Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
The development and implementation of smart cities will create opportunity for the out of home (OOH) advertising industry, according to a new study released by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). Connected technologies matter most for OOH as the future of smart cities evolves.
Aaccording to the report, prepared by Gordon Feller, Meeting of the Minds, a group that brings together urban sustainability and technology leader, “The smart cities phenomenon is creating real opportunities for the OOH industry. As cities embrace for big changes wrought by the digital wave, city leaders are making investments in ‘commonplace’ physical assets: streetlights, traffic lights, parking meters, bus stops, and more. A consequence of becoming smarter creates business opportunities for the OOH industry.”
For OOH media companies, the vital connections that matter can be divided into three types:
- Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Connections: Information transferred from include sensors, robots, computers, and mobile devices. Often called the Internet of Things (IoT).
- Machine-to-People (M2P) Connections: Information transferred from a machine to a person, or vice versa. Referred to as Data & Analytics.
- People-to-People (P2P) Connections: Information transferred from one person to another. Increasingly, P2P connections happen virtually, through video, mobile devices, and social networks.
OAAA’s Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Freitas told us “This report fills a big gap in our industry’s existing knowledge about OOH’s role in smart cities. These insights point the way to new opportunities, which key companies will be anxious to pursue this year and beyond.”
The report urges the OOH industry to explore how it can participate in the transformation from conventional to smart cities. A starting point is to think about how the industry integrates with the four core elements of smart cities: people, process, data, and things.
- People: OOH connects people in more relevant, valuable ways.
- Process: OOH delivers the right information to the right people at the right time.
- Data: OOH leverages data to better target audiences.
- Things: Connected devices and objects (smart sensors) can be attached to OOH structures.
The report offers questions and answers to help the OOH industry understand opportunities associated with data, services, and security, building a foundation on which to keep pace with the smart cities phenomenon. Addressed in the report are topics such as ideal smart city characteristics, data-privacy concerns, potential revenue streams, and common steps municipalities are taking to build smart city infrastructures.
The full report is available here or by calling OAAA at +1 (202) 833-5566.
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