The month of March has been unexpectedly busy. Controversy, big events, and special occasions have affected the OOH Industry of Greater Cairo in unpredictable ways! With an overall occupancy of 81%, we have certainly noticed the extra campaigns, as compared to the 76% occupancy from last February. Mother’s Day has undoubtedly contributed to part of the extra work, notwithstanding the second half of the month has been busier than previous years. Our top advertiser industry, Real Estate, has grown again this month. Not surprisingly, with Cityscape Egypt taking place from 29th to 30th of March, we have seen all the major Egyptian developers grab the opportunity to advertise their booth at this key exhibition of the year and bring to the billboards their most remarkable projects. Some brands have really made an impact, as in the case of Sabbour Group, who has launched a massive OOH campaign for their flagship project Landmark, as well as projects L’Avenir and Green Square, with strategically chosen locations for highly-effective audience impact. Other regular advertisers of the industry have kept a similar approach to the previous month, such as Il Monte Galala, Stella Di Mare, and Al Burouj, or have decreased the number of locations this month, like SARAI – who we guess is cooking something big for next month! Broadcast Media has taken the industry by storm this month, with campaigns from Al Nahar and CBC fighting for the first two positions of our Top 20 ranking. Al Nahar, who has ranked first this month with the highest number of faces booked, focused on promoting the new shows for next season, while CBC‘s campaign advertised their current shows. Two different approaches, though very similar strategies with both channels showcasing their TV stars. MBC Misr has also appeared profusely, and though the choice of locations doesn’t match the strategic positioning of their previous campaigns, still ranks on the eight position. The Ceramic & Sanitary Ware industry has come back to our Top 20 by the hand of El Sallab Group, who launched a huge campaign with “crazy” discounts and got to rank on the third position. Egyptian giant Mazloum, who has kept an uncontended first position during January and February, has cut the number of ads by half this month and gone down to position 13th, but still visible in our ranking. A new addition to our industry share of March has been the shopping malls, overtaking a total 2% of the occupancy. Mall of Egypt launched a massive awareness campaign promoting their snow outlet which they have affectionately called “The Egyptian North Pole”. And let’s not forget the main events of the month: Mother’s and Women’s Days! As every special occasion, they have left us a bit of “sweet and salty” feelings. Some Egyptian tycoon brands like El Araby launched a warm campaign with caring messages for the queens of our families, which got very positive feedback from the viewers, while other brands like Sunny opted to celebrate Women’s Day with a challenging campaign that has left behind not only controversy, but sourness towards the brand. As we said at the beginning of the article, March has been an unexpectedly busy month with unpredictable outcomes! If you are interested in learning more about the brands that rocked the OOH media landscape this month, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter and receive the latest updates for the Egyptian OOH Media market directly in your inbox! And remember: the better the insights, the better the strategy!
