Out-of-home
media, or simply OOH, is quickly becoming as mainstream as traditional media
for its particular ability to follow 86 percent of urban dwellers who spend
their time outside the home. Only the remaining 14 percent stay at home for 100
percent of the day.
The
Outdoor Advertising Association of the Philippines (OAAP) shared these figures
in discussing the potential of OOH at the 5th PANA GMM May 31 at the
Hard Rock Cafe. OAAP President
Delia Magtoto and the organization’s chair for information and education
committee Lloyd Tronco see “unlimited possibilities with going outdoor”, when “every
time could be primetime”.
Ferdie
Frejas, managing director of GoodThinking Research Inc, joined the talk to
describe the different types of OOH and the impressions they make on viewers:
Well-liked placements are point-of-purchase media, indoor TV, outdoor
TV/digital billboards and light boxes. Human ads, transit media, billboards and
indoor posters/banners garner average liking. The least liked are roving
billboards, building wraps, street posters/banners and
flyers/leaflets/brochures.
Found
in schools, malls, offices, on the road and while in transit, the places where
we encounter OOH are as varied as the forms in which they come. They have grown
so prevalent that they could reach the people at times that TV, radio or print
could not.
Every
time could really be primetime with OOH, but Tronco says, “In our research,
very clearly, traditional media adds brand credibility. It still tells
consumers that if you’re a good brand, you have to have a TV campaign. That’s
the role of traditional media--it confirms your brand credibility. And the role
of out-of-home media is actually to remind people. One-third actually buy when
they see out-of-home media.”
The
value of utilizing OOH fuels the growth of the outdoor advertising industry--from
7 percent in 2004, steadily increasing to 10.9 percent in 2011. So the
industry, highly visible by its nature, tends to invite outside scrutiny,
especially in the wake of its current boom; it faces regulatory issues with the
Department of Public Works and Highways, the Metropolitan Manila Development
Authority and local government units.
“Government
intervention continuously persists, as do major obstacles in the out-of-home
industry,” Magtoto says.
But
she assures advertisers that OAAP is maximizing legal channels “in an effort to
protect the business and fight for property and industry rights”. With
stakeholders ranging from outdoor media to the advertisers, the OAAP must
champion the rising industry to keep the information flowing and the momentum
going.
OOH
enhances the integrated marketing mix as it reaches far and wide going to where
the people are. Maybe it’s time to give it a try, because if you want to stand
out, you need to go out of home.
Written by: Ivy Ong
Source: adEDGE, APR-JUN 2012, Vol. 8 No. 2, p. 26
