Out-of-home Advertising Effective Tool For Metro Consumers

Out-of-home advertising appears to be an effective touchpoint for middle class consumers in Metro Manila, with the country’s busiest highway, EDSA, garnering 43.9 percent market share of the multi-billion industry.

This was revealed in the latest study conducted by Strategic Consumer and Media Incites (SMCI), a consumer and market research company, which covered respondents from 13 to 60 years old in all social classes A-E and those living around Metro Manila.

The study titled: Out of Home Landscape and Advertising conducted by the SCMI showed that most billboard ads are products and services essential to lifestyle and not basic needs.

South and North Luzon Expressways came in next with 21.2 per cent and 19.8 per cent shares, respectively. The rest of the secondary roads such as Ortigas, Commonwealth, Roxas Blvd., Quezon Ave., Espana, Quezon Blvd., Commonwealth, NAIA, and Marcos Highway shared 15 percent of the market share.

Top ten billboard ads in Metro Manila include fashion products, real estate and banking. These were followed by cars, medicines, restaurants, clinics and hospitals as well as home furnishings.

“The mix of product categories in Billboard advertising appears to be those that are essential to lifestyle and not about basic needs as evident in the proportion of lifestyle categories cornering the major shares in ad spending on this medium,” said Eric Barrera, Client Service Director.

Most popular brands that advertise in various media platforms also dominate Out of Home or billboard ads, according to the study.

SCMI study shows lifestyle products and services dominate products advertised on billboards with spending up to  P285.20 Million in the first three months of 2017. These products are fashion boutiques, real estate, beverages, banks and financial services, fastfoods, media companies , passenger cars/AUVs, over the counter medicines/supplies, canned food processed meats, restaurants. The lowest spending for these products is at P53 Million.

The top ten billboard advertisers according to the study include Suyen Corp., Jollibee, San Miguel Corp., Tiara Commercial,  Robinsons,  Pepsi Cola,  SM Devt Corp, Golden ABC, Vida Nutriscience and  Iflix with spending between P22 Million to P115 Million from January to March 2017.

Top products on billboard ads include brands such as  Bench, SMC, Jollibee, Rob, Penshoppe, Iflix, SMDC, Chowking, Gibi and  Mcdonald’s with a total spending of P19 Million to P106 Million in the first three months of 2017.

The survey that covers those who travel around Metro Manila except drivers of public transport also showed that “the advertising clutter is more glaring at the level of brand names.”

“The list of top brand players is longer than what are usually observed in core media. Each top brand could achieve only a single digit in the share of advertising spend,” Barrera said.

The study also reveals frequency of travels and specific time where people from all walks of life could see billboard ads.

· Working population are mostly out on travel from 5pm onwards.

· Out of Home travels peak between  6-9am and 5-7pm

· Class ABCs are likely to be out during morning rush hour 7-9am and less likely to be out at noontime

· Females travel  mostly on late mornings while males are likely to be out of home during evening rush hour at 5-6pm

· Teens are the most likely to be out of home before 7am and 12nn-3pm and least likely to be traveling from 7-11am

· Non working population are more likely to be out earlier in the day and close to noon

According to the survey, some of the positive attributes of billboard ads that make it attractive to the target markets are:  visually pleasing, colorful, eye catching and clear. However, its downside mostly concerns security such as fears it’s too big and might collapse, blocks views as well as distracting particularly those that carry sexy visuals of celebrities.

The study shows that already popular brands maintain strong presence in billboard ads. These include clothing line Bench and food and beverage giants Jollibee and Coke.

Telecommunications firm Smart and Globe and fastfood multinational McDonalds follow in terms of managing presence in billboard ads. Bearbrand (milk), Chowking (fastfood), Marlboro (cigarettes) and Samsung (electronics) are also on top ten list of popular billboard ads.

Barrera pointed out thought that while Out of Home is increasingly becoming a popular platform, television still dominates the media platforms for advertising followed by Mobile and Out of Home advertising.  Internet and radio platforms maintained popularity.  

SCMI believes there will be an increase in demand to measure audience exposure of Out of Home ads due to its steady rise in popularity. The study on audience exposure will be useful for advertisers and their agencies to plan their communication strategies.