2017 was an exciting year for the outdoor media landscape of Greater Cairo. The general occupancy across the city kept well above an average 80%, and some campaigns impacted the market in unexpected ways, giving way to new tendencies that will continue to develop during 2018. Here are the 5 top trends that will shape the outdoor media landscape of Greater Cairo in the upcoming months: 1- Brand building on the roads Since mobile manufacturer OPPO installed their first Branding Zone back in October 2016, several brands have tried new combinations of serials and special set-ups trying to catch viewers’ attention. Branding zones, branding corridors, and the all-new branding lounges have proven the most effective way to build a strong image on the roads during the past year. With strategic positioning that goes beyond the regular media planning, 2018 will certainly see many brands franchising the roads with new ways of ultimate OOH branding. 2- Bolder creativity Long gone are the days when three ads on October Bridge were enough to position your brand in the Egyptian market. With about 6.000 ad faces across the city, Outdoor Media still has the highest reach in Cairo, but standing out from your competitors is also becoming harder with each campaign. Creativity not only gives your ad more visibility, it also makes viewers perceive the effort behind the campaign – and creating that bond with your target audience is the best way to connect with them! Throughout 2017, we have seen the evolution of die-cuts from small bites exceeding the borders of the ads a few centimeters, to full 3-D designs of several square meters that bring a totally new dimension to the concept of billboard. Campaigns like OUD’s Heliopolis Hills on Salah Salem, and the OPPO Bridge last summer on Cairo-Alex Road have set new standards in OOH creativity. 2018 promises to surprise audiences with bigger and bolder designs… wait to be amazed! 3- Increased use of special effects The last quarter of 2017 has witnessed a remarkable increase in the use of lighting effects on the billboards. Advertisers seem to have realized that Cairo traffic still flows during the night, and lighting effects are a catchy way of grabbing the audience attention. Brands like Cheetos, Midtown, Peugeot, Genova, and El Abd have all added a new dimension to their campaigns, with lighting effects that have made their ads stand out both, in reach and the wider environment. Though designs seem to be still in an early phase, we expect that during 2018 the creative minds in the outdoor media industry will meet their perfect match among lighting engineers. 4- More efficient teasers We have seen as many as 40 teaser campaigns this year on the roads of Greater Cairo! Certainly a great way to create a buzz for upcoming products or events, teaser campaigns are usually deployed across all industries. There have been excellent examples during 2017, such as PQ, Vodafone, Uber, and Cairo Reimagined by MNHD. One of the most common traits among Teaser Campaigns has been the inclusion of hashtags as a CTA (Call-To-Action) to engage with fans on Social Media. However, most of these campaigns were either not planned, or simply not implemented. Some of them included hashtags that led nowhere, like Go Bus campaign in summer; others (even worse) included hashtags that led somewhere else, or were overtaken by the fans in unexpected ways, like “Concrete icons” or Etoile’s Ramadan campaign. The amount of teaser campaigns is on the rise, and we expect it to keep growing during 2018. If your brand is planning one to engage with fans, whether online or offline, just remember that the audience will have a conversation about it – so maybe it’s better if your Marketing team is also part of that conversation. 5- Use of market intelligence Big data is everywhere… in Egypt too! With the rise of companies like MOOH (Monitoring Out-Of-Home), marketers across all industries have started to understand that efficient planning in Outdoor Media means better results at a lower cost. Planning a campaign based on numbers eliminates the “hunch factor”, converting media planning into an effective way to reach your target audience – whenever and wherever you choose. Research shows that marketers intend to increase the use of Market Insights not only to decorate their strategies with colorful graphics, but to create their best campaign ever. Stay tuned during 2018 as we reveal the evolution of these trends.
