The outdoor advertising industry in the UK
The outdoor advertising association of Great Britain has confirmed that outdoor advertising
and the internet are the only two major growing channels in the
advertising industry, predominantly at the expense of advertising
revenue in magazines and newspapers. The rise and rise in outdoor spend
is mainly to thank to a few clever players, who have re-segmented
audiences by life-style venues, offering impressive precision in
targeting demos. It has further capitalized on its momentum by
introducing one innovation after the other. Please find more
information on outdoor advertising here.
The Bar & Pub audience
Central to UK society and lifestyles bars, pubs and clubs play a
variety of roles depending on the type of venue, its location and
décor. Over recent years there has been a massive change in the
marketplace with a definite shift from the traditional pub to branded
audience-focused chains targeting a wide range of lifestyle needs
focused on the key demographic groups. Larger venues, themed nights,
events and concerts have all led to a huge increase in the number of
people visiting bars in the UK.
The Managing Director of Luminar, the largest operator of licensed
venues in the UK, says, “It was an absolute revolution in drinking
habits, we changed hundreds of characterless boozers into thriving
social centres.”
Effectiveness of the environment for advertisers
Bars & pubs are the number one choice** as meeting places for
friends, couples and colleagues where they discuss the latest trends
and current events. For this reason many advertisers have identified
pubs, bars and clubs as the perfect outdoor advertising environment to
not only educate potential customers
about their brands but also generate a real topic of conversation among
these trend-setters and opinion formers. There are various powerful
channels to reach these audiences in the pub environment, including
toilet posters, sampling, promotional activity and beer mats
distributed nationwide. Research has proven that an audience in a
‘socialising’ mindset is highly receptive to the toilet posters and
other sampling opportunities. MBA Independent Researchers reported that
bar advertising generated a massive 78%**** prompted recall, on
average, among key target audiences.
For example, in a recent integrated outdoor advertising campaign held
by T-Mobile prompted awareness reached 80% among the core young
audience, with 67% saying that they would be very likely to consider
using T-Mobile in the future***.
Admedia’s Joint Chief Executive, Philip Vecht comments: “Our national
network of some of the largest and most popular style bars, pubs and
clubs enable advertisers to effectively target a huge lucrative young
audience, who have proven to be highly receptive to advertising
messages. Advertisers can dominate the environment, creating highly
impactful campaigns that generate massive awareness levels among an
increasingly difficult to reach audience.”
Increased spend from youth-orientated brands
The effectiveness of bars at attracting a lucrative youth orientated
audience has led to a flood of advertising spend in bar media from a
huge range of categories, including telecommunications, films,
entertainment, motoring, toiletries & cosmetics, drinks and gaming.
O2, Warner Bros, Channel 4, T-Mobile, Ford, Nivea, WKD and Xbox have
all recognised the effectiveness of bar media at reaching this
notoriously difficult to reach audience.
T-Mobile Case studies
The bar advertising activity was especially created for the launch of
their latest tariff ‘U-Fix’ and took full advantage of over a dozen
existing and entirely new formats to create a fully integrated T-Mobile
event throughout a network of style bars and clubs nationally across
800 venues. The range of media - including washroom posters - put to
use by Mediacom and Posterscope gave the brand total engagement with
their target audience of 18-24 year olds.
A video about the campaign can be viewed at YouTube
Activity included:
- Washroom posters (inc. talking posters)
- Door and mirror stickers
- T-shirts worn by bar staff
- Bar top branding
- Drinks coasters
- Branded lollipops
- Interactive DJ’s & 10,000 Prizes
- Branded matchbooks
- Free shots
- 2 million branded scratch-cards
Lynx Case Study
A multi-element promotion for Lynx Click, in conjunction with a huge national TV campaign, based in nightclubs across the UK.
- Washroom posters
- Mirror stickers
- Door stickers
- Drinks coasters
- Branded pint glasses
- Branded matchbooks
- Branded bar runners
- Branded T-shirts
Conclusion
Prompted awareness of the T-Mobile outdoor advertising campaign reached
88% among the core audience, with 67% saying that they would be very
likely to consider using T-Mobile in the future. 80% of respondents
were unaware of T-Mobile U-Fix before entering the bar environment even
though the campaign had been running nationally on TV two weeks
previously.
…Media innovation – delivering high creative solutions
Talking posters provide an excellent opportunity to grab the target
audience’s attention, create a topic of conversation, and allow usage
of audio creative from a TV or Radio campaign to re-enforce the brand
message in an innovative and impactful way. Used by T-Mobile, Paramount
Pictures, UIP and 20th Century Fox.
Direct response media pads with washroom posters: positioned at the
bottom of the restroom poster, these business card sized tear off slips
present a unique and massively effective device for any advertiser
requiring direct response mechanism or to simply educate and remind the
consumer about the product.
Beer mats and coasters, produced in any shape or size, can increase the
visibility of a brand in the bar environment - generating a real
interaction with audiences through a call to action and relevant games.
Beer mats have been used as an advertising vehicle by Nokia, Nestle, 02, T-Mobile, Ladbrokes and UIP.
Other advertising opportunities
in bars include: branded pint glasses, shot glasses, wine glasses,
matchbooks, bar runners, mirror stickers, urinal stickers, door
stickers, branded ashtrays, DJ interaction, scratch cards, t-shirts,
branded lollipops and competitions
Source: *High Street Pubs and Bars Report; **Leisure Review 2005;
***MBA Independent Researchers, ****Only Admedia venues were researched.
