OUTSHOUT
A collection of opinions from some of the biggest names in the advertising industry as well as some thoughts on campaigns spotted out and about by OOH lovers
Health and Fitness – a national obsession
Dan Photi, Head of Sales, Boomerang Media | 2016-06-28
So just how big can the fitness industry become? With gym membership penetration at an all-time high of 14.3% of the UK adult population, it’s a fair question to ask.
There’s no doubt that technology has played a pivotal role in this increase. Our view of running, cycling, swimming & fitness has been transformed by creative apps & wearable trackers. Whether working indoors or outdoors, performance data is recorded 24/7 - in fact, some of us have turned ourselves into walking & talking fitness data hubs!
In addition, the low-cost gym chains, led by Pure Gym (the UK’s #1 gym chain), have also helped. Yes, gym membership is more affordable than ever, but it’s interesting that these chains have really put technology at the heart of their offering. Immediate data science, enterprise security software, live-streaming & on-demand experiences, mixed with a mass of social media activity keeps the format very fresh for consumers.
Have advertising revenues followed suit? Absolutely. Q1 gym revenues hit a 5 year high. And 6 months into 2016, we’ve exceeded what we generated in the whole of 2015 - a massive achievement by the team here!
Why are advertisers investing their marketing dollars with us?
For three key reasons -
1. Increased understanding of the audience
There’s a greater recognition that gym members are a highly motivated & ambitious lot, with plenty of money to spend on high-end brands & lifestyle products. They want it & they want it now - holidays, new cars, eating out, beauty treatments, the latest technology, designer clothes & fragrances. Their values, beliefs & motivations mean they aspire to the best things in life & they enjoy the success that inevitably comes with hard work. Their interests extend way beyond health & fitness products.
2. Appreciation of the environment & advertising context
94% of gym-goers say they arrive in a positive mind-set - that is focused, determined & relaxed. The best time for an advertiser to approach a prospect is when they are thinking about themselves, enjoying ‘me time’. And the place that successful & affluent people often go to spend time on themselves is the gym. This context helps enhance media campaigns that run in the environment - the audience is receptive & in a great state-of-mind.
3. Recognition of the effectiveness of the media channels
Time & time again, we’re generating excellent results for our advertising partners. Whether it’s a product demonstration, use of social media, a free sample, an innovative shower-room graphic or a striking D6 display, we’re delivering campaigns that are cutting through & leaving their mark on their intended audience. One glance at the case studies page on our website says it all really with the likes of Jaguar, Voltarol, PG Tips and Clinique.
These three insights are going to form the base of a new positioning for our Health Club offering. Although it’s still work-in-progress, we’re pretty excited about the initial concept - more to follow in September.
So what does the rest of the year hold for the gym environment?
Well, Pure Gym continue to go from strength to strength. They recently acquired LA Fitness & will soon have 150 clubs nationwide with 700k+ members - this is great news for our Gym D6 product.
In addition, we’re currently undertaking a D6 trial with David Lloyd, opening up their prestigious environment & membership base to the possibilities that digital provides.
All in all, it’s a great time to be part of the Health & Fitness industry.
"DOOH offers deeper engagement than other media, more of a story and feedback"
"In advertising, we have the power to change minds, change beliefs and change the world"
"Media isn’t about the number of impressions you make. Media is about the power of the impression you make."
"For a brand to live, it needs to appeal not only to the people who buy it, but also to the people who know about it "
"Super premium digital Out of Home is one of the quickest ways to get into the conversation and make your brand famous"
"London is the most valuable city for OOH advertising... and among the most important in the world "
"Using data to plan OOH enhances campaign performance by up to 200%"
"OOH engages hard to reach audiences on the move with inspiring and innovative communications"
"I would advise marketers using OOH not to see a poster as a Wikipedia entry, think of it as a piece of art"
"Posters are the purest and most effective form of communication"
"Reaching people in the right place, at the right time is still Out of Home’s biggest strength"
"Out of Home is an accountable, measurable and effective media for advertisers"
"The combination of classic and DOOH should be an intoxicating mix for any marketing director"
"Immediacy, targeting and excitement are what DOOH can offer that other media can't - its just very very cool.The opportunities are endless"
"Poster sites really are the last true broadcast medium capable of near universal reach"
"Smarter brands are contextualising their ad messaging, reaching a target audience when it matters most and can change behaviour"
"OOH may be the oldest medium, yet it has shown remarkable resilience in reinventing itself"
"OOH remains the flexible canvas for which a guaranteed audience is never too far away"
"It makes sense for the most welcomed and least intrusive media to deliver presence for brands interacting through the media"
"Central London will undergo a transformation and cities like Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds will get even brighter and more connected"
"Digital OOH networks are multi-sensory and with the development of touch technology things are moving fast. Stimulating the senses more creatively generates social shares, great PR and awards."
