Digital boards react in real-time as British Airways planes pass overhead

A major benefit to outdoor bulletins transitioning from vinyls to digital is the immediacy in which creative can be changed. MediaPost reported on a British Airways digital outdoor campaign that reacts to planes flying above the displays.

The outdoor company, Clear Channel, has a new “Storm” digital network in London. It launched in October and has been positioned along the busiest streets and highways in London.

British Airways’ campaign utilized the boards so that when a plane flies overhead, creative of a child pointing at the plane is displayed along with a detailed message with the flight number and destination. MediaPost gives the illustration of “Look, it’s flight BA430 Amsterdam.” Following this message are other creative displays that list facts or attractions of that certain destination. This campaign is possible by using surveillance technology and flight schedules to anticipate when a flight is above the outdoor board.

Being able to reach consumers in real-time can be a challenge for advertisers. By utilizing new technology and thinking outside-the-box, surprise your audience and give them something to talk about. 

Does high TV viewership automatically mean a favorite show?

Have you ever began watching a new TV show, start to really enjoy it only to have it cancelled due to low ratings? Well, it’s safe to assume that has happened at least once in your lifetime. If it hasn't, consider yourself lucky. A new “sentiment” survey conducted by the media buying and selling software Strata attempted to find a correlation between TV viewership and emotionally positive ratings. Results showed that high viewership does not always mean a high positive response from viewers.

MediaPost reports that the CBS show “The Millers” had about 13.3 million Nielsen viewers for the premiere episode. However, the Strata poll showed that only 3% of those surveyed listed “The Millers” as a favorite new show. In contrast, the NBC program “The Blacklist” had similar viewership with 12.6 million, but it pulled a 15% mark for favorite new TV show.

The study also reveals that some shows have lower viewership numbers but a high positive score. “The Michael J. Fox Show” was like this with an 11% positive score and 7.5 million viewers.

Overall, the “sentiment” survey had CBS and NBC tied for best new programming with ABC in third, FOX in fourth, and AMC in fifth.

What can advertisers glean from this? A favorite show of a viewer, whether a high ratings program or not, can help cultivate a positive relationship with your brand. If the show has a long run, place your ads in it. If the show is cancelled, and you have the budget, why not hire the actors to reprise their roles in your commercials? If it makes sense for your brand and your audience, it can be a strong media relationship.

Do people seek out news from Facebook?

Whether a person actively or inactively pursues news, it’s readily available in different media channels. Pew Research Center did a study back in September to see how the social media site Facebook acts as a news conduit. eMarketer reported the results.

The study reviewed how the respondents consume news. According to the results, the top two ways people seek out news is watching local TV news and national evening network TV news programs.

Where does Facebook fit? More of the study showed that only a small percentage 16% of respondents go to Facebook for news. The majority log on to see what friends and family are up to at 68% and looking at videos and photos of family and friends at 62%.

Even though the main intention is not to get caught up on current events, it happens. Entertainment news, local, sports, national, political, etc. can creep up into a persons’ news feed. This can lead to people reading or scanning the news while scrolling around the social media website. Research shows that about 80% of Facebook users interact with news stories whilst interacting with other features.

The takeaway from this is that Facebook users do not seek out breaking news, but rather, the intention is to stay caught up with friends and family. Some news may passively be received, but that’s not a guaranteed active audience.

Cinema Advertising Council commissions research to measure ROI

Not only do advertisers have to be constantly versed in new research to help make sound media judgments, vendors have the same responsibility. This is especially important since there are so many choices for audiences to consume media. In fact, many vendors commission research to accurately depict the media landscape.

The Cinema Advertising Council recently did just that by having the research director for the New York University Stern Center for Measurable Marketing observe the Return on Investment (ROI) of a campaign consisting of theater ads, national broadcast television, cable, local television, and syndication. MediaPost reports that the two most prominent theater advertising networks, Screenvision, and NCM MediaNetworks were both part of the campaign.

The study observed the link between budget spent and incremental sales. This showed cinema ads as having a 37% higher ROI than similar ads on TV. Having this information can help cinema companies better champion the product to advertisers.

While there are a variety of factors that can help increase sales like creative, audience targeting, geographic targeting, day-parting, the base of every campaign is know the target audience. That knowledge comes from research.