On Monday 25 October, our Chief Commercial Officer James Harrison took part in a panel discussion alongside Maud Moawad (Seventh Decimal), Josh Busteed (ARN) and Philip Matta (Hypermedia) at Campaign Middle East’s Breakfast Briefing and spoke about OOH Data and Technology.
The informative and highly relevant topics centred around the Out of Home industry today compared to other mediums, the growth of Digital Out of Home and what that means for Out of Home industry here in the UAE, and the measurement of impressions and data.
As we are witnessing peaks in mobility in Dubai, can we say WELCOME BACK OOH post Covid?
Oh yes. We have been analysing the data and we are back to normal, not “the new normal” but even better. Q4 has been a success so far and we expect that trend to continue into 2022.
Do you think the recovery from Covid could have been faster had we had a dynamic measurement set in place?
I’d have to say no, even with all the data in the world. We’re dealing with global clients and an unprecedented level of uncertainty. There was no way of those clients spending during that time. We had success with smaller clients trying the medium for the first time but nothing that would have really moved the dial.
Where do you see our industry today compared to other medium TV / Radio/ Digital? Do you think we realized the full potential of OOH?
I don’t like to look at Out of Home being up against other media, instead, I look at how well it compliments all media, especially digital. Digital Out of Home is a great primer, a great branding platform. We haven’t yet reached our full potential and even if we reach our current potential, our medium will always be adapting and evolving, we will always innovate. You can see this through the use of data and the flexibility of digital.
As the DOOH is growing democratizing the OOH in some sort among high and low budget clients, what role specifically do you think that data will play in increasing spend with current advertisers and drive demand from non-OOH spenders?
OOH will always be a one to many medium, but digitization and data will help clients to be more targeted and add contextual relevance. It’s not just in the planning phase where data is changing the game it’s also in post-campaign analysis as it adds a level of accountability to Out of Home that hasn’t existed before in this region.
Do you think DOOH should be measured by audiences or impressions
Impressions first. We really need to get this right before we talk about audiences in greater detail.
What impact did “Route”, as a currency make on the market post consensus among suppliers?
2013 saw the launch of Route, £19m investment from all stakeholders. Everyone was invested in its success; The standards committee was key to the progress of the project. The most recent updates have seen them take huge strides in digital measurement. If we’re to do replicate this success in the UAE it’ll require a joined-up approach from all media owners.
There has been real progress in the OOH space in terms of measurement and data, can you tell us a little bit about how important is a currency for the industry from your perspective? And how do we make it happen?
Extremely important, the growth of Programmatic in Digital Out of Home depends upon it. Collaboration is key to finding a solution.
In advanced markets I have read one of the suppliers saying “we are now selling guaranteed impressions” do you think our market is ready for such an approach?
Yes, we have already done this programmatically for various clients in 2021, the most successful campaign being YSL bought via The Trade Desk, using Broadsign Reach.
Finally give me 3 headlines (words) that Backlite can promise clients in 2022.
- Digitization
- Programmatic
- Scale
