Practical Measures to Increase Transit Advertising Revenues (2009) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 25-61
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From page 25... ...
The outlying group here was media generalists with local/regional clients, in which 80% came from firms of this size. • One-quarter of out-of-home specialists had transit media specialists within their firms.
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From page 26... ...
Years in Media Planning Respondents had to have been in media planning for at least three years to be admitted to the survey. More than 50% of all media planners in the survey had been in the business 26 ActualPl 150 75 75 TOTAL 75 38 37 Out-ofHome Specialists 75 37 38 Media Generalists Media Generalists Out-ofHome Specialists TOTAL Advertise nationally 42 Advertise locally or regionally 60 TOTAL 102 anned Clients 7432 7919 15351 Table 2.
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From page 27... ...
Firm' s Annual Billings 3.315.90.25.8m1$< B7.634.126.125.72m01$–m1$ 0.038.326.125.52m05$–m11$ 0.014.126.914.61m002$–m15$ 3.31.7A5.321.11m005$–m002$ 0.51.79.59.5B1$–m005$ 7.15.99.52.5B1$> 3. Presence of Transit Media Specialist in House 0.50.91A5.723.61esuohnitsilaicepsaidemtisnarT 4.
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From page 28... ...
Out-of-home specialists use bus wraps, bus stations and station dominations much more frequently than generalist media planners. • The most frequently cited obstacles to recommending more transit media were budget limitations, lack of a good transit option in the geography needed, and lack of fit with marketing and media objectives.
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From page 29... ...
Frequency of Recommending Transit Media Respondents were asked for the percentage of clients to whom they recommend transit media. As expected, this percentage was higher for out-of-home specialists than for generalist media planners.
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From page 30... ...
OOH Specialists (% of 51) Media Generalists w/ National Clients (% of 42)
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From page 31... ...
• Lack of fit with the advertiser's brand objectives • Not among the media the client prefers • Too expensive in general/production costs too high Section 3: Effectiveness of Transit Advertising To understand the media selections of media planners, how they view transit media's best uses needs to be understood. The research team explored assumptions about applicability by presenting 14 common media and marketing 31 Transit Budget (% of OOH)
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From page 32... ...
• In the one-answer–only test, transit was awarded the most "best at" votes of any medium tested for "reach a captive audience." This was the only one of the 14 objectives for which transit received the most "best at" votes. • Among out-of-home specialists, transit holds its own against billboards on the four media and marketing objectives for which transit receives its greatest number of "best at" scores: "build/extend frequency," "reach a captive audience," "build/extend reach," and "achieve market saturation." • Among generalist media planners, transit outscored billboards on three of the four objectives for which transit received the most "best at" scores.
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From page 33... ...
was higher for out-of-home specialists than for generalist media planners. Among generalist media planners, the ratings levels were higher for generalists with national clients than for generalists with local/ regional clients.
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From page 34... ...
Percentage of media planners who consider media and marketing objectives to be very effectively met by subway trains, platforms and stations. Media/Marketing Objectives TOTAL SAMPLE(% of 153)
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From page 35... ...
"Reach a captive audience" received a high percentage of "best at" scores across all three segments. But out-of-home specialists give transit more credit for building/extending reach and frequency than it appears the generalist media planners do.
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From page 36... ...
Media Generalists w/ National Clients (% of 42) Media Generalists w/ Local/Regional (% of 60)
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From page 37... ...
(See Table 14.) Turning now to generalist media planners, they scored transit better than billboards for three of transit's top four media objectives.
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From page 38... ...
Because the research team hypothesized that this would be the case, the survey, after this point, provided a definition of transit advertising as follows: "For the remainder of the survey, please think of transit media as any form of advertising on the interior or exterior of public buses, subways, streetcars, trolleys and commuter rail, including stations and platforms." Beliefs about the Use and Applicability of Transit Media Media planners agreed (77%) with the statement, "Transit's best use is as a supplement to other media." Higher percentages of general media planners agreed than out-of-home specialists (71% of out-of-home specialists agree/strongly agree; 83% of generalists with national clients agree/strongly agree; 78% of generalists with local/regional clients agree/strongly agree)
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From page 39... ...
