November 20, 2013
The Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) recently established standards and best practices for mobile and social integration with out-of-home (OOH) media. This paves the way for a consistent mobile integration with OOH ads.
In a move designed to avoid one-off solutions that would slow the adoption and integration of mobile media, OAAA appointed a special committee to represent media operators and make recommendations for standards and best practices to merge one of the newest media types (mobile) with the oldest media (OOH advertising).
Home stretch
This committee, which was led by myself and Ian Dallimore of Lamar Advertising, included representation by most of the leading OOH media companies, including CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor, Eye Corp Media, JC Decaux, Lamar Advertising, Norton Outdoor and Titan, and had select media agency advisers consult on the viability of the recommended solutions.
"This is an amazing collaboration of media powerhouses who might compete on a day-to-day basis, but have come together and created something with the capability to fundamentally transform an industry" said Stephen Freitas, chief marketing officer of OAAA.
The solution for mobile integration requires considering OOH’s diverse range of formats, technologies, and platforms. Combine that with the rapid growth of social media and smart phone devices, and you can see why advertisers need a level of standardization.
To address advertisers' needs and meet the growing demand for social and mobile interactive programs, the new guidelines help the OOH market to better and more effectively integrate multi-channel programs.
The ultimate goal is to allow advertisers to connect with consumers in a more meaningful way and create a dialogue and relationship with those consumers.
Beacon of light
The Mobile and Social Application Guidelines includes technology recommendations for mobile touch points using NFC, QR and SMS, geofencing, Bluetooth push messaging, Wi-Fi and augmented reality.
The guidelines are designed to be technology agnostic and will evolve as new technology opportunities such as iBeacon and Bluetooth 4.0 are commercialized.
Additionally, the guidelines cover touch point design, consumer engagement, campaign structure, social media, content management, mobile Web and campaign management.
"An agency should be able to plan a mobile integrated campaign across operators, venues and formats, as well as access single-source real-time reporting and metrics" said Ian Dallimore, director of innovation and digital strategy at Lamar Advertising.
The vision is to enable a standard infrastructure that will let brands and agencies plan mobile and social integrated campaigns across media operators and at locations such as airports, shopping malls, transit stations, street furniture locales, billboard locations and with other place-based media. It is also to have a common engagement experience and standardized metrics and reporting.
A primary component of the recommendation includes the deployment of mobile touch points across pedestrian level media so that consumers can engage directly with static and digital advertising using their smartphones.
This will allow brands to create rich experiences including delivery of video, music, coupons, offers and even augmented reality experiences. Mobile integration also enables a portal into social media.
Jeff Gunderman is president of Eye Corp Media, a New York-based out-of-home media company. Reach him at jeffgunderman@eyecorpmedia.com.
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