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In early 2017, Clear Channel announced it would become the first media owner to launch a programmatic buying tool for Out of Home (OOH) in the UK. For us, programmatic is the next natural step in achieving our vision: to Create the Future of Media, Out of Home. We’ve invested heavily in building a next-generation OOH estate across the UK, that meets the rapidly evolving needs of advertisers and consumers. Now, it’s about getting the right systems and processes in place to enable our customers to make the most of our estate. We know that programmatic is only part of the story – our goal is to automate the planning, buying and delivery process in order to make our inventory easier for advertisers to engage with. And that will ultimately enable increased targeting, contextual relevance and creativity at scale, delivering even more beautiful and effective advertising. In the following pages, we’ll hear from industry experts on what opportunities they believe automation can create for media and advertising.
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Jeremy White knows data is everywhere – but it’s only part of the story…
It’s hardly surprising for an editor from Wired to be telling you that as far as the advertising is concerned it’s going to be all about data in the next few years, but there it is. There’s no getting away from it. Not the reams of data we have on consumers right now, but far more sophisticated data mining beyond anything that was possible even as recently as six months ago. And not just data of the personal kind, either. The rise in AI will not only lead to culturally significant developments such as autonomous driving, but also vastly superior computers, capable of discerning patterns no human ever could. Since 1993, we’ve seen a one million times increase in computational power. This has not only led to therise of mobile computing and web access, the so-called Internet of Things, but also the development of neural networks of computers capable of machine learning. It is predicted that we will reach the capability of adult-level AI by 2050, though many suspect we will reach this milestone far quicker than this. And all the above forecasting is based on existing computational technology. Since 2015, the rise in quantum computing patents has rocketed. To give you some idea how powerful quantum computers (which operate not on zeros and ones but both at the same time) may be, perhaps it is best to point out that encryption is essentially very, very hard maths. A standard computer today might take lifetimes to crack an encrypted document, whereas a quantum computer could theoretically take just months, or mere weeks. It could be the death of secrets. Last year, in the world of finance, the very first AI hedge fund was turned on in Hong Kong. If all at the company died in some strange, horrific accident, the AI would continue to make money, indefinitely – continually adapting longterm goals, unhindered by human intervention, spotting the strangest of patterns and connections over years of financial data no quant could ever dream of seeing. I mention all this to bring into sharp focus that our world, right now, is genuinely changing more rapidly than ever before. In the next few years we will have autonomous cars, powered by AI, and very soon after that it may become illegal to drive in person. According to Magna Global, spend for programmatic digital display will reach $53bn by 2018. Imagine the fertile ground for OOH advertising this will be, when we are no longer required to be looking at the road ahead but can interact with a connected car, streaming media and experience person- and location-specific content. When you consider what can be done with programmatic in media once there is access to genuine AI, quantum computing and the inherent ability to crunch almost unfathomable amounts of data this will bring, it is not hard to see that what we are looking at right now, although seemingly sophisticated, is just the very beginnings of targeted media.
Product Editor, Wired UK
JEREMY WHITE
THE OPPORTUNITY The benefits of automation have long been trailed. Understandably, clients and agencies have been hugely excited by the opportunity to deliver communications strategies that leverage media touchpoints to engage with consumers on a more personally relevant basis. But as with many significant leaps forward, structure often fails to keep pace with strategy. For all the hype of the past few years, we are only now beginning to get a true sense of future possibilities; and what an exciting future it is… The ability to combine disparate sets of data to tell brand stories through Out of Home (OOH) activations– that better reflect the needs of the audience at that exact time and place – will inevitably provide better advertising experiences for consumers – and deliver better results for brands. Learning from those who came before, OOH has a golden opportunity to ensure that key issues such as transparency, accountability and creativity become synonymous with the medium’s vision of automation. COLLABORATION IS KING Of course, this means that the media strategy and creative bar is going to rise significantly from here on in and we’re all going to need to step up to the challenge. We’re going to have to work more collaboratively across a broader range of areas from planning and activation through to data integration and creative ideation. The good news is that, as an industry, collaboration is at the top of everyone’s agenda. THE FUTURE IS NOW If I think about the work that MEC has already done for clients such as Vodafone and Transport for London and then I think about what else we’re going to be able to do moving forwards with the infrastructure that Clear Channel and others have built, I’m extremely hopeful for the future of the media industry and in particular OOH’s place within it.
Jason Dormieux recognises the huge opportunity for automation in Out of Home, and believes collaboration is key…
CEO, MEC
JASON DORMIEUX
VP Strategic Development EMEA, AppNexus
NIGEL GILBERT
PROGRAMMATIC FOR DIGITAL Programmatic advertising has emerged as one of the biggest trends in digital marketing because of the way it has married data, targeting, and great creative to help brands and agencies buy media more effectively – reaching the right person with the right message at exactly the right time. Fuelled by data-driven algorithms, programmatic is now pervasive in digital ad buying. But while this has been highly effective for the automated delivery of creative online, it has not yet directly translated to Digital Out of Home (DOOH) media for a number of key reasons. Programmatic buying needs data for systems to trade on, which is hard to come by in outdoor. So, programmatic is not ‘solving’ the same problems historically when it comes to digital outdoor media. DOOH also already operates fairly efficiently thanks to market consolidation, which has meant automation has not been a key focus. Ad formats on this medium are also different, which leads to a complex delivery process. Meanwhile, difficulties in applying programmatic to DOOH are compounded by a lack of standardisation across networks to formally measure reach, value and campaign success. THE MARKET IS RIPE FOR CHANGE However, with a trading model developed at a time of zero accountability in performance and formalised pricing, the market is ripe for change. DOOH advertising’s appeal stems from its unique ability to address localisation and urbanisation, and it can be highly complementary when paired with channels such as mobile and audio. The value of DOOH is enhanced by its unique synergy with mobile to improve location-based targeting. DOOH also offers agencies economies of scale, allowing sellers to optimise the value of their inventory by selling in bulk. So, while there are currently limited intersections between programmatic and the DOOH market, that does not mean there are no areas of opportunity. Unlike other mediums, DOOH advertising is not under threat from new consumer behaviours, but rather could be in a strong position for growth. As the DOOH market matures, available audience data will increase, which will unlock the potentialof programmatic trading to grow sales, improve automation and the potential for more targeted buying.
