Interactive advertising trend emerging in U.K. retail centres

Agency research and successful campaigns speak to the power of digital out-of-home in the shopping mall environment

LONDON – 05 December 2011 – Malls and shopping centres are proving to be successful locations for digital out-of-home (OOH) advertising campaigns according to several factors, including engagement rates, customer experience enhancement and a growing acceptance of digital advertising in the retail environment. As a result, more digital ad networks are cropping up across the U.K. and more big name advertisers are taking notice of the medium.

According to a recent joint study from out-of-home communications agency Posterscope and Metro newspaper, an urbanite audience is more willing to interact with digital OOH screens in shopping malls (49%) than any other environment. http://www.slideshare.net/Posterscope/smartphones-social-screens-study-posterscope-metro

Two established companies operating in this field have recently partnered to exploit their joint expertise with the goal of creating fully serviced and highly immersive interactive campaigns that push current technology boundaries whilst tapping into a highly coveted target demographic. Limited Space, a media owner specializing in OOH media within malls and Monster Media, the global leader in interactive out-of-home advertising have just completed their first collaborative project for a 3D computer-animated family film created by one of the world’s largest movie studios. Limited Space’s Ad HD network of 12 large format screens extends nationally across 12 flagship malls and reaches as many as nine million shoppers during a typical 2 week campaign and crucially it distinguishes itself from the competition by offering full audio alongside its HD video. The combination of right place, right product and right people provides a solid platform for Monster Media to bring their interactive technologies to the Ad HD network delivering fully immersive consumer experiences ranging from touch, gesture or body reactive technology to an audience that is not only savvy but also looking for something more from brands and the shopper experience.

The recent collaborative project was a multi user, multi technology campaign. Limited Space’s Ad HD screens, which measure up to 120 inches in size, are equipped with large vinyl screen surrounds adding to a campaign’s visual magnitude by creating a large ‘media wall’. The Ad HD network was enhanced with interactive content developed by Monster Media that allowed shoppers to select viewable trailers and clips of the movie using a touchscreen panel. The units gesture recognition mechanic immersed shoppers in the ad, allowing multiple users to see themselves dancing alongside a penguin character from the film while interacting with on-screen snowflakes through the body reactive technology. The campaign was a success for the client, Limited Space and Monster Media, reporting hyper-targeted engagement figures totaling over 43,783 interactions for the two week campaign, in addition to higher than average footfall numbers. With the Ad HD network already proven to increase propensity to act on a campaign by as much as 74% and consumers 4-5 times more likely to recall a brand message from an interactive ad, the metrics provided by Monster Media deliver a powerful route to shopper engagement.

“Malls provide the perfect mix of conditions for interactive engagement,” said Matt Gordon, managing director, Limited Space. “As leisure destinations they have high dwell times and are full of shoppers who are already in the ideal mindset to explore some really engaging content. With that combination these campaigns guarantee success. We’re also extremely excited we can provide a platform for advertisers to achieve digital engagement not just in London but on a national level.”

Another report released earlier this year by Kinetic also reiterates the growth of interactive digital media in the retail mall environment. The Future of Out-of-Home study reported that consumers are reacting very positively towards the digital medium, with 57 percent of those surveyed thinking that digital screens brighten up the mall environments and half thinking they make malls more interesting and attractive. Seventy percent also said they think digital posters are beneficial in high-dwell time locations.

“With more than 60 percent of people saying they are willing to interact with digital screens, according to Kinetic, advertisers are seeing a serious opportunity to leverage ‘interactive advertainment’ in the shopping mall environment to create a real and measureable impact for their campaigns” said Liam Boyle, managing director of Monster Media.

Spiceal Street Opens

Matt Gordon and Samantha Sida were pleased to attend the opening of Spiceal Street, the new restaurant quarter at Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham, last week.

The 20,000-sq ft extension has attracted three new restaurant brands and is set around St Martin's Square and the iconic Selfridges building. Opening its UK flagship restaurant at Spiceal Street is Birmingham-based Handmade Burger Cowhich pioneers local fresh food and ingredients. Thai banquet-style ChaoBaby, and Browns Bar and Brasserie are both new to the city. As part of the development existing restaurants Nando's and Pizza Hut have extended their trading space by 54 and 20 per cent respectively.

