INTERNATIONAL. The US and UK out-of-home (OOH) advertising market will see a strong recovery this year and next, according to WPP CEO Mark Read, who also recommends investing in OOH campaigns at major airports.
He was speaking at the World Out of Home Organization’s virtual European Forum in an interview with the industry body’s President, Tom Goddard. Read, who presides over the world’s largest advertising company, predicted OOH market rises of +31% this year and +41% next year for the UK and +22% and +20% respectively for the US.
He cited the importance of digital OOH, which has grown by +15% at a time when OOH overall declined by -30%.
“The key question is where OOH fits in an ecommerce dominated business world,” Read said. “OOH builds brands, raises awareness and gives brands stature, and with OOH now being increasingly digitised, this adds the strengths of giving campaigns more relevance and speed and the ability to be tailored to time of day, different audiences and updated messages. Continuing digitisation should enable the medium to move up from its 7% share of global ad revenue.
“If I were running a campaign for WPP I’d probably put it on OOH in major airports. I’d certainly much rather be running an OOH media company than a magazine or newspaper these days.”
Read added that he sees WPP’s main activity as ideas and creativity, helping clients connect with consumers, build relationships and drive sales in an increasing number of ways, including social media, influencers and other channels.
He said: “We have provided a mobile app for Delta Airlines and commerce sites for Sainsburys and Net-a Porter and do a lot of tech and CRM work for other clients. If we are just tied to pure media advertising, we don’t have the same growth prospects. We have to broaden the offer.”
See Mark Read’s interview in full below.
