The Out of Home (OOH) advertising industry is in its prime; consequently, groundbreaking and innovative ideas are needed to grab consumers’ attention. Posterscope South Africa, a leading out-of-home communications agency which specialises in innovative out-of-home communication channels, was briefed by Carat on behalf of Disney to encourage children to watch the movie Wizards of Waverly Place, which was aired on 31 October on the Disney Channel. The campaign was ranked number 1 in it’s time slot among all channels with an average audience of 154 800 viewers.

 To create this excitement, promoters dressed up as wizards and were strategically located at road intersection points, as well as at select schools in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. The ‘wizards’ handed out branded wands and leaflets to children between the ages of 8 and 12 years over a 4 day period in the build up to the airing date. This was executed by Ignite Idea Management.

 “The campaign was focused at school children, but amplified to parents and teachers as a result of the enhanced brand awareness created by specialised and explicit targeting.” said Dawn Rowlands, Managing Director of Posterscope South Africa. “The feedback received from the promoters was that the children were extremely excited to see them and expressed a keen interest to see the show”.

 Testimonies from teachers and parents, as well as feedback from promoters were amongst the few methods in which the campaigns success was measured. Some of the feedback was that the promotion was so well received by the public that a large number children and parents felt that it should be redone at another stage to get more involvement and so that all children could get to participate.

 100% of Posterscope South Africa’s time is dedicated to OOH therefore providing clients with focused and innovative campaigns that create brand awareness.

Ever wondered …

… what people are thinking when driving to work, or which advertising medium is the most effective? Well, those days are over! Posterscope SA launched OCS in August this year.

OCS is a media research survey that’s able to give insights and information into every angle of advertising. It has created a new way to analyse a given target market, and how best to reach them. This research allows one to make valuable recommendations to clients and allows one to make informed decisions on media placement.

Put OCS to the test and send us your OOH related questions.

Each week we will post a question on our blog. The winner will receive a prize!

For more information on OCS or how to get your hands on this, please contact Dawn Rowlands at dawn@posterscopesa.co.za or Lana vd Walt at lana@posterscopesa.co.za .

Monthly, Posterscope will be taking current campaigns and show Good vs Bad OOH Creative. Using creative well is very important for any media format but especially OOH. Factors such as structure placement, environment and obstructions play a part in how well a brands creative is seen and consumed by the target market. Using Posterscope’s tool, PRISM CREATIVE, we can show brands what their creative will look like before the site actually goes up to make sure they are using OOH 100% effectively.

BAD

• Colours fade into the background
• The text is very small – making it near impossible to read
• The logo is also very small

 

GOOD

• Colours are bold and bright
• Name of the phone is very bold
• Logo is visible
• Full message can be taken in if driving by at speed

Two new MD’s for Posterscope South Africa

Few companies are able to speak confidently about growth during the recession, but Posterscope South Africa can. As a result of this expansion, Posterscope South Africa has announced two new Managing Directors – Carni van der Walt and Erik Warburg – who will head the Johannesburg and Cape Town offices respectively. These promotions see existing Managing Director, Dawn Rowlands, step into the role of CEO and overseeing Posterscope’s business growth in Africa.

Carni van der Walt has been part of the Posterscope team since 2005 and has been managing Posterscope’s business in Johannesburg for a number of years. Erik Warburg currently heads up strategy in the Cape Town office.

“Carni’s clear leadership and direction combined with valuable insights make her the perfect fit for this role.” said Dawn Rowlands the newly appointed CEO of Posterscope South Arica.

“Erik’s strategic thinking and in-depth understanding of Out of Home Advertising have empowered him with the skills to comfortably take the company in this region to new levels – we are very confident in his ability to lead this company in Cape Town,” continued Dawn Rowlands.

Rowlands and her new management team will further entrench Posterscope’s lead in the out of Home advertising industry in South Africa and Africa as a continent and will continue to spearhead innovation in Out of Home Advertising as they have done with the development of their OCS survey and Prism Tools.

Carni vd Walt - MD JHB

Erik Warburg - MD CPT

Mobile Power Stations

Chargezone sells unique and innovative brand space, exposing brands to various LSM markets by creating synergies between brands and consumers.

3 easy steps to using M.P.S.
1. User opens any unlocked charge cell and attaches their phone to compatible charge point.
2. User locks their cell with a non retainable key (doesn’t come out if not locked)
3. User unlocks secure cell with key, disconnects and leaves with a charged phone.

Mobile Power stations are a great way to target areas where traditional advertising methods are not allowed. They offer prime positioning, high levels of exposure to a huge market and allow brands to be associated with a hot new service.