Glow Opens at Bluewater

Limited space were pleased to attend the opening of Glow, the new events centre at Bluewater, yesterday. This £60 million development is the first purpose-built venue of its kind in Europe. Adding a whole new dimension to Bluewater’s unique day-out experience - with 5,200m² of flexible events space combining two halls, and a 450m² private VIP gallery area –Glow is set to redefine consumer-led experiences in the UK.

The opening event, Clarion’s Spirit of Christmas, was an exceptional collection of the most exquisite and unique gifts not found on the high street. This will be followed by Christmas in New York, open 8th December – 8th January, which is a New York-themed winter world aimed at families, with an indoor ice rink at its heart.

Reaching over half a million shoppers per week, Glow’s prime position within Bluewater provides our new banner locations with a vast and expansive audience. Our portfolio of products at Bluewater are also extended by our Adlift and Ad HD formats.

Digital out-of-home in a world of convergence

Limited Space attended the “OMC Digital out-of-home in a world of convergence” seminar which took place on Wednesday 9th November 2011. The seminar included presentations from Mark Crammer, CEO Isobar; Rob McIntosh, Creative Director at Frog; Chris Cardew, Strategy Director at Mindshare; Kevin Brown, Digital Director at Brothers & Sisters; and Zandra Ives, Head of Advertising at Yell.

Mark Crammer gave an overview of the DOOH landscape and highlighted the fact that DOOH now accounts for a 14% market share. With the advancement in consumer technology led mainly by smart phones, the opportunity for engaging with consumers on the move via digital allows for opportunities that are not available through any other media channel. Crammer also stated that with the opportunities that DOOH now brings, outdoor advertising is now richer, more dynamic and more personal than it has ever been before, using the example of our Ad HD Interactive campaign for Cadburys’s - see the campaign here. 

Discussing the future benefit of digital technology within OOH, Crammer summarised technologies such as NFC as creating a "Fresh Flexible Ecosystem" for advertisers and suggested that with the dawn of new and immerging technologies and opportunities in OOH, the investment moving forward now needs to be on "imagination".

Rob McIntosh discussed that with the use of social networks and the information feedback from smart phones over various applications, the public and private are now converging. Touching on the potential of where these technologies could potentially go, he concluded that we as consumers combined are becoming a giant computer with a wealth of shared knowledge around us, summarising the convergence of us as consumers who are part of the technology and the world in which we use it.

A few key other key points taken from the seminar included the fact there needs to be faith in the technology from the client in which they are investing their budgets; Flexibility is key as there becomes a shift more toward real time planning and networks need to accommodate this as much as possible; Technology placement needs to be relevant to the space; and finally that the convergence within the DOOH arena sits between creativity, the technology, and the brand itself.

Radox Delivers a Spa Experience with Domination Campaign

Radox recently ran a media-first multi-format campaign which ran across our mall network using Adlift and Panoramics, with the activity being further enhanced by a creative and unique use of our Experience sites.

Upon entering the lifts, shoppers were fully immersed into a Radox Spa experience and were surrounded by 360° Radox artwork wrap, with scented vinyls releasing the real product fragrance and sound boxes playing relaxing music. Delivering a whole new level of engagement between advertisers and their audience, the campaign created an environment where all the audiences’ senses were stimulated.

See the campaign here.

Portrait banner offering continues to expand our Panoramic network

We have recently confirmed contracts for our banner format at The Bullring in Birmingham, The MK Centre in Milton Keynes and Festival Place in Basingstoke. The format, which launched earlier this year, consists of 5m x 3m and 10m x 3m double sided portrait banners that hang in central atriums within the mall and the recent contracts deliver a significant audience of 3.4m shoppers every 2 weeks. 

Banners have brought uniformity to our Panoramic network which is the largest format available within the mall environment and now delivers a fortnightly audience of 15.4 million shoppers. Additionally, recent analysis of a bank of our independent campaign awareness studies has demonstrated that the Panoramic format delivers stature whilst forging deeper connections between shoppers and a brand, increasing people’s propensity to purchase by 71% in one particular health & beauty study.

Announcing the 2011 IPA OMC Digital Seminar - Digital Out-of-Home in a World of Convergence

The OMC has announced the date for its upcoming Digital Out-of-Home in a World of Convergence seminar, which takes place on Wednesday, 9th November, 2011.

With digital out-of-home increasing in influence within the industry, this breakfast seminar will explore how brands are taking advantage of the creative and strategic possibilities presented by this medium.

The seminar will be chaired by Nick Hurrell, Partner, HMDG with an expert speaker line-up featuring Mark Cranmer, Chief Executive, Isobar; Andy Flower, Founder, Brothers & Sisters and Rob McIntosh, Creative Director, Frog Design.

