#CityLiveChallenge Unlocking The Potential of DOOH
Guest Contributor, Andrew Newman
Last week, MediaCo Outdoor and Campaign Magazine launched the ‘Campaign CityLive Challenge‘, which tasks two creative teams to push the use of DOOH to its limit, using the MediaCo Outdoor CityLive network in Manchester (and which takes place September 8 – 12, 2014).
Furthermore, with team leaders, Andy Sandoz, Creative Partner at Havas Work Club and Malin Hanas, Creative Director, Razorfish on board, this was a competition (my dynamic digital distribution agency) Enigma had to be involved in. Why? Because we want to see dynamic DOOH used for what it is; a marriage between the Commercial and Live TV environments, rather than just another advertising platform with smoke and mirrors, and this Challenge is where we will see that happen.
#CityLiveChallenge has been developed so that both partners in this marriage can be given equal treatment, rather than the commercial elements dominating and squeezing out the live broadcasting elements. We are incredibly excited about what these two teams will be coming up with and the creativity that it is going to release.
So, how has the Challenge managed to produce this environment? Why can it use commercial and live TV principles, where other DOOH campaigns cannot?
There are (I think) several reasons: –
- The Challenge has been set up so that it is performing on a stage that is free from client-side expectations, pressure and legacy of approval process. Instead, the teams have to create a DOOH campaign for two charities, of the Team Leader’s choice. This means that DOOH can be unleashed from the typical campaign bureaucracy and mediocrity and breathe life into CityLive’s DOOH network. This Challenge allows some of the best digital creative minds in the UK the opportunity to develop a campaign that will truly exploit what DOOH can do; using principles from both the Commercial and Live TV environment. At last, the suppressed partner will have its chance to shine next to its dominant Commercial spouse.
- The teams have been given a palette of DOOH technologies to use, consisting of: geo-location data, built-in cameras, touch screen interactivity, external data feeds, dual screens, live interaction, real time content, ability to evolve campaign content over time. These technologies allow the creative principles of Live TV to be adopted, while measuring uptake, engagement and interaction, all valuable Commercial principles.
- The CityLive DOOH network operates in Manchester. The population, through their previous use of CityLive, have already proven themselves as an interactive, literate audience, understanding how to use gesture based interactivity. They know and enjoy this DOOH network; they are a ripe audience for this.
We hope that this competition is going to unlock the potential of DOOH to a larger audience, rather than it being a secret just a few of us ‘know’. I am thrilled that I am one of the judges for it, judging on creative merit, and being part of the Challenge that will throw wide the doors and show what DOOH can do.
So, what am I expecting to see from the Challenge’s teams?
Let’s go back to that unequal marriage of live TV and commercial. I want that turned on its head. I am expecting the teams to even up that marriage and to see them using the principles of live TV alongside the usual commercial considerations.
These Live TV principles include:
- Pre-Promotion, dynamic content needs an audience, so it’s schedule needs to be promoted. executing an intriguing / exciting teaser campaign, so the first broadcast is highly anticipated
- Signposting to say this programme is ‘live’; creating a buzz around the scheduled programme slots as there’s an air of ‘anything might happen’ a real sense of Jeopardy.
- Current content; it’s new and in the now and there’s an exclusivity attached to it, which provides a very strong appointment to view
- Evolution of content as the viewers provide input and engage, changing storylines/characters as popularity waxes and wanes, feeding into that ‘anything might happen’ anticipation
- Interaction using a ‘second screen’; in Live TV this might be Twitter feeds, red button. For this Challenge it will be using the second screen on the CityLive kiosks and also the audience’s ‘second screens’; their mobile devices.
Adopting these principles will lead to a DOOH campaign which provides a depth of engagement with the audience that is unprecedented outside of Live TV. Note the word ‘campaign’ – this also has to be about an ongoing relationship with the brand, not a one-hit DOOH wonder.
Marrying up these live TV principles with commerical principle will result in a DOOH campaign of unprecedented engagement, which can be measured. That is the beauty of CityLive; every touch, click, view and download is recorded and collated. Both partners have been given equal status in this DOOH network.
Now it’s time for the #CityLiveChallenge teams to unlock what these two can do when harmoniously working together.
Follow the progress of the Challenge at #CityLiveChallenge
Andrew Newman is Co-Founder of Enigma, a dynamic digital distribution agency, existing to inspire and simplify digital out of home. Andrew is on the panel of judges for the Campaign CityLive Challenge, judging creative content and execution.
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