July has kicked off a busy and hot summer in the outdoor landscape of Greater Cairo. With an overall occupancy of 77%, Music and Real Estate have flooded the billboards across the city with the release of new albums, summer concerts and holiday resorts in the many paradises of Egypt. The Home Appliances sector has also shown some strength during July, raising their occupancy share from a mere 3% to an almost 5%. Ranking #2 again in our Top 20, Unionaire has increased their already massive presence with an additional campaign for their new Artify Air Conditioners, with Karim Abdel Aziz as brand ambassador. El Araby Group has not kept quiet, and has also increased their reach with a new branding campaign that was launched at the end of June, as well as an extension to their Sharp campaign during July. Education has appeared back in the charts, taking hold of 3% of the occupancy share of Greater Cairo. Private institutions like Nile University and Arab Academy are getting ready to welcome the new school year, and we expect to see some more competition in the higher-education industry during August. And another surprise from mobile manufacturer OPPO. After their spectacular campaign last June, the brand has upgraded their outdoor strategy in July to launch the new limited F3 Black Edition that sponsors superhero movie “Spiderman: Homecoming”. Keeping the branding zones in the capital, the campaign has also extended to the Cairo-Alexandria/Dessert Road. With special die-cuts and an impressive Spiderman webbing across the ad, the brand has transformed a walkway bridge into an advertising gate of over 450m2 – sure the biggest billboard in Egypt on the highest trafficked road this summer! Amazed drivers constantly pull over to take selfies with Spiderman and the “Selfie Expert”. As mentioned above, Real Estate has reconquered the market for the summer, increasing the number of campaigns and taking over 40% of the total occupancy share. The Top Creative campaign was indisputably awarded to Hyde Park – their stunning outdoor campaign for beach project Coast 82 showcased glittering billboards and shiny artwork in both Greater Cairo and the North Coast. However, they were not the only ones to stand out: Citystars Properties went massive with their campaign for Al Sahel project. With more than 160 ads, they have not only ranked #1 in our Top 20, they have also dominated the OOH landscape with the biggest campaign of the year. Maxim strengthened the ongoing campaign of Bo Islands and Bo Sands, as well as Projects, who in a wise move has partnered with Sabbour Consulting and upgraded their campaign for Blues Tiffany. Talking about Sabbour: they also extended their campaign for Green Square in Mostakbal City. The three developers have ranked among the Top 20 of July in number of ads. Seashell took to the billboards of Greater Cairo at the end of June, with a creative and conceptual campaign that showcased sea waters and “People of the sun”. Likewise, Emaar was also creative in their approach and brought Greek style to their Marassi project in El Alamein Coast. And let’s not forget Sodic, who surprised viewers with colorful doodle in their OOH campaign for October Plaza and their outdoor branding strategy, both of them strongly conceptual. However, some of the major industries seem to have gone on holiday for the summer. For example, the Food & Beverages industry has dropped its occupancy share this month, losing almost 4%, while Broadcast Media has gone even quieter, tumbling from 9% to a shy 2%. Communication has also slowed their rhythm to a half as compared to June, but their presence has been significantly tied to the Entertainment industry this month. Vodafone, for instance, joined forces again with Pepsi to launch Amr Diab’s latest album, while Orange stood out with a special campaign for Ramy Shabry and a second campaign with their recently-appointed musical brand ambassador Nancy Ajram. Most other industries have kept a stable presence, specially Banking, Steel Manufacturing, Shopping Malls, and Ceramics & Sanitary Ware. Similarly, Furniture & Interiors, Mobile Devices and Non-profit have not suffered any significant fluctuations. Well, July has certainly been hot and entertaining! Stay tuned to see what the end of the summer brings us in August. And if you want to receive the top insights and news of the OOH market directly in your inbox, don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter. Remember: the better the insights, the better the strategy!