For more information:
http://www.outdoormediacentre.org.uk/resources/OMC2011_attachment.pdf

JD Sports continue to run with Adlift campaigns

Adlift has proven itself an effective format for JD Sports. This year they have continued to repeatedly hand select Adlift sites to support their new store openings as well as their new collections and brands. We have run over 20 different creative executions so far which is made easy through our flexible digital printing.

Whilst still maintaining a presence throughout the mall with Adlift, our flexibility in store targeting has also allowed the sports retailer to hone its distribution to areas in proximity to its stores. This allows them to achieve mass awareness throughout the mall but also drive shoppers in through the doors.

Sony Pictures gets creative with Smurfs campaign

Sony Pictures developed creative for the new Smurfs movie that was unique to the Adlift format and demonstrated how effective a campaign can be when media and creative work in partnership with one another.

The campaign was targeting families and it certainly got their attention when children noticed the Smurfs characters getting stuck between the lift doors. A great example of a clever but simple way to get additional impact out of a medium.

Limited Space Campaign Video Gallery

We have recently extended our comprehensive Campaign Image Gallery on our website by launching our new Limited Space Video Gallery, which features footage from some of our most engaging campaigns including HTC, Cadburys, Lynx and BMW. Take a look and be inspired by what advertising in the UKs most elite malls with Limited Space can bring to your brand - http://www.limited-space.com/videogallery.html .

Kinetic briefing on The Future of Out of Home Media

Limited Space attended the Kinetic briefing on The Future of Out of Home Media yesterday which included speakers James Copley and Nick Mawditt from Kinetic, Andrew Curry of The Futures Company, and Steve Parker from SMG. The comprehensive study of the future of OOH in the UK revealed that Out of Home media is set to increase its market share as a result of digital technology over the next ten years, with its structure also expected to change.

The key points from the briefing started with the assertion that digital technology will grow Out of Home’s (OOH) total share of media, with the total OOH spend expected to increase from its current total of £880m to £1.15bn by 2020. With this growth, of which it is expected that digital revenues will account for approximately 23% (almost £260m), the total OOH site universe will grow, with digital adding additional sectors as opposed to simply replacing static posters.

This is likely to then see the medium’s operational structure develop into two separate OOH sectors; ‘Broadcast’ and ‘Targeted’. The ‘Broadcast’ sector will include large numbers of well-positioned static sites and premium digital sites, whilst the ‘Targeted’ sector will include national networks of digital sites capable of time-flexible distribution and real-time reactive campaigns. Kinetic say that these two sectors will provide the opportunity to “unlock the potential to drive ‘smart’ retail promotional marketing” with national digital poster networks in proximity to retail locations and the integration of day-part flexibility; real-time planning and new audience-based trading. Limited Space’s Ad HD network will play an important part to play in fulfilling the potential within the retail environment as well as offering more sophisticated engagement with shoppers through its ability to integrate interactivity.

NFC and social media are likely to transform the relationship between posters and consumers, with some urban areas set to deliver a multi-media experience. Research carried out by Kinetic indicates that consumers already want to interact with posters, with “half of consumers seeing the value of interacting with posters and 20% even expect to be recognised by posters in the future.” The research showed that 75% of consumers are expected to carry a smartphone or tablet computer, with 66% expected to see digital screens in most city centres.

With this consumer interactivity, digital technology has the potential to not only re-value OOH, but to combine the sector with alternative media and technology sectors, specifically mobile marketing and internet based campaigns. Malls offer an ideal opportunity to capitalise on this merging of media due to their audiences and long, leisurely dwells they foster which encourages this type of interaction. Content looks set to hold a key role in OOH media, with billboards likely to become a distribution point for digitised news and entertainment content, all relating to what consumers are interested in. However it’s not just digital formats that can activate cross platform engagement. As noted malls provide the perfect conditions for audience engagement and Adlift too, in conjunction with the likes of QR codes, can encourage mobile interaction which can then be activated immediately directly within stores.

James Copley, COO UK at Kinetic Worldwide, sums up the briefing by stating that it is clear that “rather than just replacing static sites, digital posters will enable Out of Home media to offer advertisers both reach and more direct engagement. The potential to fuse digital posters with mobile interaction also has great potential. It’s up to our industry to grasp these challenges and opportunities.”

