SociableMedia/

Seven ways to connect online and offline social experiences to deliver engagement, advocacy and brand affinity

Summary/

A unique new communications dynamic is being created by the convergence of four media opportunities: online social networks, social networks in the real world, mobile and Out-of-Home media, especially digital and experiential. This paper outlines how advertisers can leverage these channels in various combinations to turbo-charge the effects of both online and Out-of-Home activity and enable a more sociable approach to consumer engagement.

OOH ADVERTISING :digital, traditional,

experiential, innovative

OOH ADVERTISING :

sTreaming locally or conTexTually

relevanT conTenT from social

neTworks inTo OOH screen ads

ADVOCACY

ENGAGEMENT

CONSUMER

REWARD

comment viamobile social

neTworks

inTeracT with displayconnecTed To asocial neTwork

respond/conribUTe via

social neTworks

check-in ToadverTiser creaTed

locaTions

check-in To

exisTing venUe

comment online(via PC)

discussface-To-face

(in-home)

discussface-To-face

OOH(real social neTworks)

consumer sendsconTenT ToOOH screens

(DOOH social neTworks)

Seven ways to connect online and offline social experiences to deliver engagement, advocacy and brand affinity

Introduction/

People are becoming more and more digitally connected to information, entertainment and each other. Since people are constantly on the go, much of this occurs out of the home.The constant flow of new technological advances and the consequential shifts in consumer behavior are creating an exciting, but challenging communications landscape.

New forms of media are emerging all the time. In addition to understanding the role of each new media in isolation, advertisers need to be mindful of how they interact with each other and with traditional media.

At the moment, the convergence of four elements is creating a new communications dynamic that we have termed “Sociable Media”.

The four elements are:

• Online social networks• Social networks in the real world• Mobile• Out-of-Home media, especially digital and experiential

When these four elements combine, they create a new opportunity for advertisers to:

• Achieve a deeper level of engagement with consumers• Forge deeper emotional connections with consumers through marketing that has

consumer value• Spread word of mouth and generate ‘earned media’

Before we look in detail at how Sociable Media works, let’s examine each of the individual four elements – how they are changing, and some of their key attributes in relation to Sociable Media.

1. Online Social NetworksFew people would argue that online social networking is now a mainstream activity:

• 63% of American Mothers use social networks1.• Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the US.• Social media has overtaken pornography as the #1 activity on the web.• If Facebook were a country it would be the 3rd largest in the world.• The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year old females2.• The Whole Foods Markets retail chain has over 1.7 million followers on Twitter.

2. Social Networks in the Real WorldWhile social media is usually defined as something built around a technological platform (i.e. the web), the principle of social networks is a more appropriate starting point when considering OOH behavior and communications.

Some logical key components of an effective social network are:

• The people that are connecting with each other.• Something that enables them to connect.• Something for them to share or talk about.

We would argue that ‘real world’ social networking where the enabler is actually the location (i.e. being in the pub, office, elevator, school, station, coffee shop, etc.) at the same time as others in your network is just as important as the web-based social networks. In fact, 77% of brand related word of mouth is face to face3 .

In addition, as we will see later, the interactive technologies within digital OOH actually enable the creation of some new social networks.

3. MobileOf course sophisticated mobile devices are becoming much more prolific. Smartphones, including iPhone’s, Blackberry’s, Nokia N-Series, those running the Android operating system and many more, are accounting for 64% of UK contract mobile phone sales and 38% of pay as you go/SIM only sales4. Globally, the figure is one in five5. Apple is predicted to sell 13 million iPads in 20106, Google plans to release a competitor this year and Samsung aims to release theirs in October.

All of these make internet access when Out-of-Home much easier and faster.

In fact, mobile’s share of ‘web consumption’ grew by 110% in 2009 to 1.26%7 and between April 2000 and May 2010, the percentage of Americans who access the internet via a mobile phone climbed 25%, from 32% to 40%8. In the UK, 48% of the UK population is expected to become a user of the mobile internet by 20149.

All of these devices can also run apps. We estimate 17% are somehow Out-of-Home related, such as Bulmer’s Cider pub garden finder or the Yelp augmented reality overlays of local business reviews. Posterscope has pioneered many MOOH (mobile+OOH) developments, from the world’s first large scale Bluetooth download campaign to the more recent ‘Point & Find’ visual search experiments with Nokia and JC Decaux. Posterscope has also talked extensively over the years about the importance of future technologies, such as Near Field Communications. NFC has the potential to revolutionize OOH by making it transactional and even viral by simply touching one phone against another.