Beliefs about the Use and Applicability of Transit Media "Transit's best use is a supplement to other media" Agree/ Strongly Agree 77% 71% 83% 78% Neither Agree nor Disagree 15% 22% 10% 13% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 8% 8% 7% 8% "I've had a good experience with transit advertising" Agree/ Strongly Agree 77% 82% 74% 75% Neither Agree nor Disagree 21% 16% 24% 23% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 2% 2% 2% 2% "Transit is only appropriate for a small group of categories" Agree/ Strongly Agree 13% 4% 19% 17% Neither Agree nor Disagree 33% 24% 36% 38% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 54% 73%A 45% 45% "Transit is an afterthought in most media plans" Agree/ Strongly Agree 26% 18% 36% 27% Neither Agree nor Disagree 33% 29% 33% 37% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 41% 53%A 31% 37% Beliefs about Recommending Transit Media "I'm comfortable recommending transit media to clients" Agree/ Strongly Agree 92% 96% 93% 88% Neither Agree nor Disagree 5% 2% 5% 7% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 3% 2% 2% 5% "I recommend transit media more than I did in the past" Agree/ Strongly Agree 52% 67%A 52% 40% Neither Agree nor Disagree 41% 31% 38% 50% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 7% 2% 10% 10% Beliefs about Clients and Transit Media "Transit needs to be pitched to clients; they rarely request it themselves" Agree/ Strongly Agree 56% 45% 64% 58% Neither Agree nor Disagree 21% 26% 21% 17% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 24% 29% 14% 25% "It's difficult to sell transit media to clients" Agree/ Strongly Agree 21% 20% 19% 23% Neither Agree nor Disagree 45% 39% 55% 43% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 34% 41% 26% 33% "Clients' perceptions of transit media are positive" Agree/ Strongly Agree 46% 45% 50% 45% Neither Agree nor Disagree 44% 49% 43% 40% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 10% 6% 7% 15% "Clients generally approve our media plans as recommended" Agree/ Strongly Agree 78% 84% 71% 77% Neither Agree nor Disagree 15% 12% 24% 12% Disagree/ Strongly Disagree 7% 4% 5% 12% A = Significantly higher than all media generalists @ 90% confidence level B = Significantly higher than the other media generalists @ 90% confidence level Data compiled from responses to Question 23 of the survey (available in Appendix A)
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From page 40... ...
with the statement, "I recommend more transit media than I did in the past." A higher percentage of out-of-home specialists agreed than general media planners (67% of out-of-home specialists agree/strongly agree; 52% of generalists with national clients agree/strongly agree; 40% of generalists with local/regional clients agree/strongly agree)
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From page 41... ...
Headlines • Out-of-home specialists are very comfortable with transit advertising's effectiveness. • Generalist media planners are significantly more skeptical of transit advertising's effectiveness.
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From page 42... ...
This finding is very interesting because this segment of media planners appears in many of its responses to be enthusiastic supporters of transit media. However, if close to half of generalists with national clients cannot affirm that transit advertising is effective, then they certainly will not put themselves in the position of defending its presence in their media plans to advertisers.
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From page 43... ...
Section 6: Desirability of Features of Media This section of the survey presented 17 features of media -- all media -- and asked respondents to rate each in terms of desirability to them when they are making their media planning selections. A prominent theme in pre-research interviews with media planners was the hindrance to transit media usage of not having a credible audience measurement system.
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From page 44... ...
: being immune from technology that permits consumers to skip viewing an ad, offering 24-hour exposure, and having standardized ad sizes. These features are "nice to haves." Notable Differences Among the Segments A significantly higher percentage of generalist media planners stated that having comprehensive demographic data is extremely desirable versus out-of-home specialists (77% of out-of-home specialists rated it "very desirable" or "extremely desirable" versus 91% of generalists with national clients and 90% of generalists with local/regional clients)
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From page 45... ...
• The differences found between out-of-home specialists and generalist media planners are of minor significance. • Out-of-home specialists gave billboards higher ratings than they gave transit media.
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From page 46... ...
Only 37% of media planners said "a good value for the money" describes transit "completely" or "very well." A sizable portion of respondents said that "a good value for the money" describes transit "somewhat." On "has reasonable production costs," only 21% of respondents thought it describes transit media "completely" or "very well." Again, a large group (44%) said "somewhat." Aside from issues with data and perceived value, transit media are not widely believed to deliver exactly what was bought -- media planners' most desirable feature.
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From page 47... ...
So billboard is perceived to perform pretty well on "delivers exactly what was bought" -- the number one most important feature -- and "can target specific areas or demographic groups" -- also among the top five. Section 8: Satisfaction with Sales Representatives To a significant degree, whether media planners select transit media for their plans can be influenced by their interactions with their transit media sales representatives.
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From page 48... ...
Among this subset of media planners, larger percentages of generalist media planners than out-of-home specialists give their sales representatives below average scores on providing demographic information, effective selling materials and reliable follow-up, and keeping planners current on new media options. (See Table 28.)
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From page 49... ...
General w/ Local/Regional (% of 39) "My media sales rep spends as much time selling me on transit as on other media" Strongly agree/Agree 42 43 44 39 Disagree/ Strongly disagree 29 31 17 35 "My media sales rep is as knowledgeable about transit as other media" Strongly agree/Agree 73 71 83 69 Disagree/ Strongly disagree 10 11 6 12 "My media sales rep provides selling tools and materials for transit that are as effective as those for other media" Strongly agree/Agree 51 60 44 42 Disagree/ Strongly disagree 23 23 17 27 Total sample = media planners with sales representatives who sell multiple media including transit (79)
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From page 50... ...
