Outdoor Impact brings precision tools to the planning of outdoor advertising
Outdoor Finland - Suomen Ulkomainosliitto will today release an audience measurement system that provides the planners and buyers of outdoor advertising with commensurate and reliable performance indicators. The most important of these is a new media currency - VAC, or Visibility Adjusted Contact - which is more highly developed and appreciably more precise than the traditional performance indicators used by the media. The Outdoor Impact system is based on a landmark international research concept as well as on extensive Finnish research and research data. A new planning tool for media agencies, CAFAS, is also based on this platform.
Implementation of the Outdoor Impact system was a project conducted by Outdoor Finland and the association's corporate members, Clear Channel and JCDecaux, that lasted many years, and was the largest development investment in the industry's history in Finland.
"The system's enhanced measuring accuracy substantially boosts the competitiveness of outdoor advertising in Finland. Now advertisers can use precise facts and figures on outdoor advertising, so they can be certain about what they're buying. We fully expect Outdoor Impact to increase outdoor advertising's share of the media market," says the association's Executive Manager Jaana Vyyryläinen.
The system is based on an international concept derived from the well-known British POSTAR study into outdoor advertising. Numerous highly esteemed international researchers and industry experts have also participated in the development work. In Finland the Outdoor Impact project is supervised by a panel of experts composed of representatives of industry companies, the Finnish Association of Marketing Communication Agencies MTL and the Association of Finnish Advertisers.
Built on a record volume of research data on the observation of outdoor advertising
The Outdoor Impact system is built on a massive amount of data extracted from measuring the observation of outdoor advertising. A new-generation system has been customised for the Finnish market, which is the most comprehensive international deployment so far. It incorporates modelling of all the major outdoor advertising formats, and further includes transport sheetage (single-decker buses, trams), giant roadside billboards and pillar ads.
Traffic flow data from dozens of different sources and numerous extensive studies were used to formulate the system. Passenger transit routes in Finland were analysed using questionnaires and electronic maps. Some 35,000 outdoor advertising panels were photographed and classified, and eye cameras were utilised to analyse how people viewed the panels. Modelling this data provided a realistic coverage figure for each advertising site.
VAC verifies contacts more accurately
The extensive research that went into Outdoor Impact has produced a new performance indicator for outdoor advertising: VAC (Visibility Adjusted Contact). This new media currency challenges the traditional indicators used by the media in their planning processes. VAC is based on a highly developed research method - coverage analysis and modelling of data recorded by eye cameras.
The performance indicator measures the already proven contacts achieved by outdoor media and media combinations - ie, it predicts how many people will actually see the poster. This is a far more accurate indicator than the conventional ones currently used by the media, which are based more on potential contact opportunities.
CAFAS software - a tool for media agencies and advertisers
The audience measurement system also includes the CAFAS (Cover and Frequency Audience System) media planning tool, which provides comparable indicators for the media solutions deployed in outdoor advertising. This enables outdoor media to be purchased in just the same way as other media, in terms of coverage and frequency.
The tool offers media planners clear evaluation criteria (ie, accurate indicators based on VAC) that make the selection of media easy to analyse and plan. It provides precise indicators for different outdoor media and media combinations. These indicators now also apply to media combinations composed of the offerings of different companies.
The tool heralds a new age for advertisers also because, instead of buying outdoor advertising space, an advertiser can buy contacts and monitor how well campaigns reach specific target groups - in other words, place targeted advertising in the mass media.
Outdoor Finland - Suomen Ulkomainosliitto will install the CAFAS software for media planners without charge. The goal is for all Finnish media agencies to be using the tool during 2007.
Further information:
Outdoor Finland, Jaana Vyyryläinen, Executive Manager
www.outdoorimpact.fi
Photos:
www.outdoorimpact.fi/kuvapankki
Outdoor Finland
Outdoor Finland - Suomen Ulkomainosliitto is an organisation that acts as a representative, lobbyist and developer for the whole outdoor advertising sector in Finland. Outdoor Finland continuously develops the cooperation among its own membership, advertising and media agencies, and advertisers. The association also actively manages contacts with the authorities responsible for supervising and regulating outdoor advertising. The aim is also to enhance the quality and effectiveness of outdoor media, to raise the standard of the planning of outdoor advertising, and to develop research within the industry. The ordinary members of the organisation are JCDecaux Finland Oy and Clear Channel Finland Ltd. www.outdoorfinland.fi
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