LocaModa has pioneered the ability of using a mobile phone as a remote control to engage with Digital Out-of-

More information and results from the Nokia Point & Find trial is available at www.slideshare.net/posterscope

Home (DOOH) content. A simple example of this is their Jumbli word game which is run on several thousand DOOH screens across the United States, including Clear Channel’s Spectacolor jumbotron in New York’s Times Square, over 1,000 bars and cafes and even on jukeboxes. Audiences are encouraged to text a word to the screen to score points and when they do, they see their word and user name displayed. The top players have amassed over a million points representing many weeks of cumulative play! The game can be linked to loyalty programs, lead generation and sales (e.g. get two for one popcorn if you score over 50 points.) Jumbli has been designed as a “many to one” game, enabling literally thousands of people to engage at the same time. The game can also be skinned by brands, embedded on brands’ websites and Facebook fan pages, and made into an iPhone application.

When it comes to social media, 50% of mobile internet traffic in the UK is for Facebook10 and 150 million people worldwide access Facebook from a mobile device. Those that already use their mobiles to access social networks do so much more intensively spending 32% more time on Facebook compared to those accessing the site via PC’s11.

As such, location is naturally becoming a part of the social media experience and location based (i.e. mobile) social networks, such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Facebook Places and others, are starting to exploit this. The main principle of these is to be able to ‘check-in’ upon arrival at certain Out-of-Home locations allowing users to identify nearby friends and perhaps receive a reward of some description from the network, a brand or a ‘landlord’. While this user base is relatively small,

Foursquare have approximately 3 million users (about 60% of whom are in the USA) it is likely that Facebook Places will become huge.

4. Out-of-Home MediaIt is well documented that people spend a large proportion of their lives Out-of-Home, in the UK for example the figure is 42%12 and while it is difficult to quantify exactly how much this has grown, estimates suggest that between 1990 and 2010 there was a 33% increase across the UK.

In the US, commute times increased by 5% between 2003 and 200813 and Americans are also driving further with total mileage increasing by around 6% per year14.

Social trends and infrastructure are key drivers of this. For example, in the US, the number of coffee shops grew by 70% between 2000 and 2005 with sales increasing by 488% across the decade as a whole. Also, the number of live music events attended by the average Briton increased by 35% from 2001-2007. Spending on recreation and culture is expected to account for 17% of total consumer spending by 2015 compared to 11% ten years prior15.

At the same time 3G, 4G & wi-fi hotspot penetration continues to rocket.

Similarly the digitization of Out-of-Home media is happening at a rapid rate and these screens are more often than not connected via the web. This means that many of the 2.5 million OOH advertising screens in the world16 can display frequently updated or even real time content.

While the primary consideration within this paper is ‘bought’ or ‘paid-for’ media, some of the thinking can be applicable to communication vehicles that are ‘owned’ by a brand such as retail fixtures.

How Out-of-Homecan Integrate the Other 3 Elements/

When real world OOH communications create an action that takes place via a social network, we call this dynamic, Sociable Media. This actually works in reverse too with content from social networks being used within OOH creative.Posterscope’s recent studies into the views and OOH behavior of the UK’s passionate social networkers, defined as those who claim to be ‘passionate’ about ‘Online Social Networking’ as a leisure activity or ‘hobby’ suggest that surprise, shock, sex, celebrities, sales offers or clever creative are key to driving conversation around campaigns. Fortunately, for the medium this group is particularly likely to encounter OOH media, more so than any other media, except online and mobile. 30% of them tell others about customized posters that they’ve seen and 31% tell others about ads on digital OOH screens17. For both of these measures, this audience indexes significantly higher than the population average.

The Opportunity for AdvertisersLet’s now look in some detail at what Sociable Media can do for brands.

We’ll concentrate on how Sociable Media can:

• Create engagement• Create advocacy• Reward consumers

Of course, this is not to suggest that the above are mutually exclusive.

1. Using Social Media to Create EngagementTo make a piece of creative work more engaging through the use of technology.

Airtime on digital OOH screen networks can be filled with content, which includes elements that are streamed directly from online social networks.

