Shaping a new world for airport advertising

Three Out of Home advertising specialists – oOh! Chief Commercial & Product Officer Robbie Dery, Talon Outdoor/ Plexus Director of International Tom Perrett and Havas Media Director Asia Pacific Franck Vidal – met in a special Knowledge Hub session at the Virtual Travel Retail Expo to assess the airport media channel and how it is coping with the crisis.

As leader of the Plexus team, Perrett is responsible for delivering Smarter as Standard, which aims to find solutions for clients across multiple markets and environments. He considered how the channel can help the airport world of the future and how new demands from consumers and advertisers will change the way the industry works.

He highlighted three key factors – compassion, adaptation and understanding – in post COVID-19 advertising and the importance of adjusting to changes in customer mind-set. Recent research, he said, indicates that 87% of travellers would use tech to navigate their way around the airport and 71% will limit human interactions.

This move from a seamless to a “genuinely touchless” consumer journey experience in airports, and the way it impacts advertisers and how they communicate, can’t be underestimated, he added.

Vidal discussed integrated solutions which fuse mobile and OOH, with a focus on major Asian markets. He highlighted how COVID-19 has accelerated expectations around digital experiences, notably for travel retail advertising.

He said that airports and airlines are facing unprecedented challenges but should be taking the opportunity to accelerate their digital transformations to adapt to the new traveller experience, especially as this shifts towards online transactions.

“We can’t also forget what airports provide in terms of physical experience and brand experience. Airport media operators should fill the gap to uplift the duty free store visits,” he said, using the crisis as an “opportunity to collectively create a holistic approach to travel retail brands”.

Dery addressed the question of how partnerships can and should evolve, and the value of more robust data in shaping the future of this channel.

He identified quality environment and high dwell time as key value drivers for airport advertising. How brands view return on investment is changing as they become more demanding.

Dery underlined the importance of airport-specific, data-based future advertising projects. “Brands are looking for audience solutions as opposed to specific asset solutions,” he said, adding that sharing data with partners will be a differentiator and a key factor in successful outcomes for airports.

View the full session in the video below.