Outdoor sector must boost its focus on digital outlets

by Sarah Crawley-Boevey, Media Week 27-Nov-07

Agency planners in charge of outdoor campaigns have been urged to redouble their efforts on digital screens in a bid to make the most of the medium.

Speaking at a joint conference run by the Outdoor Advertising
Association and IPA Outdoor last week, MediaCom's chief strategy
officer, Sue Unerman, said there had been a failure in creativity on

London Underground's digital escalator panels.

Unerman referred to the Gartner Hype Cycle, a graphic representation of
the reaction and adoption of specific technologies, which show peaks and
troughs of different media.

"It worries me that we're in the peak of inflated expectations," she
said of digital outdoor. "The industry needs to be careful not to
overcomplicate things. There is no lack of exciting ideas, but we want
those ideas to be put into execution."

Conference delegates were also urged to reclassify outdoor's aud-ience
to make the most of the medium. "Don't think of people as people, but as
members of a series of communities," said Unerman, who used examples
such as Saturday night audiences, gym crowds and rush-hour drivers.

She added: "Tribes have rituals, but the medium gives you the
opportunity to break these rituals and give people new ones."

Rory Sutherland, vice-chairman of the Ogilvy Group, who also spoke at
the event, echoed Unerman's view, noting that the industry should define
target audience by community, not demographic.