Digital out of home advertising 'less about creative, more about timeliness' - says Twitter UK MD Bruce Daisley
The “phenomenon” of streamed, real-time content presents a major opportunity for the digital out of home industry, according to Twitter UK managing director Bruce Daisley.
Conference: Bruce Daisley addresses the summit
Speaking at the DailyDooh Digital Out Of Home Media Summit in London, Daisley said that the public’s preference for streamed, live content was evident from news titles' adoption of the technique for reporting major stories, and said that a key aspect for the digital out of home industry it becoming a medium that was less about creative and more about timing.
“Quite often, the things that connect are not the most beautiful creatives – timeliness is a really critical element,” he said.
“Sometimes the concept that you present doesn’t have to be genius, it can just be incredibly amplified by timeliness. That’s the benefit for digital out of home, effectively that notion of a stream being played out on a big scale.
“There’s been a change; that notion of the separation between an online state and an offline state has really disappeared,” he continued. “By having phones in people’s pockets we’re online all the time.
“The way that’s affecting social and digital technology – specifically, the phenomenon of the stream of content, is not only influencing mobile apps, it also influences news content by emphasising the fact it’s no longer static and I think specifically digital out of home can really benefit from this.”
He added: “I think the potency of connecting that real-time moment is probably the big opportunity for all of us.”
Before Daisley’s session, the conference heard from Coca-Cola senior brand activation manager Chris Ross, who presented how it used its Piccadilly out of home site to issue an immediate “Share A Coke With Kate” message when the news of Prince George’s birth broke proved hugely popular with the public.
Daisley discussed other examples from Coca-Cola, and BT’s #TweetsOnTheTower Christmas campaign which used DOOH technology to live tweet social media users’ seasonal messages.
“The notion of a big idea on screen is strongly enhanced by the thousands of tiny connections,” he said. “Digital technology has allowed that to be very simple; it has allowed that simple exchange, that moment of magic, to happen almost seamlessly without damaging the overall message for everyone else.”
He added: “The two big trends at the moment are effectively that mobile phones have become the default media device, and secondly the way that we’re consuming content and the obsession with what’s happening right now.”
Earlier today, Twitter announced the launch of its new Mute button.