The Screen – Interactivity and the Rules of Engagement

The next generation of digital media installations is all about interactivity. From large format multi-touch, to gesture recognition, to social media, QR codes and mobile integration; interactivity is the ‘must-have’ add-on for retail promotion and DOOH advertising campaigns. An ever expanding digital opportunity for targeting and engaging consumers directly, means brands and advertisers must look to interactivity to enhance engagement, deliver better data and drive more memorable campaigns.

The Screen event on 23rd June was hosted by Nicole Yershon - Director of Innovative Solutions at Ogilvy London – and studied some of this year’s most exciting and innovative interactive digital out-of-home and retail installations - assessing the techniques employed, the technologies used and the overall media and campaign effectiveness.

Liam Boyle, the Managing Director from our digital partner Monster Media, showcased Monster Media’s ‘big installation’ approach to interactivity and engagement, where ‘technology meets creative’. Monster Media have produced 2500 campaigns worldwide with a focus on process and procedure, highlighting the importance of metrics and analytics through their interactive campaigns. Liam also described the use of ‘Advertainment’, sighting the convergence of media and entertainment in the space, taking consumers on a journey that will truly build an engaging brand experience through interactivity.

Magnum dominates malls with Ghana & Ecuador campaign

Unilever’s Domination campaign for the Magnum Ghana & Ecuador activity generated substantial intrigue within the mall environment with its exotic jungle scenes replicated across Adlift and banners, as well as Experience sites where shoppers were completely submersed within the tropical setting. When shoppers entered the lifts the visual creative was enhanced through audio playing tropical sounds drawing their attention and creating a focus for the campaign.

Cutting-edge print technology now benefits Limited Space clients

Limited Space can now ensure optimum colour accuracy and speed up the artwork process for our clients by using a GMG colour server to enhance our large format printing capabilities. This cutting-edge technology now enables us to print to a industry ISO39L standard and provides continuity of quality and impact between print formats such as Adlift sites, Panoramics and Experience lift interiors. The GMG colour server can also now give our clients confidence that no further proof is required as we can guarantee that the artwork colours will be as accurate as possible to the original proof. This technology was most recently utilised by Unilever on our recently installed domination campaign for Magnum.

Pokémon Everywhere!

Pokémon wanted to incorporate their ‘Pokémon Everywhere’ campaign, which introduced a new collection of characters to the UK public, into a retail environment in an innovative way.

By using a series of creative Adlift vinyls, they were able to take advantage of high footfall locations and create a synergy between the lifts and lift users. Drawing people’s attention, the campaign used clever artwork which gave the appearance that the new characters were inside each lift, creating an engaging experience for all lift users and passing shoppers at the mall.

Limited Space Banners launched

Limited Space’s Panoramic portfolio has expanded across a wider network of flagship malls with the introduction of 5m x 3m double sided portrait banners within key central mall locations.

The inclusion of banners has doubled our large format reach to 15 million shoppers every 2 weeks achieving significant coverage within the top tier malls such as Bluewater and the Bullring. We continue to offer the largest

advertising formats within flagship UK malls and the introduction of banners ensures we are continuing to deliver ultimate standout and cut through where it matters.

New Malls

Limited Space now offers footfalls in excess of 50 million shoppers every 2 weeks across our portfolio of malls. With the recent inclusion of 5 new locations, all ranked within the top 15% of UK malls and retail parks, we continue to strategically grow our national network within top tier retail locations.

A number of our malls are also undergoing large developments this year to broaden their appeal to a wider audience by incorporating things such as conference centres, spas and even golf courses. One aim is to broaden catchment areas and increase dwell times which will ultimately increase overall as well as average expenditure within the malls.

Hollywood Chewing Gum

Our presence in France continues to grow and a recent campaign for Hollywood Chewing Gum provided an excellent example of how cleverly placed creative can enhance the impact of a campaign.

Cadbury wanted to promote its Hollywood chewing gum within the retail environment in an innovative way and by using high footfall Adlift sites at top Parisian flagship malls, including Belle Epine, they were able to cleverly enhance the creative of Hollywood Chewing gums Outdoor campaign.

The Adlift sites provided an opportunity for Cadbury to draw extra attention to the campaign by exploiting the synergy between the lifts and the campaigns creative which consisted of a large number of people conversing in a crowded lift whilst chewing Hollywood Chewing Gum. The campaign objective was to create an immediate and effective prompt to purchase ultimately driving footfall into retailers found in proximity to the Adlift sites and who stocked the Hollywood brand.