This is a well maintained media space that offers effective branding, stylish design and a tangible service.

To find out more about Mobile Power Stations and how to get your brand noticed with this innovative product, contact Lana vd Walt at lana@posterscopesa.co.za .

Gautrain

A lot of hype has been created around the Gautrain since construction began in 2006 and this excitement will most probably run until the Gautrain is completed in March 2011. But, beyond this honeymoon period lies the question of, ’who will use the Gautrain’? In a survey driven by Posterscope South Africa, the Out of home Consumer Survey (OCS) looked at the likely hood of people using the Gautrain, seeing that this will affect the way in which media planners will target their communications through this new platform that will be a complete change to traditional commuter advertising on buses and taxis.

“OCS targeted both private car and mini-bus taxi users as respondents to gain a general overview of the consensus amongst people, this was not restricted to Gauteng dwellers”, said Dawn Rowlands, Managing Director of Posterscope South Africa. “The main questions of this survey included the likeliness to use, the cost of using, the safety risk, and how it will reduce traffic congestion.”

The findings from private car users were as follows; 48% said that they were likely to use, 50% think that it will be a safer trip, 55% think that it will be cheaper than a car, and 55% think that it will not reduce traffic congestion. Whilst mini-bus taxi users’ findings were as follows; 81% said that they are likely to use, 70% think that it is a safer trip, and 47% think that it will be cheaper than a taxi. In addition to this the following findings were made; 40% of non-Gauteng dwellers were interested in the Gautrain, and 27% of non-Gauteng dwellers were not interested. On the other hand 18% were very likely to use, whereas 9% would use if they had had to. The smallest sample of all, 6%, said that they do not do public transport and would never use the Gautrain.

Convenience and innovation have been the biggest selling points of this new public transport venture in South Africa. However the South African market consists of two main groups, those used to the much cheaper public transport system (taxis and trains) and those currently using their own transport/cars.

OCS is the heart of media planning processes driving communications strategies, these ranges from channel selection to media implementation amongst other categories. OCS was conducted to a variety of consumers – taking into consideration their lifestyles, feelings, attention spans, reasoning, influences on perception, sharing of information amongst friends, opinions and thought patterns during their daily activities.

OCS

Building and maintaining a positive perception for a brand is key and understanding the ins and outs of consumer attitudes towards various advertising mediums is vital to the success of any brand communications campaign. Posterscope South Africa recently revealed OCS, the out of home consumer survey which scrutinised 2,000 consumers’ attitudes, thought patterns and feelings influence their perceptions towards brands and their advertising campaigns. The survey was also conducted in other territories worldwide with a total sample of 75,000 consumers.

One of the findings from the survey is that above 80% of the respondents said that magazines and newspapers influenced their brand perceptions, whereas cinema was way down the list with only 57% admitting that their feeling on a brand is influenced by advertising in cinemas. In terms of out of home advertising, billboards came at the forefront of advertising that influences brand opinions with adverts on shopping trollies and in public bathrooms proving to be less influential.

“Matching the sector to the type of advertising can be a challenge and getting it right the first time is vital,” said Dawn Rowlands, Managing Director, Posterscope South Africa, “With OCS, it is possible to pull niched data pertaining to a specific segment and use this data to accurately and effectively design a strategic campaign that actually will work for a brand.”

OCS has broken consumers’ attitudes to brands down even further into brand categories such as cars, finance and beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

OCS is the first of its kind in South Africa and is the heart of media planning processes driving communications strategies, this ranges from channel selection to media implementation amongst other categories. OCS was conducted to a variety of consumers – taking into consideration their lifestyles and thought patterns during their daily activities. The buyer knowledge offered to marketers by OCS is through outlining categories, content, personalities, motivation, engagement, responses, amongst other key areas.

For more information on OCS contact Dawn Rowlands at dawn@posterscopesa.co.za or Lana vd Walt at lana@posterscopesa.co.za

In times of recession, companies need proof that their chosen method of advertising works. The recent OCS (Out of home consumer survey) conducted by Posterscope South Africa has released statistics that show that billboards are the out of home advertising method that is still the way to go in raising brand awareness.

A sample of 75,000 consumers worldwide, including 2,000 in South Africa, was asked to indicate how much they believed out of home advertising in various areas influenced their opinions on brands and companies. Billboards came out tops; way ahead of more modern digital methods of advertising such as plasma TV’s in shopping aisles. 85% of respondents said that they were the main advertising method that caught their attention in shopping centres and supermarkets. 73% of the sample noticed billboards on the side of buildings whilst 70% noticed them at taxi ranks.