"Relative to other media sales reps, my transit rep takes time to understand my needs and my clients' objectives" BIC/AA 43 50 58 29 WIC/BA 15 13 4 24 B "Relative to other media sales reps, my transit rep is knowledgeable and prepared" BIC/AA 51 50 58 47 WIC/BA 12 6 8 18 "Relative to other media sales reps, my transit rep provides useful demographic information" BIC/AA 32 31 42 27 WIC/BA 30 6 21 47 B "Relative to other media sales reps, my transit rep provides effective selling tools and materials" BIC/AA 39 31 58 B 29 WIC/BA 24 6 25 32 "Relative to other media sales reps, my transit rep is reliable for following up after the pitch" BIC/AA 61 81 A 67 47 WIC/BA 18 6 13 27 "Relative to other media sales reps, my transit rep keeps me current on new media options" BIC/AA 45 38 63 35 WIC/BA 24 6 13 41 B Total sample = media planners with transit-dedicated sales representatives (74)
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From page 51... ...
• Improving the pricing of the media, lowering the cost of production and increasing flexibility of how formats are bundled were high among the suggestions of generalist media planners, but not nearly as evident among out-ofhome specialists. Suggestions for Making Transit Media More Attractive The most frequently offered suggestions for improving the attractiveness of transit media were (1)
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From page 52... ...
multi-city rates." – "Cost based on efficiencies compared to other mass media." • Production Costs – "We have found that production costs can be quite costly. Whereas we buy a vinyl that can be utilized on several out-of-home boards for a relatively low cost, when we have purchased transit advertising, the production costs are often higher than two months of the space costs." – "Smaller production fees and turnaround times." – "Roll up production costs into buy; quit nickel and dime-ing us." – "Most of our clients love the concept of transit media and it's exclusively the production costs that turn them off." – "Lower cost to actually create the wraps." • Sales – "More productive sales team that understands my business." – "Friendlier, easier to work with knowledgeable sales force." – "Need to be able to speak to my overall campaign goals and objectives instead of trying to change the campaign's objectives to fit transit media's strengths." – "Need to be in front of the agency to tell us what is new." – "[Show us]
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From page 53... ...
Finding: Transit media are not as widely recommended to advertisers as the previous findings suggest. Seventy-five percent of out-of-home specialists recommend transit frequently, but only 40% of generalist media planners do the same.
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From page 54... ...
Only 38% of respondents said that "efficient" describes transit "very" or "extremely well." Finding: Views are split on transit advertising's effectiveness. Eighty-two percent of out-of-home specialists said "efficient" describes transit advertising "very" or "extremely well." Among generalist media planners, only 46% said the same.
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From page 55... ...
On the negative side, 34% of media planners with transit-dedicated representatives were somewhat or not-at-all satisfied with their representatives, and 43% of the media planners with multi-media sales representatives were. Finding: Media planners' top suggestions for increasing transit advertising's attractiveness were to develop an audience measurement system and introduce innovative new products.
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From page 56... ...
Advertising Sales Contractor Interviews Whereas our media planner survey explored the purchaser's view of transit advertising, interviews with advertising sales contractors provided the view from the seller's perspective. Many transit agencies have media sales capabilities in-house.
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From page 57... ...
Another advertising sales contractor estimated that his company did only 10% direct sales, 35% to local media agencies and 55% to national media agencies. Much of the sales effort of advertising sales contractors -- in fact of sales representatives of all media types -- is focused on getting media planners acquainted with and excited about the media they represent.
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From page 58... ...
However, this can be seen as a threat by the advertising sales contractor because now his company would face competition for customers. The first customers targeted by the new media sales people are often existing transit advertising clients.
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From page 59... ...
They pointed to the fact that transit has to be presented to media planners and advertisers because they rarely ask for it themselves. As one advertising sales contractor executive said, "You have to work at selling transit." According to advertising sales contractors, possible explanations for the difficulty of selling transit include the following: • Transit is not considered a mainstream medium.
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From page 60... ...
– Introduce new bus design – Transit TV • Respondents from media markets ranked 11 to 50 – Clearinghouse to connect with national advertisers – Add electronics – Third-party media trades – Wrapped trains – LCD signs at bus shelters – LCD screens on bus backs – Bundle transit with other media – Use a national sales company -- a regional one doesn't provide same access to national advertisers – Light rail kiosks – Re-zone to permit bus shelter advertising – Sell reflective material for a premium – Offer free ad design help – Sell ads on tickets and passes • Respondents from media markets ranked 50 – Allow larger ads – Place advertising on ride guide – Offer special deals, e.g., buy two get one free – More displays and more promotion Obstacles to Selling More Transit Media Respondents' perspectives on obstacles to increasing transit media sales are these: • Finite numbers of buses • Limits on how much advertising consumers will tolerate • Limited understanding of potential customers: preferences, buying behaviors • Misperceptions: the audience is bus riders and an undesirable demographic • Low perceived value • Signage ban • Transit not considered; when it is, it's thought to reach just transit riders The array of responses above is a good reminder that there are many facets to the challenge of driving higher advertising sales. Public transit systems' advertising growth can be hampered by governmental restrictions, rider complaint and even limited inventory.
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From page 61... ...
The responses are as follows: • Have a way to connect transit agencies with advertisers, especially national advertisers. • Conduct market research into rider purchasing power.
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