Visually, such ads are quite different to conventional spots and content on screens. While it can look particularly intriguing, it’s relevance to consumers is also important. There are two particularly key themes as ads containing social media streams can either be:

i. Contextually relevant due to the environment in which the screens are located and the mindsets that people are in. For example, a sports brand ad could contain streamed consumer opinions about controversial events in the world of football on screens in sports bars. A toothpaste brand wanting to make their OOH screen campaign more engaging in miserable environments could incorporate Twitter posts and Flickr photo streams tagged “smile.” Any messages and photos containing the word “smile” can be delivered to the screens in the campaign in real-time.

JC Decaux’s large ‘Transvision’ rail station LED screens (previously owned by Titan in the UK) were used to broadcast short Japanese style Haiku poems that were submitted by consumers via Twitter, thus making the experience of waiting for a train slightly less mundane.

ii. Specifically relevant to a particular geographical location. In this instance, consumers’ football related comments could be segmented so that screens only show comments relating to the local team.

Alternatively, screens might show who has checked-in to the venue on Facebook Places, Foursquare or Gowalla with posters advertising that checking-in can get you featured in the on-screen ad for a particular brand. The toothpaste example could be further enhanced with geotagged content, enabling messages or photos containing the word “smile” that have been sent or taken near the location of the screen to be prioritized.

In either case, the screen can act as public barometer of consumer activity, opinion, thoughts or mindset. This is essentially a rich media evolution of outdoor concepts, such as the Emotional Cities project, where buildings are illuminated in different colors representing the current mood of the city’s inhabitants as determined via the website users.

In principle, any screen that is connected via broadband could include this functionality, but factors such as scheduling software and content refresh rates need to be considered.

Furthermore, such streams, in the “raw state” can often contain more noise than content/and they will need professional grade tools to filter and/or humanly moderate the content before they can be fit for purpose.

The interactive system must be able to filter and curate the messages – filters can remove most offensive content, but for many campaigns, a human moderator and curator is needed to make the final editorial decision. It should be noted, that the cost of moderation when scaled properly is not a material cost to campaigns.

Photography: Emotional Cities

2. Using Sociable Media to Create AdvovacyTo encourage people to advocate a product, service or behavior. (The latter might be applicable to government advertising, for example).

On the assumption that the creative is persuasive in its own right, OOH media has long had the potential to trigger discussion. This might be a standard media format with a particularly appropriate creative or a more unusual, surprising or innovative type of display.

Advertising, in general, is well known to be a key driver of brand-related conversations. In fact, 48% of these brand-related conversations refer to marketing or media18 and the presence of advertising in a word of mouth conversation increases the probability that a consumer will make a strong product recommendation by circa 20%19.

So how might a brand take advantage of this by using Sociable Media?

• Utilize traditional, digital or innovative OOH media formats to prompt people, directly or otherwise, to comment via mobile social networking apps, such as mobile Facebook, Twitter, instant messengers, etc. According to Twitter, 20% of tweets (roughly 83 messages per second) contain a reference to a product or brand, such as those commenting on the live painting of a poster site for Cadbury’s Wispa Gold by cult artist Rolf Harris.

• Custom built interactive displays, such as touch screen store windows or freestanding installations that are connected to the likes of Facebook, are starting to be used by brands. These enable people to share thoughts, content and experiences on the spot without involving their phones. For the UK launch of the MINI Countryman model, a ‘green screen’ filming booth was placed in shopping malls, stations and city centre streets next to a life sized fiberglass model of the car. The car windows were covered with a special film that allowed them to be used as video projections that enabled people to see themselves squashed into

the car as part of a ‘World record attempt’. Participants could then use a touch screen to upload their video of the experience directly to Facebook or to request an email link, which they can then share. Thousands of people took part at every location. Nissan placed digital interactive tables in ski resort bars across Europe where people could view and share photos of themselves on the nearby ‘Nissan All Mode Ski Run’ taken earlier in the day. All photos were housed on flickr and this became the biggest flickr account in the world!

