What we’ve learnt so far

[18 September] Now Near Next was introduced back in May, and since then we’ve published lots and lots of content, metrics and opinion. Some of this content is no longer as relevant, however much is still important now, especially as we enter the final quarter of the year and begin 2021 planning.

From everything that we’ve published, we wanted to revisit some of those key points.

Cycling is booming.

At the peak of the pandemic, we reported on the Opportunities for Change, looking at how our social spaces within towns and cities could be reimagined. Belfast’s Dublin Road now has a huge new bike lane, and pavements within the city centre have been widened to facilitate social distancing. Cycling remains a popular mode of transport, with sales of new cycles high and Sustrans NI recently calling for further investment in infrastructure to retain the new converts.

For OOH and brands, the changing streetscape delivers a change in media consumption, increased time taken to pass a panel and greater awareness of the environment.

Walking within Belfast has also increased well above baseline (54%), putting it on a par with pre-Covid activity from the first quarter of 2020 (Apple). With public transport catering to reduced passenger numbers to facilitate social distancing, walking has been encouraged, and has been the focus of a dedicated OOH campaign. Again, this increases the awareness with campaigns, and can increase engagement, particularly if a call to action is strong.

Location data is key

Behind every good OOH campaign is excellent planning and audience insights. Our Pinpoint system has always been a robust and essential source of planning information, particularly for identifying points of interest where we can reach audiences in a relevant and contextual manner. It’s still about being in the right place, at the right time, with the right message and Following the Audience.

Our extensive repository of location data includes:-

Household and population densities within ‘Small Areas’ of Northern Ireland
Open Grocery Retail e.g. Multiples, convenience, discount stores, off-licenses
Leisure areas e.g. parks, beaches and forests
Community services e.g. pharmacies, banks, vets/pet shops
DIY outlets

Overlaying population data with the relevant ‘go-to’ retail and leisure location points of interest allows us to identify where those audiences, when they are out of home, can be reached. As lockdowns fluctuate and change, often by postcode area, our mapping system can provide accurate insights into audiences, delivering the right message to the right people, at the right time.

People Movement

Audiences are still on the move, but they aren’t moving in the ways we are used to. We’ve seen traffic data grow consistently until the point where it was well above even the peak in January. Weekly we report on the subtle trends within the data, and when taken as a longer period of time we believe that seasonality plays a large part in the increased movement.

The baseline throughout has been taken as 13^th January 2020, a ‘standard’ Monday pre-Covid where schools and workforces would have returned after the Christmas break. Through July and August increased volumes of traffic were observed, likely due to increased staycations and holidays within NI.

Workforces are slowly returning to the office, with research from Hays showing 60% of companies in NI are returning to the office. Blended working and split shifts will become more common to facilitate social distancing, which does appear to affect traffic volumes during the AM and PM rush hour.

It is key to remember that even at the height of lockdown, we saw people moving around. Whether it was essential trips, caring or medical reasons or key workers commuting, audiences were exposed to Outdoor advertising regularly. Although commuter traffic has reduced, overall audience flow has increased. We strongly believe this represents greater levels of movement in suburban areas. Audience mindset is also likely to have changed, with less distinction between work and home life. This leaves OOH well placed to deliver campaigns at community level, with a huge variety of formats targeting audiences at daily touchpoints.