You’re driving home from work after an average day at the grindstone. While stuck in traffic you look up at a billboard and see your name on it, together with an image of your dream car. One that you designed just moments ago.

This is what happened to Ford enthusiasts in the United States when they were offered a chance to design their own Ford Mustang using Ford’s Mustang Customiser website. With a few clicks, they could customise their car and upload it in real time to over 50 digital billboards around the United States. Using social media, they could then share it with their friends.

In New York, another motor company, Hyundai, created the world’s largest iPhone-controlled racing game in Times Square. To play, users simply had to register with the ‘Hyundai Race’ and download the app to get a turn to control the car on a giant digital billboard using their iPhone. After the race, gamers’ scores appeared on the billboard so they could see how they measured up against each other.

Digital out of home (DOOH) is changing the way marketers communicate with their consumers, and these examples eloquently demonstrate this new, more intense relationship.

As consumers worldwide are increasingly accessing media outside the home, DOOH is fast becoming the most efficient way to reach and engage the on-the-go, always-connected consumer with targeted and real-time messages. While time spent with traditional media continues to decline, consumer exposure to digital out of home media is growing rapidly around the world.

Globally, the digital media industry is growing at 20% per annum, according to MagnaGlobal, a strategic global media unit that provides forecasts, insights and negotiation strategies for all media channels. In fact, according to the international DOOH advertising company, Nexmedia.tv, DOOH media growth outpaces the rapid growth years of the internet.

Companies like the multinational out of home (OOH) media giant, JCDecaux, are quick to take advantage of this growing market and are leading the way in innovation in the digital signage field.

One such example is what they call Intelligent Street Furniture. Launched in Paris, this concept represents, in the company’s words "their vision for digital services in the urban environment”. The aim is to make Paris easier to navigate and more accessible for the public. Comprising interactive bus shelters, digital totems, a Digital Harbour offering a haven of peace and quiet in the city, and more, these digital environments create engagement by adding real value to the consumer’s life.

DOOH for Africa

Outdoor has always played an important role in advertising and marketing across the African continent. Reflecting global trends, DOOH media across the continent is also experiencing impressive growth. According to a recent report on OOH media by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Nigeria’s OOH market will be worth approximately R2.3-billion in 2017, while Kenya’s market will be worth a forecasted R1.3-billion. Needless to say, media owners such as Primedia, Continental and Provantage, among others, are expanding their digital networks across Africa into airports, malls, bars and restaurants, on escalators and along the roadside.

According to Lyn Jones of Continental, clients are quick to recognise the benefits offered by digital. Continental now boasts 11 digital roadside screens in South Africa, which have the capacity to reach in excess of 11 million consumers a month on the Ignite network. “Marketers are now able to plan, by day-part or region, across Africa. It gives them an opportunity to be innovative for brand launches with a visual quality that matches the quality of the brand,” says Jones.

The ease of purchase, flexibility of content changes and quality of reproduction make it a very attractive platform for advertisers.

As with DOOH internationally, innovation and technology play a key role in the growth of this market, and media owners need to reinvest in tech constantly to stay relevant. To this end, Provantage recently launched Visionet™, a network of large format digital billboards to be rolled out in key high-density nodes. The first screen has already been erected at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport.

A fertile marketplace

South Africa offers fertile ground for the growth of DOOH. Similar to Africa and the rest of the world, South Africans are living their lives, more and more, out of home. According to the PWC report, South African commuters spend an average of 2.8 hours a day commuting to and from work. The major benefit that digital networks offer is that they can reach viewers in a captive environment where the tune-out factor is very low. There is heavy footfall in these areas and DOOH is an effective way to capture their attention while they wait or queue.

The statistics speak for themselves. Our Transit Track findings indicate that:

  • 77% of commuters travel by taxi or train twice a day, during peak times;
  • 39% arrive between 11 and 20 minutes before they depart, while frequent commuters spend approximately 10 minutes waiting;
  • There is a 100% spontaneous recall of the brands featured; and
  • Of those who verified an ad on TRANSIT.TV™, 90.5% took out a key message from the ad.