• Ads could encourage consumers to share by sending texts, photos, videos or tweets from mobiles to be displayed on OOH screens. A piece of consumer generated content might appear nationally or in a location local to the sender. The public can then respond if desired, again nationally or locally. This is essentially another digital social network. If tweets are to be used, they are selected for display on the screen if they include particular keywords or hashtags. The campaign for TV network VH1’s ‘The Great Debate’ included an element that used screens in pubs, bars and outdoors, prompting people to submit answers and comments to questions such as ‘Star Wars or Star Trek’, ‘The Beatles or the Stones’, ‘Facebook or Twitter’ etc. Consumer responses could be submitted via SMS, Facebook or the VH1 website. LocaModa’s technology then streamed responses from all of these channels to the OOH screens. Even this very low weight of OOH media generated an impressive 1% of all votes cast and the highest participation rates within bought media channels. In December 2009, LocaModa enabled the Vans “Be Here” campaign, an interactive project, enabling millions to share their image, thoughts, and hopes across the globe in seven languages. Fans could submit thoughts or photos of themselves via Facebook, MMS photo messaging or email and the best submissions appeared on the iconic MTV screen in Times Square. Over 5,000 messages were received from all corners of the planet. All messages were moderated and curated with every user receiving a digital memento that they could forward to their friends on Facebook. (The average user has 130 friends on Facebook.)

Nissan Qashqai Campaign

MINI Countryman Campaign

• The fourth route is of course people’s ability to talk face to face immediately after seeing the ad which in many OOH environments is a significant opportunity. Sites in locations as diverse as bus shelters to railway stations, bars to office elevators and many many others can act as the conversation trigger. This takes advantage of the real world OOH social networks. Posterscope’s research during a Guinness campaign demonstrated that audiences who had seen the ads in OOH environments were 44% more likely to have talked about it compared to those who had seen it on TV.

3. Using Sociable Media to Reward ConsumersTo provide people with some kind of benefit, devivered by the brand.

This might be a form of public utility, such as some useful information, a beneficial service, or an item, such as a piece of content or a voucher.

Over the years, numerous ways of delivering these kinds of rewards have been developed. Downloading content from posters to mobiles, converting posters into free vending machines or equipping screens with readers whereby users can unlock content with RFID cards are just three of the many examples.

Increasingly, people are using location based mobile apps such as Foursquare (and Facebook Places once it gains momentum) to unlock rewards by ‘checking-in’ to locations. A Sociable Media approach to this can be applied in two ways:

• The placement of ads inside, or in proximity to venues where check-in’s could take place. These encourage people to check-in, which in turn enables them to unlock a branded reward. Unlocking the reward might require repeat check-in’s or could become available at the first visit. The Financial Times has been offering free access to premium online content to those that check-in to certain cafes. Gap has awarded discounts to people checking-in to their stores. Brands such as Warner Bros, Zagat and Pepsi have created ‘badge’ related promotions, which are unlocked by visiting particular places. However, few of these to date have utilized OOH media to support such initiatives, but it can act as the perfect catalyst. Wherever LocaModa has displayed Foursquare prompts on screens within venues, the number of check-ins have increased by between 30-60%.

Photography: Campus Street Boulder

• Create brand new check-in locations for a particular social network or mobile app. Such locations could be temporary outdoor installations, experiential activity, or poster sites such as those at bus shelters. The Mayor of each of these locations (i.e. the person with the current highest number of check-in’s) is then rewarded with a physical, digital or coupon based prize. There are a number of different mechanics by which the reward might be delivered depending on the exact nature of the check-in locations. The most mainstream way of creating new check-in’s is to use existing location-based social networks, such as Foursquare; however, there is an alternative solution for clients that prefer a more customizable consumer experience that is 100% owned by the brand. In this instance, a new mobile app is created, which people are encouraged to download, enabling them to participate in a unique, rewarding location-based social media experience. The ‘Augmented Outdoor’ app developed by Posterscope and digital-experiential specialists, The Cloud and Compass, allows consumers to unlock rewards and hidden content layers on their mobiles using augmented reality and other advanced features. This is achieved by looking at particular poster sites or landmarks through a camera phone and users activity is streamed live to digital OOH screens, which act as barometers or feeds of information or opinion.

Of course, it is important to remember that all of the opportunities described above, at their heart require a creative or incentive based component that has some genuine value to consumers or is something that is really worth talking about.

Measurement &Accountability/

Such a diverse and ever changing range of opportunities requires a particularly considered approach when it comes to measuring effectiveness and value. In many cases, a combination of techniques will be required.Technology driven experiences, such as the MINI Countryman car with interactive windows, contain built in mechanisms that allow user numbers to be tracked and those that go on to share via Facebook or email can also be measured.

When planning Sociable Media, Posterscope also incorporates monitoring of online ‘buzz’ in relation to brands and their communications, allowing analysis of volumes, sources, sentiment, website types and more.

For some aspects, traditional approaches, such as face-to-face interviews to gauge shifts in perceptions and intent, could be taken. This can help complement measures of digital word of mouth and Posterscope’s Guinness research is a good example of this.

