Outdoor has always been an exclusive club. Traditionally only brands with big budgets and bold ambition were using the medium. Second perhaps only to TV.
Most things start as niche or exclusive only to find that growing demand eats into exiting barriers; making the exclusive available to the masses.
Outdoor is following this trend. Technology is making it possible for businesses to gain access to some of the most prestigious sites. Most fall into the trap of thinking it is the budget that is the main obstacle. However you will find that it is your business profile, your product or the actual creative execution that may be the problem.
The issue is that even though your ad run successfully on a similar panel in what appears to be a similar location, for whatever reason it got rejected. It can be very frustrating for all the parties involved, as it often happens at the last minute.
Even when you call the billboard owner directly and it has been cleared and given green light, the final say is always with the landowner.
So what do you do?
Here are some basic rules:
The landowner (for example a shopping mall) doesn’t want advertisers that compete with its core business – i.e retail. It makes sense. Why would anyone pay for an expensive store if you could reach the shoppers via digital screens in the mall? We had countless of e-commerce businesses looking to run advertising in the shopper audience only to be refused on their preferred screens.
But what about Property companies or estate agents? They are not competing, but as a general rule, will not be able to run their ads in shopping malls. Why, you may ask?
It may be that there are actually flats or office space above the mall or the developer that owns the mall is also offering residential units in the area.
Too often the company managing the mall space also has a residential arm and therefore any other property advertising would be seen as a direct competition.
So with over 15 000 panels available in the UK it can be quite challenging to navigate. But all those small disappointments have actually helped us to develop a better recommendation mechanism. So if you are running your ad via Flow City, we will not only get you the best value for money panels, we will also strive to prioritise screens that will accept your creative.
We have used our experience, talked with users and media owners to help any business get their right message to the right audience.