"London’s very large public transport network carries a great deal of OOH advertising. As a result, London alone has 170,000 advertising sites, more than 40 per cent of the national total. This makes London the most valuable city for OOH advertising in Europe and among the most important in the world."
"Show me any brief, for any client and any campaign and I guarantee that OOH will be able to have a justifiable role to play as part of the media solution. That role maybe big or small; local or national, classic, digital or both, large format, small format or anything in between... but it will be justifiable and worthwhile. There isn’t any other medium that can replicate that claim, or indeed come anywhere near doing so."
"DOOH is a really interesting storytelling medium, beyond advertising. It allows you to touch and feel and interact in a way no other medium does. That's the real beauty of it, and usually overlooked"
"OOH inhabits a wonderful space in which we benefit from a rich heritage of memorable, iconic campaigns and a truly exciting future unfolding before us. A broadcast medium that just keeps getting better."
"By its very nature, Out of Home’s remoteness from the consumer living room, from the office, and from the home computer, has made it a natural bedfellow of mobile marketing."
"As DOOH becomes more “digital,” it becomes more agile, richer, and better able to play its part in a big idea. As a plugged in medium, DOOH can be the active element in a multi-layered campaign. It can create buzz, break news, invite interaction, and help to drive content and discussions online. Great DOOH campaigns are ones that sit comfortably within the wider brand strategy and capture the imagination."
"I love OOH because the diversity of opportunities makes it a realistic option for almost any client. Add to this the ever growing possibilities for new innovation and it’s a media channel that is truly exciting to both agencies and clients alike."
"Speed of change is all around us and no more so than in the rate at which advertising investment in traditional posters is being transitioned to include a far more flexible Out of Home canvas; the digital poster."
"Posters decorate the world "
"Out of Home is booming right now: OOH is the most ubiquitous media – you can’t turn the page, change the channel or switch it off, and Out of Home continues to integrate itself brilliantly with other new and innovative technologies."
"The Out of Home sector has been tremendously resilient throughout the recessionary years, showing consistent growth driven by its fundamental benefits. In an ever-fragmenting media landscape, you can still reach pretty much the entire population, all at the same time."
"Media changes, driven by digitisation, have left consumers facing a tyranny of choice—yet OOH is a channel that can still deliver huge audiences, and can increasingly do so in creative and engaging ways."
"OOH is constantly evolving, and its ability to integrate so brilliantly with new technology is one of its main strengths."
"The beauty of OOH is that it can double as a TV screen, a social feed, a camera, a vending machine, a download site, or a purchase point."
"We've chosen to use digital to make everything more efficient...but we've forgotten how to explore and discover. It's a loss of serendipity and we've lost a lot of the humanity. We're becoming very reliant upon digital and the internet to make us incredibly efficient and we're losing out."
"Out of Home is the oldest medium of all There’s still huge power in the public message – the power of the public comment. It’s a big thing – it’s why people get married in front of an audience of 150; it gives a public sense of commitment."
"And then there’s advertising’s past. The intrusive, inflexibile and mute billboards. They feel like throwbacks to the old way of doing things. A flat image with an unyielding rule that the consumer can take in no more than eight words (unless they’re Economist readers). How boring. How old school. Until you remember 2015's ‘Shot on iPhone 6’ campaign. Simple, traditional and utterly un-missable pieces of art in the urban landscape."
"Advertising isn’t supposed to be private. It’s supposed to be overheard, shared, stumbled across and discovered."
"As an industry, I believe, we have forgotten the power of repetition. Effective communication isn't small. It isn't cheap. It isn't once."