Summary/

The media elements that combine to create Sociable Media are all growing in importance and effectiveness.OOH is one of the most successful media of the last 10 years in terms of ad spend. It is also the most broadcast of all channels. Social media has quickly become mainstream. Smartphones and other devices that improve digital connectivity with OOH are starting to become the norm and offline word of mouth remains just as powerful.

Considering some or all of these as part of a Sociable Media dynamic gives advertisers a unique opportunity to create innovative, engaging, rewarding communications that drive advocacy with increasingly demonstrable effectiveness.

We are certainly not suggesting that Sociable Media should be considered in isolation of other marketing and communications activity, nor do we think that this paper is completely comprehensive. For example, we have not discussed the fact that seeding activity is often required to maximize the effect of some of the online elements, which again Posterscope offers as part of it’s Sociable Media work.

Similarly, the industry’s understanding of Sociable Media will continue to evolve, but meanwhile the potential for brands and agencies to lead the market by taking this approach is huge.

To share or download this document, please visit www.slideshare.net/posterscope

OOH ADVERTISING :digital, traditional,

experiential, innovative

OOH ADVERTISING :

sTreaming locally or conTexTually

relevanT conTenT from social

neTworks inTo OOH screen ads

ADVOCACY

ENGAGEMENT

CONSUMER

REWARD

comment viamobile social

neTworks

inTeracT with displayconnecTed To asocial neTwork

respond/conribUTe via

social neTworks

check-in ToadverTiser creaTed

locaTions

check-in To

exisTing venUe

comment online(via PC)

discussface-To-face

(in-home)

discussface-To-face

OOH(real social neTworks)

consumer sendsconTenT ToOOH screens

(DOOH social neTworks)

Seven ways to connect online and offline social experiences to deliver engagement, advocacy and brand affinity

Credits/

AuthorsJames DaviesDirector of Hyperspace, Posterscope UK& Chief Strategy Officer, Posterscope USAJames.Davies@posterscope.comtwitter.com/hyper_jameshttp://dbthnews.wordpress.comwww.slideshare.net/posterscopewww.posterscope.com

Stephen RandallCEO, Loca Modasrandall@locamoda.com twitter.com/stephenrandall www.theweboutside.comwww.locamoda.com

Michael Brennan Senior Insight Manager, Posterscope UK

Kim SauserDirector of Insight, Posterscope USA

About PosterscopePosterscope is the market leading worldwide Out-Of-Home communications agency with 48 offices around the globe.

Through it’s Hyperspace division, Posterscope was the first Out-of-Home agency in the world to establish dedicated units to exploit the growing opportunities enabled by technology, specialist production and the creative placement of media. Hyperspace has pioneered numerous possibilities, including live video streaming, visual search/image recognition, 3D screens and many others. Publisher CMD Global recently placed Hyperspace in their list of top 100 innovators alongside the likes of Google, Intel, Amazon and Nike.

Consumer insight also lies at the heart of Posterscope’s planning and it’s OCS tool is the most in-depth study of OOH consumer behavior in the media market.

Posterscope’s international division, PSI, is the market leader in executing campaigns on a truly global basis in airports, roadside and transport environments.

About LocaModaLocaModa is a place-based social media company, dedicated to helping locations engage customers and brands engage audiences.

The company was founded on the vision that place-based networks, advertisers and venues will need to leverage the web for frictionless media, connectivity to customers, cross channel audiences and measurability. LocaModa enables networks and venues reaching over 100,000,000 people every month in cafes, bars, restaurants, colleges, high-traffic public spaces and at major events.

LocaModa is a privately held company headquartered in Cambridge, MA

Data Sources/

1. Aegis BabyCenter Report, July 20092. http://socialnomics.net/3. TalkTrack TM, October 2008 – September 2009. Base: Brand conversations across all

categories (n=186,239)4. GfK5. Strategy Analytics6. i-suppli7. Quantcast8. Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project9. Intersperience10. Socialnomics.net11. comScore GSMA MMM, comScore Media Medtrix, Dec 200912. Waking Time of All Adults Mon-Sun, IPA TouchPoints 3 Hub Survey 201013. US Census Bureau)14. US Department of Transportation15. Experian/nVision16. Posterscope’s Prism Screen planning tool17. Posterscope Out-of-Home Consumer Survey18. TalkTrack Oct 2008 – Sept 200919. Keller Fay Journal of Advertising Research, June 2009