Outdoor Advertising Is Here To Stay
Outdoor advertising is an inescapable
medium. You can turn off the television, turn off the radio, close the
pages of the newspaper or a magazine, put down a mobile phone, but one
cannot easily avoid outdoor advertising. Despite all the criticism it
has received through the years because of the proliferation of
billboards in Metropolitan Manila, outdoor advertising is very much part
of the Filipino and his lifestyle. Truth is, Filipinos love outdoor
advertising – they just do not profess it openly.
Early photographs of Old Manila (circa
1910 and onwards) show that apart from the signboards posted above
establishments in Sta. Cruz and Binondo, buildings were mounted with
billboard signs of products which were not directly sold within the
premises. This is solid proof in the belief that even as early as the
turn of the century, businesses then knew how to employ a means of
marketing communication which hit the Filipino consumers where they were
at – out-of-home.
From the receiving end, Filipino
consumers respond positively to the messages conveyed through outdoor
advertising. As evidenced by the numbers provided by the Philippine
Center for Out-Of-Home Media Research and Science in its landmark
Out-Of-Home Media Study, 82% of people surveyed like to look at
billboards and 69% like to look at lightboxes and posters.
There is no doubt that Filipinos are
attracted to messages conveyed visually rather than auditory. From the
moment we step out of our homes and encounter that stapled sign on the
electric post offering the services of a plumber or the house mover with
his own truck, to the more sophisticated LED screens we see on EDSA and
the newfangled touch screen directories at the mall, outdoor
advertising or out-of-home media as it is more known among marketers
these days is surely here to stay.
There used to be a point in the past
wherein outdoor advertising or OOH media was not included in the usual
mix of media recommendations of media planners who often skewed their
clients budgets towards the media triumvirate of TV, radio, and print.
All of that has changed as the consumers have become more mobile and
spend most of their waking hours away from home. In fact, only 14% of
the urban population stay at home all day.
While OOH media only garners 11 to 13%
of the total budgets spent on advertising media (depending on who’s
counting), it is still amazing to note that OOH has made its way up to
being the second top awareness builder for brands next to television.
This is where the dissonance comes in. If OOH is the second top
awareness builder for brands among the media choices, why isn’t it
gaining in terms of media adspend to outpace print or radio?
There are quick assumptions in answering
that question. Looking around in other markets whether in the region
or globally, seldom do we find OOH media spend exceeding the level of
20% of the total adspend in media. However, one of the most pressing
issues for OOH in the local arena is the validation by way of research
and metrics for OOH media. Yes, there are dipstick surveys which show
that outdoor advertising indeed drives purchase. Such kind of news
provides some relief to the brand managers who have invested much in
outdoor advertising. However, there is a need for more information to
validate items such as the correct selection of OOH media, or the value
of a particular location or site. After all, not all OOH media is
synonymous to spectacular billboard in Guadalupe.
A good example of these types of
information would be the revelation in the OOH media research that
billboards parallel to the road may be equally effective at lesser cost
than a billboard facing a motorist head-on or a passenger in the front
seat. Or that the product category which could best benefit from an OOH
media campaign are restaurants.
For this hurdle to be addressed, the
industry itself has to come together and decide once and for all to foot
the bill for the necessary metrics. As was done in the more developed
markets, the OOH media industry was catapulted into a preferable
position among its media peers when it had its own numbers available to
back up the investments of clients.
Oh how the outdoor advertising industry
wishes that it could leapfrog itself into getting this in place for its
own obvious advantage. However, arising simultaneously are other issues
which sidetrack the industry players in outdoor advertising for
progressive growth in the medium. This is the incessant pressure that
comes in from the governing bodies which have constantly tried to
curtail the growth of the outdoor advertising industry.
Thankfully, the Outdoor Advertising
Association of the Philippines has been able to buy the outdoor
advertising industry more time to continue business as usual until
clearer laws are created concerning out-of-home media. Until then,
there will be a need for more information needed to debunk the usual
myths in OOH media which lead to errant selection of OOH such as the
knee-jerk reaction by brands to be on EDSA Guadalupe, or that
bigger-is-better, or even that electronic billboards are more attractive
than the usual flat panel tarpaulins.
Surely, OOH has come a long way from
where it started at the turn of the century. And while it will remain
on the rooftops of buildings for a long time, it still needs that major
breakthrough from being held at bay to that meager 11 to 13% of the
total adspend. As it is, we can see it all around. The persisting
problem of daily motor traffic, the mobility of the consumer, the
natural incidence of OOH media as a function of travelling, all these
are actually a good sign (pun intended) for the next fifty years.
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