OPEN 2

FOREWORD
Dr Rebecca Huntley, Executive Director,
Ipsos Mind & Mood Report
...
Last year, my husband and I took our fiveyear-old
daughter to Disneyland in Los
Angeles. Wandering around with a social
researcher’s eye (sure, I was on holiday but
I couldn’t help it) I was struck with how
effective the theme park is as an outdoor
experience. Many of the rides are indoors,
but the magic of Disneyland is the feeling that
you are exploring a terrain, an environment
– albeit artificial. You feel like Alice in
Wonderland, only with fizzy drinks and hot
dogs rather than magical potions and cakes.
The whole Disneyland experience is
mesmerising and, of course, you can’t help but
leave with a heap of merchandise – the rides
feel designed to thrill and lull you into a state
of abandon just as you are funnelled into a gift
shop. But you also leave with a greater respect
for the Disney brand and an appreciation that
Disneyland is in fact the ultimate example
of the power and potential of Out-of-Home
(OOH) advertising.
Reviewing the creative collated for
OPEN 2 – the best examples of OOH from
Australia and around the world – reinforces for
me what’s inspiring and really working for this
media channel. The key themes reflect what
Australian consumers expect and want from
advertising: Humour Me, Sell Me Something,
Tell Me a Story and Interact with Me. An
AC Nielsen study from 2011 revealed that 75% of
people agree that OOH gives people something
to look at when out and about, and 78% said it
was useful to have a website address included
on that advertising. 1 The correlation of these
two statistics is that people are expecting more
from OOH; they want it to be entertaining,
engaging and useful. Judging from the
campaigns in OPEN 2 , it does not disappoint.
Poring over the different examples of
OOH creative, I am struck again and again by
how the different consumer and social trends
we observe in our research for The Mind &
Mood Report connect with what is happening
and what is being harnessed in this work.
Take, for example, the water-generating,
air-purifying billboards in Peru that provide
clean water and air. Or the flowering bus
shelters in Belgrade reminding people of
the city’s potential for beauty. In recent
research Ipsos conducted into how urban
and regional dwellers feel about their local
environments, residents talked about how
much they appreciated the presence of largescale
art works and sculptures in public places.
Australians want their city and townscapes
to be dynamic, interesting and surprising.
In recent times, OOH has at times been a form
of public art – funny, thought provoking and
beautiful. Consumers are realistic that it can’t
always be taxpayers’ money making these
things happen, and when they find out that
OOH subsidises street furniture and many other
forms of public infrastructure, research has
shown that they look more favourably upon it.
Then there is the notion that OOH, more
than any other advertising channel, can be
useful. Australian consumers talk constantly
about how busy their lives are; fitting
everything they need to do in a day, rushing
from place to place, juggling multiple roles.
They are always looking for aids, tools and tips
to facilitate making their busy lives possible.
But they are also looking for ways to carve
out much-needed respite from all the hubbub.
There are some creative examples in OPEN 2
of how OOH can make people’s lives just that
little bit easier. There is the IBM billboard
that doubles as a seat for a weary pedestrian
(pp. 114–115) and one of my personal favourites,
the transit bench in Canada that becomes
a temporary bed for a homeless person (p. 145).
Not only is this serviceable, but it also raises
awareness as well as potential funds for
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