Big Tree, Malaysia’s largest Out-Of-Home (OOH) media player, has launched its Big+ solution; this platform comprises a suite of offerings that bridge various OOH media with cutting-edge online capabilities, all of them targeting business partners, advertisers, and media agencies.
During the event, Big Tree CEO Shukor Ariffin shared, “This is what Bridging Experience is all about; addressing the gap between awareness and consideration of purchase; increasing engagement; as well as creating opportunities for target marketing and sequential messaging.”
Newbies who meet Shukor may think he is a professional golfer or uses a superior tanning lotion that trumps whatever Donald Trump has on him. Neither is true. The man has a natural tan and it’s likely the Malaysian OOH industry has a lot to do with it. Now in his mid-40s, Shukor has been trolling the industry to seek out new possibilities and innovations for marketers. In fact, he’s been at it for over 20 years now.
He knows his audience and the platforms like the back of his hand. This makes him the perfect catalyst to catapult and cascade brand messaging into the next big frontier–Digital OOH.
How will Big+ change the way OOH media is being bought and sold in Malaysia? Do you see ‘programmatic’ buying coming into the picture?
Shukor: Big+ will empower OOH advertising solutions with online capabilities and digitally powered engagement functions. Essentially, both will work together to induce immediate call-to-action among consumers who see these digital advertisements.
The advertising landscape is changing as more digital innovations come into play. This is how market players can go beyond what they can do right now and be more effective marketers. With Big+, Big Tree is ready for the oncoming digital disruption as we look to making OOH media more progressive.
Essentially, Big+ technological offerings, most of which are in development with our industry partners, it will augment OOH even more. While these media platforms are still relevant, the question I usually bring up is: for how long? That is precisely why Big Tree introduced this new innovative solution.
You asked if programmatic will be a part of this big picture – to some degree, it will be. Part of the digital disruption will be the growing use of data analytics, a growing trend that advertisers and marketeers are already looking into.
Big+ has considered this as the sensors and scanners that are in use will detect, track, and actively engage the target audience. The continuous collection of data will be critical as it enables to be more proactive.
Tell us more about Big Capture, Big Scan, and Big Effects…
Of the three, the first – Big Capture – is the most proactive as it determines if users are within a specific zone that are part of a specific target audience.
The other two directly interact with users that have received prompts from the advertisements and encourage them to engage with the interactive content.
With Big Scan, consumers can immediately engage with call-to-action and jump right into activation.
As for Big Effects, it responds to current conditions in real-time to ensure the most engaging advertising appears.
In doing so, the marketing content always fits the target audience or environment ambience.
With these next-gen innovations available, there must be a major partnership with technology players at play. This isn’t something that can be done overnight….
It’s not going to be feasible for us to venture out alone. Hence the deep collaborations we have with our technology partners. What we want, really, is the technology.
The data we are already active collecting and it’s something these tech vendors are also gathering on their own.
Of course, besides getting it from scratch, Big Tree just taps into it. As for the data we have on hand, the more basic types, we will continue to track them and fully utilise in specific ways.
Of course, what we have on hand is not enough. In my opinion, there are two types of data – first, legacies that are good for analysis and
What are the challenges you face right now?
Right now, we are no longer focused on just outdoor.
It’s OOH for a reason and, as this industry is now witnessing, there is an upsurge for this sort of media; all thanks to digital transformation.
I always had this in my mind – how we can do more to create a buzz and engage consumers? This is top-of-mind for me, always.
My inspiration – the launch event for Justin Timberlake’s album while I was in Los Angeles. It was insightful to see how everything was linked together, from inception to execution.
What is wrong with the industry at the moment?
For starters, the way OOH results are being measured.
Some parties tried to do it, but the figures were selective. The sample size and sense of scale do not fit the way the industry is expanding.
More research is needed to create more accurate findings.
When I was in LA attending the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) event, I talked to some of these analysts and discovered that their mindset is different.
For me, that’s also a problem we are now facing: the mindset or background of folks within the industry itself.
Secondly, regulation – the supply side has a low barrier of entry and anyone can come into the business and start something. In doing so, regulatory practices then become compromised. This, to me, is also a Big challenge.
CASE STUDY #1:
Shell says Hello to drivers
Here is an interesting campaign that Shell did recently, tapping into Big Tree’s array of possibilities. Shell got personal in delivering messages to its target audience by saying “Hello!” to specific drivers.
In executing the Shell V-Power campaign, it incorporated Big Tree’s Big Effects – a suite of dynamic digital content offerings, this time specifically for vehicle identification.
This campaign was performed at the digital screen Cubig@Bangsar, located at the traffic light junction by Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC). Advanced vehicle identification technology was incorporated into the digital screen that enabled Shell to customise its messaging according to automobile brands spotted onsite – Mercedes, BMW, and Honda, to name a few.
Once they were identified, personalised messages from Shell were pushed to greet drivers of the targeted vehicles.
“We always seek new ways to connect with our audience and this amazing technology allowed us to engage in a unique manner. Through this digital screen, we gave Shell V-Power the voice to reach out to specific car brands and drivers in a personalised way,” said Chung Ai Kee, Head of Retail Marketing, Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd.
CASE STUDY #2:
Acer goes beyond the Tunnel
Acer’s mantra is about constantly looking for innovative ways to reach customers in a more targeted manner, while setting itself apart from the noise.The brand has been present on the Media Wall Graphics and Irregular Lightboxes in the Tunnel Experience, connecting Suria KLCC to LRT KLCC and Avenue K. This tunnel targets the affluent urban demographic, professionals as well as local and international travellers.
Acer’s launch campaign for the Acer Swift 5 combined creative visuals in the Tunnel Experience and also online engagement. In expanding the campaign’s reach as well as augmenting campaign effectiveness, Acer explored Big+ with Big Capture, a geo-fence technology that serves online banners to audiences’ smart devices.
At the end of the campaign, Acer successfully achieved a click-through-rate (CTR) of 45% higher than the average display network CTR.
“We are pleased with the results delivered by Big+, which helped reinforce our message through a higher than average CTR, engaging audiences, and stretching the ad dollars spent,” shared a representative from Acer.
This article first appeared in MARKETING magazine Issue#235.
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