Digital out of home media owner Ocean Outdoor this week formally launched the UK’s first large format full-motion city centre screen advertising network.
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The Grid, we are told, was developed in response to consultation with agencies and brand owners who expressed a need to expand premium full-motion campaigns into key city centre environments.
The Grid [2] consists of seven key digital outdoor locations across six of the UK’s biggest cities. In addition to London, Manchester and Birmingham, The Grid includes the newly launched sites in Liverpool, Leeds and Glasgow which have been specifically developed to increase Ocean’s UK coverage.
The seven screens are future proofed to include the latest technologies, allowing fully interactive campaigns to be networked across the country.
Ocean Outdoor marketing director Richard Malton told us “The launch of The Grid is a major development for Ocean and more importantly for the growth of large format digital out of home.
“Over the past 24 months, we have been working very closely with advertisers on some truly innovative campaigns, The Grid allows these London tests to become full national campaigns. Digital out of home is rapidly coming of age.”
To support The Grid, Ocean has introduced a new trading model, developed to help media planners and buyers fully exploit the technical capability and potential of digital out of home. This includes: –
- 20 seconds (2 x 10 second slots) networks, for advertisers who want to reach audience consumers using full-motion content simultaneously across The Grid.
- 20 seconds (2 x 10 second slots) city by city, for campaigns that require a specific city centre environment. Aligned to Ocean’s Ask for it by name strategy.
- 20 seconds (2 x 10 second slots) dynamic, providing 100% flexible activity by day, daypart, hour, minute or second. All previous OOH restrictions are removed.
Iain Chapman, Ocean Outdoor sales director said: “The Grid allows us to turn how digital out of home is traded on its head. We have long held the view that digital will lead to a more dynamic trading model and that is exactly what The Grid will deliver.”
20th Century Fox is the official launch partner of The Grid, showing their latest release, the thriller ‘Runner Runner’ starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake.
20th Century Fox marketing director Chris Green said: ” Working within the entertainment industry means our full-motion assets lend themselves perfectly to digital out of home.
The Grid includes:
- Eat Street @ London Westfield
- The Screen @ Canary Wharf
- The Screen @ New Street, Birmingham
- The Screen @ St. Enoch, Glasgow
- The Screen @ Cavern Quarter, Liverpool
- Axis @ Hacienda, Manchester
- The Screen @ Trinity, Leeds
Ocean operates the most iconic outdoor sites in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Leeds. They include Britain’s largest outdoor advertising site at London’s IMAX; the Two Towers East and Two Towers West, which dominate the main arterial corridors of London’s A4 and the financial district; and the Liverpool media wall, the UK’s largest full-motion advertising site.