Nigel Gilbert says Out of Home can learn from online, but is an entirely different beast…
PROGRAMMATIC: THE PERCEPTION Programmatic means a lot of different things to different people. People often associate the term 'programmatic' with the automated trading of low-quality inventory at even lower prices. Programmatic was born in the digital display arena, as a mechanism for media owners to market large volumes of unsold inventory. The context for Out of Home (OOH) is entirely different, with extremely high levels of occupancy and a finite volume of evolving inventory. CLEAR CHANNEL: THE PRESENT For Clear Channel, programmatic is the automation of our planning, buying and delivery process, enabling our customers to book and deliver campaigns within a digital platform – with a particular focus on audience. Our current programmatic model is best summarised as ‘Automated Guaranteed’ – fixed volumes of premium inventory, with fixed, upfront pricing. We are launching an ad platform that will offer new and existing customers the ability to manage campaigns from planning through to execution. Customers can create audience-based campaign specifications, view availability and price, and ultimately purchase the right inventory for their needs. Our customers are seeking more direct access to guaranteed inventory and audiences, and we’re making our propositions easier to plan, buy, optimise and review. But we know programmatic is only part of the automation story, which is ultimately about enabling the ease with which advertisers can reach their target audiences using OOH. INCREASED FLEXIBILITY: We are focused on removing obstacles to entry for advertisers who currently don’t invest in Out of Home: giving them more opportunities to reach and engage with their consumers, via flexible campaign activations that fully capitalise on the immediacy of DOOH. We’re already seeing a shift in buying behaviour, with national and local campaigns being booked as little as a day in advance of the campaign going live, and we’ve adapted at pace to meet these demands. CLEAR CHANNEL: THE FUTURE Our current focus is on offering advertisers increased flexibility, measurability and creativity. And in terms of the evolution of our programmatic offering, that means: - more flexibility across more products, both in terms of the unit of trade (SOV, spot in a loop, impacts), and in lead times for booking, and activation; - more targeting to ensure you reach the right audiences, and that your campaign serves at the right times, basedon the right triggers; - more accountability and real-time reporting as standard – initially focused on campaign delivery and eventually campaign performance; and - more optimisation (whether that’s delivery or creative based) and more dynamic creative optimisation to give audiences a more relevant experience. CLEAR CHANNEL: THE VISION Imagine a time when a media agency planner buying team can log into one platform to plan a campaign across ALL media: online, radio/audio, TV and OOH. Seeing the media side by side from a buy-button perspective, but also from a delivery and performance perspective. It’s not yet standard practice in OOH, but it’s already technically possible in many cases to apply the same audience targeting, the same dynamic creative, and some of the same success metrics as in online media. It could easily become standard that an advertiser would take learnings from a short burst of online activity to confirm which audiences their creative is resonating with, and which creative messages are most successful. They could then leverage those learnings to set up the targeting elements of their OOH campaign, and measure the impact of their combined activity to prove campaign success. There are huge advantages to a future where our customers can see very clearly how each medium performs, and how they interact with each other. By doing this, we enable OOH to compete against other media – but also to compliment them, where a campaign would benefit from the addition of OOH exposure. CREATING THE FUTURE: AUTOMATION Clear Channel is Creating the Future of Media, Out of Home. Automation is the next natural step in achieving our vision and we are committed to driving more value to our offering for our customers, by making OOH simpler, smarter and even more effective.
Commercial Innovation Director Clear Channel
CADI JONES
Cadi Jones explores how Clear Channel is leading OOH into the automation era, and shares her views on the future of automation in Outdoor…
BUYERS
Buyers log in to one of many purchasing available.
APIs connect these platforms to our inventory packages.
DEMAND SIDE PLATFORMS
PLANNING / BUYING TOOLS
CLEAR CHANNEL AD PLATFORM
PLAY / POST
SCHEDULE & OPTIMISE
PACKAGE & PRICE
DATA
When the buyer selects an inventory package in their platform, our system schedules the campaign in real-time and prepares it to play.
Across all advertising media, we are seeing digital transformation. For OOH, this means more than digital screens. It’s about integrating data into our technology to drive increasingly targeted messaging. We want to work in collaboration with our partners to harness digital infrastructure and raise the creative bar; and learn from those that have gone before in order to grab the clear DOOH automation opportunity successfully, and with both hands! And so programmatic is one part of a much wider automation story. If we can collectively begin tapping into an automated infrastructure that makes OOH easier for advertisers to engage with; the creative possibilities, further increased by emerging tech, are limitless. The future of media, Out of Home, is looking bright – and we’re excited to be creating it in partnership with you. Talk to us: hello@clearchannel.co.uk
www.clearchannel.co.uk @clearchanneluk
Clear Channel UK is one of the country’s leading Out of Home media owners. We operate over 40,000 advertising sites right across the UK with a strong focus on our iconic classic Adshel brand, and expanding digital estate – now in excess of 6,000 screens on high streets, retail environments and arterial routes nationwide. All this, combined with our unique understanding of consumers, technology and cities, along with our ambitious plans for the automation of our industry, is how we achieve our vision: to Create the Future of Media, Out of Home.
