Robin McDonnell, Chief Executive Officer of Phantom Billstickers, has returned from the World Outdoor Organisation congress with a fresh perspective on measurement, insight and new ideas from distant shores. He shares them with us here.
In the media buying business, measurement is currency. Currency by its nature has to be universal. In the Out of Home (OOH) industry in New Zealand, that seems to be hard to achieve.
In reality it’s not. We just have to get on with it. In this article I’m going to share some thoughts on how the OOH industry can give its customers the currency they want, without a lot of unnecessary expense and duplication of efforts. But first, some background.
In May 2022 I attended the World Outdoor Organisation (WOO) congress in Toronto. I returned with a fresh perspective on measurement, insight and ideas from across the globe.
WOO have recently updated and published the measurement standards and guidelines for developing measurement for outdoor. This is a great piece of leadership from the world association and something local associations could adapt for local markets. At 32 pages it’s not a must-read unless you’re a diehard OOH fanatical nerd like yours truly. Fortunately for you, dear reader, my views on measurement have been radicalised and influenced by these guidelines and through seeing first-hand where innovation in outdoor measurement is heading globally.
Best practice from the global industry is that associations should take a lead role in developing measurement systems. However, the reality for a small country like New Zealand is that this is not always feasible. Measurement is currency and, much like the inherent problems with currency when it is unregulated, the currency of measurement of the masses can be abused when it is controlled by the few. The least worst-case scenario is that innovation is stifled.
So what’s the alternative? Here’s my hare-brained idea for growth and development of the industry. It’s that the local industry associations should instead focus on developing open-source criteria by which measurement can be applied, much as the global association has developed open criteria. These need to be applied locally and developed with the whole industry, not just an exclusive, self-selected club.
Without open-source criteria, the currency of measurement will continue to be opaque and poorly understood by those purchasing OOH. With open-source criteria for measurement, this will become a growth industry in its own right, and we’ll start to see innovative and cost-effective tech solutions that open up a larger customer base to consider Out of Home.
It might sound crazy but look at measurement of television and radio for examples of an industry body setting the measurement currency and the industry running with it regardless of affiliation. Phone surveys and black boxes in boomers’ living rooms are accepted ways to measure audiences you can’t see, and they’ve been understood and accepted by those purchasing media.
Compared to television and radio, outdoor advertising should be dead easy to measure. After all, the currency of outdoor advertising is how many people see a poster or billboard in situ. The audience we want to identify are out in public and visible with the naked eye. This is a much easier problem to solve than how many people might watch a TV programme in the privacy of their homes or listen to a radio station in their car.
The gold standard of outdoor advertising measurement is counting people. Sure, there are layers of segmentation we can apply to understand more about these people, but that happens later. The first step is simple: Count people.
On the fringes there are examples of what could happen if the industry focused on developing open source measurement currency. Locally, Lumo have developed some great tech counting cars with their Lens platform delivering accurate real-time vehicle counting, while their recently announced partnership with Quividi offers the possibility of extending that reach beyond vehicles.
But you don’t need to start with a high-tech platform monitoring cars. You could create an industry-standard with technology that’s much more accessible.
At Phantom Billstickers our capability to count people is kept simple. Using good old fashioned work and a simple people counter our networks are regularly audited to capture an accurate count of people and vehicles past a location. This data can then be overlaid with Landmarks ID to segment the measured audience. If there were local open-source standards for audience measurement, innovation in outdoor would extend beyond PDOOH and high-resolution screens.
That’s not to discount smart tools such as Landmarks ID to categorise the audience – but that is the step which happens after you have counted people within sightline of a location. With a clear measurement currency providing the baseline, there would also be more platforms like Landmarks ID and Quividi.
We’re fortunate to live and work in a compact country where ideas can be tested and implemented at scale. Aotearoa could become the innovation hub of the global outdoor industry and we would be best in the world at measuring OOH advertising.
Those with skin in the game might argue that measurement is expensive, complex and requires significant investment to achieve critical mass. If the base level of measurement can be achieved with a bit of time and effort, does that objection really make sense? It’s almost as if barriers to access for measurement are designed to stifle innovation and keep it behind Radio, Television and Digital.
The good news? Measuring Out of Home is easy. Counting people can be hi-tech with cameras and sophisticated software to segment digital advertising by views during play. Or counting people can be analogue, achieved with a simple piece of hardware and some time (and then you can overlay more granular analysis).
If we all agree that measuring outdoor advertising is about counting people, let’s develop an open-source standard that drives this single metric, innovation in the industry and creates a universal measurement currency for the benefit of those buying it.
