OPEN 2

INTERACT WITH ME
John Purcell, Commercial Director,
Operations & Business Systems, oOh! Media
...
“Don’t just talk to me, interact with me!” is
something that consumers are increasingly
demanding of brands.
With the rapid introduction of digital
technology and innovation, Out-of-Home
(OOH) advertising has led the way in bridging
the connection between brands and the
consumer. No longer do marketers use OOH
solely to gain a large brand presence. OOH
is now also able to deliver unprecedented
interaction between consumers and their
brands while they are away from home.
In recent years, we have seen some
of the world’s leading brands embrace the
new OOH offerings to engage with consumers
on an unparalleled level. Take, for example,
Google, HP and Microsoft who are increasingly
becoming bigger spenders in OOH. Why?
Because they seek to engage consumers with
innovations that match their brand’s positioning
and benefit from the two-way communication
that continues well beyond their first contact
with the OOH advertising face.
Last year, Google ran an OOH advertising
campaign in airports where consumers could
take control of the digital advertising panels
utilising NFC and QR technologies. In this
world-first campaign, travellers used their
smartphone or tablet to interact with the
Google Play store via the digital advertising
panels (p. 140), accessing content across several
genres such as Tweens, Professionals, High
Octane and Kids. Android phone users could
download selected books, movies, music,
magazines or apps directly to their phone
using the OOH provider’s free airport WiFi.
But OOH’s interaction potential does
not stop with what’s accessible via our
telephones or tablets using QR and NFC
technology. We have seen a range of other
innovations across all OOH assets that take
the connection between brands and
consumers beyond brand building to deep
engagement.
In shopping centres, the industry has
seen the introduction of technologies that
generate greater connection through sound
and scent. We have also introduced ‘digital
targeting’ technology that makes messages
more relevant and engaging based on factors
such as time of day or temperature. And
we have seen the introduction of advertising
panels that dispense products, vouchers
or information to the consumer.
One of the best examples of the level
of interaction the dispensing units generate
is a campaign by Meat & Livestock Australia
(pp. 152–153) where recipes were dispensed
to consumers with the push of a button. This
campaign, which distributed more than
20,000 recipes per month from 10 panels,
is a classic example of how engagement drives
sales: shoppers gained cooking inspiration from
the panels, and then purchased the ingredients
they needed.
We are also seeing greater engagement
with people for both static and digital
billboards via integration with social
media channels, where OOH drives social
conversation and vice versa. While still in
its early days, we have helped clients integrate
the most traditional media with new media
to amplify campaigns beyond what either
medium could otherwise offer.
One example of how social media can
integrate well with OOH is Virgin Mobile’s
recent Game of phones campaign (p. 158).
A purpose-built dynamic messaging platform
developed by the OOH provider enabled
Virgin Mobile to send real-time messages to
the participants on the digital network which
helped drive social gameplay and conversation.
Another example saw the rollout of interactive
touchscreen technology that allowed passers-
147 /