Our airport results are no less impressive:

  • The average airport dwell time is one hour and 22 minutes;
  • 76% of advertisements’ key messages are recalled; and
  • Nearly 70% of all brands are recalled on airport.tv®.



The PWC report notes that South Africa’s OOH segment was worth R3.7-billion in 2012 and will grow by an estimated 7.2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to R5.2-billion in 2017, accounting for 11.5% of total advertising spend. The emergence of digital signage will be intrinsic to the future growth of OOH advertising in South Africa, making it important for media owners to stay on top of global trends and for marketers to start understanding how this medium can benefit them.

Dynamic, engaging and cost-effective

The key benefits of digital platforms are obvious. Outdoor used to be a static medium. While the advertiser’s message was ever present, it lacked energy and immediacy. Dynamic and innovative, digital signage allows the advertiser to be relevant to the target market, the time of day and the geographical location, providing up-to-the-minute information and a kind of agility that traditional media can only dream of. This relevance and interactivity helps to amplify the relationship between consumer and brand.

Another important benefit is cost. With digital, we can update messaging at the press of a button. As a result, production is substantially more cost effective and timelines are sped up. This makes it possible for campaigns to be more dynamic. Content can be changed frequently to make it more appropriate, an important feature in a connected world that is used to having access to the latest information at all times. Digital also offers superior-quality imagery, making it more attractive to modern consumers.

This, combined with the cost-effectiveness and ability to target markets, means that small brands using DOOH can achieve as effective a performance as the top brands, at an affordable price. We have already seen this in airports and it is further demonstrated by Primedia’s AD Lites roadside signs which carry numerous ads from smaller, local community advertisers.

As a campaign amplifier, few media can beat DOOH. DOOH campaigns can be created to reaffirm and even activate the digital component. At airports, for example, where there is heavy footfall and people have a lot of dwell time, DOOH campaigns can be used with mobiles to entice interaction. As a television enhancement medium, you get frequency and awareness for a reasonable cost and, increasingly, advertisers have adopted DOOH as an innovative way to grow their reach and frequency in the ever-fragmenting media landscape.

For the most part, the rules for digital are no different from that of other mediums. Key impact drivers for airport.tv®, for example, are frequency, creative impact of execution and branding. Nothing new there. Also like other media, digital works best when it is relevant and adds real value to consumers’ lives.

Content plays a significant and necessary role in, specifically, digital-placed networks where consumers spend long periods being exposed to the medium. News, humour, weather and sport updates are fantastic attention-grabbers and build affinity while attracting the very sought after commodity – eyeballs. At Provantage, we have found a direct correlation between the increased effectiveness of advertising on DOOH channels and high-quality content streams.

Other DOOH types can also affectively use snippets of relevant content to capture consumers’ attention and build affinity. A good example would be to send short messages of encouragement to a national sports team on a digital billboard between adverts, prior to a big international event.

The (very near) future of DOOH in South Africa

It is abundantly clear that DOOH is on a growth trajectory, with it even being hailed as the new mass media. The current and, I have no doubt, future technologies will allow marketers to create meaningful and intense connections with consumers. One of the most exciting trends to come from this space is interactivity, and I believe it is going to grow exponentially in the future.

Billboards like Hyundai’s work because they engage with the consumer, drawing them into their world, and rewarding them with a thrilling experience. Consumers are no longer content with being just observers, they want to interact and have moments of real connection. The technology of digital allows this to happen, and DOOH is well positioned to be the conduit between the different media.

The campaign synergies offered by DOOH are going to explode in the near future. Couponing, competitions, test drives in the form of gaming, you name it, if we haven’t done it yet, we will. Moving forward, we will see more advertisers integrating the interactive nature of DOOH into their campaigns.

Face recognition, real-time communication with peers, individual messaging – the technology exists to make all of this possible, allowing a richer, more engaging, more stimulating interaction with the consumer. The environment is rich with opportunities and South Africa is poised to take DOOH to the inevitable next step.

For more information, visit the Provantage Media Group website.