【LIVE BOARD 6th Anniversary Webinar】

In today's society, new reach and awareness media are needed in addition to existing TV and digital media. This time, we held a discussion on the theme of whether LIVE BOARD can play such a role as “one of the digital media.” Here is a report of the discussion. 

▼Speaker

DENTSU INC.

Marketing Division 1
Managing Director

Masahiro Nakano

HAKUHODO INC.

Deputy General Manager

Integrated Account Division

Media Design Unit

（Hakuhodo DY media partners Inc.

    Integrated Account Division

    Associate General Manager, Integrated Account Division）

 Shota Umemoto

LIVE BOARD, INC.
Insight　Manager

Hirotaka Mano

▼CONTENTS

■Background on the theme

　In today's advertising campaigns, the campaign awareness rate obtained for the same amount of money spent is about one-fifth of what it was 10 years ago.

　There are three possible reasons for this. 

1. The percentage of television viewing is declining
   　Compared to 10 years ago, the rate of decline is particularly noticeable among young adults and men, making it more difficult to reach a wide audience. 

2. Various media outlets are in disarray and competing for reach
   　Until now, the increased contact time of digital media such as smartphones and personal computers has compensated for the decreased reach of television. On the other hand, there is a situation in which media such as video media, social media, and earned media have become fragmented and are competing with each other for reach. 

3. Consumers are becoming impatient with information
   　Consumers are becoming more and more focused on type and cosmetics, making it more and more difficult to deliver information to them. 

　In general, it is very difficult to “efficiently deliver” advertising messages to consumers today. 

■What challenges do you see in planning amidst the drastic changes in the media and consumer environment?

＜Mr.Nakano＞

　In addition to reach, we believe that consumer attention has become more difficult to obtain in recent years. With the media dispersed, it is difficult to reach consumers by combining various media.

Even when reach is achieved, it is difficult to obtain the attention that leads to recognition. This is because consumers are paying less attention and paying less attention to the media, and this is a difficult part of current media planning. 

＜Mr.Umemoto＞

Advertisers are asking how this will lead to business results. In recent years, campaigns with visible results, such as listing ads, have been growing, and it is apparent that advertisers are deciding on locations based on visible results. Rather than setting KPIs such as reach acquisition, advertisers now need to offer a set of proposals from planning, implementation, effectiveness verification, and the next step in order to gain acceptance in the marketplace. The current issue is how to propose a comprehensive set of proposals.

In the field, we are receiving an increasing number of questions from advertisers about how they think about planning, implementation, and effectiveness measurement in order to achieve business results. Since advertising is conducted by companies to ultimately lead to business results, it is important to show how advertising can contribute to the company's business.

＜Mr.Mano＞ 

What kind of explanation do you give when including OOH in your planning? 

＜Mr.Nakano＞

　We believe that the role of OOH is threefold. 

1.  Enhancing recognition
   　reaching consumers not captured by TV or digital. 

2. Creating a sense of buzz
   　generating a feeling that something is trending. 

3. Inducing action
   　 such as store visits when located near retail spaces.

　The use of OOH is often proposed for these purposes.

On the other hand, we feel that the optimizing OOH display is a challenge. It is difficult to come up with a clear figure on how much is the optimal amount to invest in OOH in order to achieve our goals.

■Initiatives to use LIVE BOARD as “digital advertising” in outdoor locations

＜Mr.Mano＞

LIVE BOARD aims to “achieve triple media”, promoting planning that crosses TV, digital media, and OOH.

Currently, OOH accounts for about 6% of the total advertising budget. On the other hand, the ratio of digital to the total advertising budget is approximately 45%. The idea is for LIVE BOARD to be seen as part of the 6%, but as part of the 45% digital media pie.

Various efforts are underway to utilize LIVE BOARD as outdoor “digital advertising”. One such initiative is the incorporation of LIVE BOARD's reach data into the media planning tools of Dentsu and Hakuhodo. As a result, planning beyond TV and digital standards has become possible.

Also, the sophistication of log analysis is progressing. LIVE BOARD can now verify KPIs such as store visits, purchases, and site visits—keeping pace with digital.

However, challenges remain: 

1. Reach scale
   　more MAUs and expansion beyond the Kanto region. 

2. Visualising unique value
   　clearly conveying how DOOH reach differs and adds planning value. 

3. Verification speed
   　clients expect faster, high-quality PDCA cycles. 

■What are the challenges/expectations for LIVE BOARD to fulfill its role as “one of the digital media”?

＜Mr.Nakano＞

When considering digital media as a targeting medium, the ability to post in areas with a high percentage of the target audience is an attractive feature.

We also believe that OOH is valuable for its overlapping effect with other media. The ability to efficiently increase overlap is an advantage of DOOH. We have high expectations for LIVE BOARD's ability to efficiently create an overlapping effect on the target audience.

＜Mr.Umemoto＞

　In terms of issues, one of the challenges facing not only LIVE BOARD but also other digital media is that “too much emphasis is placed on efficiency. In the extreme, advertisers do not care where they place their ads; they just want their ads to be placed where they can reach their target audience most efficiently.

While efficiency is important, all media need to have characteristics such as “strong in this industry” or “effective in attracting store visits,” etc. It is necessary to present differentiation by showing what makes posting on LIVE BOARD different from others.

Creative is also important as one of the differentiators. One of the issues that needs to be addressed is what kind of creativity LIVE BOARD can produce, including the use of SNS, but this is an area in which we have high expectations.

■LIVE BOARD, what are your expectations for outdoor advertising?

＜Mr.Nakano＞

The difference between so-called digital media and DOOH is the ability to present information in the form of experiences, such as “physical contact, in this situation, and in this mood. Consumers receive advertisements differently depending on where and when they experience them. By combining this with the flexibility of digital advertising, such as the ability to replace creative, it is possible to utilize the best aspects of both OOH and digital advertising, and to create a deeper advertising effect. We look forward to continuing to propose advertising experiences that use physicality and flexibility.

＜Mr.Umemoto＞

　OOH is the one and only media that can deliver experiential value by combining the size of the surface with the occasion. While it is necessary to seek efficiency, we are looking forward to creating experience value and impact that only OOH can provide. We believe that OOH has value that can be provided by presenting it in a large format, rather than on a small surface like a smartphone, and this is an area where we have high expectations for the future. 

＜Mr.Nakano＞

In OOH, visualizing the effect of experience value is the ultimate ideal. On the other hand, we do not want OOH to be reduced to measurable indicators. We believe that OOH has more to offer than superficially measurable indicators.

　It is also important to accumulate normative data on how OOH has led to business results. This will lead to the visualization of the effects of OOH.

■Finally

＜Mr.Mano＞

　In the future, DOOH will continue to be required to be able to measure its effectiveness alongside TV and digital media. On the other hand, it is important not to be limited to this alone, but to work concurrently on how to define the value of the unique DOOH experience.

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