted in doctors’ offices, car dealerships, health clubs or bars. Owners of established digital signage networks are seeking to bring an advertising component into their content mix.
The key to success, however, is to find a way to transition away from a typical content-based network to an advertising revenue-based business model. A simple ‘if you build it, they will come’ approach will not work. There are many factors that must be considered first to avoid making mistakes.
Network
Before it will be possible to sell ads on screens, it is essential to create a comprehensive profile of the network’s inventory, including the types of screen-installation locations, whether or not they are audio-equipped, how long people spend there, what they are doing and, especially, the purpose of the network.
At Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, ad revenue is generated through a variety of digital signage installations, from video walls to interactive wayfinding kiosks. Photos courtesy Clear Channel Outdoor
Audience
Beyond the screens themselves, it has become important to know who sees them. In the past, it was sufficient to measure and report circulation in terms of sheer numbers of eyeballs. Today, advertisers need to know who sees their content, not just how many people overall. This necessitates a profile of a network’s audience demographics.
Clients
A digital signage network owner also needs to know who to sell space to, so it is imperative to identify which advertising clients would be interested in reaching the network’s audience and willing to pay enough to do so.
To determine whether or not there is a market for the media, it is helpful first to research other, similar networks and even ‘static’ media in the same venue. With this information in hand, one can develop a strategy to go to market. This may involve selling direct, participating in a ‘co-op’ program, working with an aggregator or even turning to an OOH firm to act as a sales agent.
Another key is to make the media as simple as possible to sell. One of the perceived problems with DOOH advertising today—and, to a certain extent, OOH advertising overall—is it is hard to buy. This perception may be erroneous, but it is important to ensure such sales are almost a one-phone-call deal.
Ad management
After showing a digital signage network is ripe for the addition of advertising, the issue of managing the new component comes into play. It is important to choose an advertising management software package that can deliver content appropriately for the given type of business. If there are expectations for day-parting, randomizing or screen-parting multiple types of creative content, the software being deployed must be able to handle those functions.
This raises the question, however, of what exactly constitutes ad management software. Essentially, it is a platform that allows users to schedule ads—dynamic or otherwise—based on various criteria, including those given by the advertiser.
This may sound a lot like a digital signage content management system, which after all can also distribute content to various media players and screens, as well as log information about which content played where and when. An ad management system, however, goes well beyond these functions.
Instead, it can more accurately be thought of as the business management system behind a digital signage network. It allows users to check availability, conditions, restrictions, leases, demographic profile data and detailed metadata.