“Consumers are spending over half of their days out of their homes and a lot of that time is sitting in slow moving traffic to and from work,” said Dawn Rowlands, Managing Director, Posterscope South Africa, “Lets face it, being stuck in traffic is boring! A carefully planned and clever billboard campaigns will stand out and catch their attention and become a part in their consumer decision making processes. Out of Home Advertising fills time as opposed to stealing time.”

When asked opinions on outdoor advertising, 80% of the respondents actually noticed billboards when out and about in the city and 78% agreed that these giant adverts make their journeys more interesting and are a good way of passing time whilst travelling. Compared to all other advertising methods that are generally noticed, billboards came out best at 42% – ahead of television, cinema and radio adverts.

An interesting observation is that billboards are one of the most effective methods of advertising financial services such as insurance with 73% of respondents saying that these adverts prompted them to do their homework on a particular financial services company.

Driven by Posterscope South Africa, OCS is the first of its kind in South Africa and is the heart of media planning processes driving communications strategies, this ranges from channel selection to media implementation amongst other categories. OCS was conducted to a variety of consumers – taking into consideration their lifestyles and thought patterns during their daily activities. The buyer knowledge offered to marketers by OCS is through outlining categories, content, personalities, motivation, engagement, responses, amongst other key areas.

Grolsch

 

UK beer brands like Grolsch, Stella Artois and Budweiser are turning away from TV citing that their target audience namely male consumers are the most effected by media fragmentation. Grolsch, will use various different channels, ranging from online to print and outdoor, in its latest campaign, TV does not feature in its strategy.

Simon Davies, marketing director of Molson Coors, said the company has greatly increased its out-of-home activity in the recent past, and added that TV is losing favour among 18–34 year old men. Earlier this year, the 5% variant of Stella Artois’, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, new communications campaign, was marketed using digital, outdoor and print. Similarly, Budweiser, utilized 2,000 out-of-home sites, as well as newspapers and magazines, in its first campaign since the merger of the two brewing giants. The similar lack of comprehensive outdoor campaigns by out local brands probably stems form our lack of fragmented TV. In South Africa it is SABC, SABC, and SABC!

 

Source form World Advertising Research Council of 30 Sept 2009.

Tractor Outdoor in Partnership with Canadian carbon credit company – Carbon Credit Corp (CCC) ) have joined forces to launch an exclusive Carbon Neutral Campaign across 300 of the Golden Arrow bus fleet in Cape Town.

This unique opportunity allows advertisers to offset the carbon emissions of the vehicles when they book advertising on the Tractor Transit fleet of buses.  “This is a first for South Africa,” says Simon Wall, Sales Director of Tractor Outdoor “No other transit advertising company in the country currently offer a definitive and completely transparent carbon offset program on their fleet. Advertisers are now able to book a campaign safe in the knowledge that the carbon footprint of their entire campaign is neutral. This opportunity comes at a negligible premium to a traditional bus campaign but we believe it is a small price to pay for an environmentally conscious advertiser”

“We have conducted a defensible greenhouse gases analysis in conjunction with Carbon Credit Corp to calculate the emissions produced by the fleet, by understanding the routes travelled, bus mileage and fuel efficiency.   By making use of the proprietary offset program advertisers are now able to offset the emissions of each vehicle that they advertise on”

Robert McCulloch – South African Director of CCC explains, “This is an exciting and unique green initiative which addresses one of the most popular means of public transport in the Western Cape. Transport emissions have increased dramatically and currently contribute approximately 15% to South African greenhouse gas emissions”.

“Our challenge is to create awareness, develop emission reduction strategies and to offset emissions to achieve neutrality. This campaign has the potential to reach millions of people and simultaneously offset approximately 18,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. This campaign embraces the carbon economy by putting a price on emissions. This drives the demand for offsets and funds the associated reduction projects. Additionally, this campaign enables co?
companies to reduce their greenhouse gases by purchasing offsets as part of their advertising campaign. In doing so, innovative companies will merge CSR budgets, environmental campaigns and advertising budgets”.

CCC will source offsets from both local and international projects, and only those creating real, verified and additional emission reductions be considered.

Carbon Credit Corp is a carbon neutral company helping clients develop offsets projects and achieve neutrality.  Robert McCulloch adds, “It is important to measure your carbon footprint, reduce it as much as possible and then purchase offsets to reach carbon neutrality. Being carbon neutral, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount offset”.