The National Outdoor Advertising Survey is watched over by a newly formed joint industry committee (JIC), with BVA, PMA and PBE as members, and is to follow the best practice of the international ESOMAR global guidelines of OOH research. The research is following the architecture and methodologies developed by Simon Cooper Associates. This institute has broad international experience in similar research in UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Baltics, Ireland, Spain, Austria, Turkey, Australia, Singapore, China and Slovenia.
The main research elements of the survey:
1. Traffic counts and footfall data
2. Field work research on commuters behaviour
3. Drawing up and classifying all outdoor advertising objects plus assigning a factor of visibility to each individual poster site based on eye tracking research (VAC = Visibility Adjusted Contact)
1. Traffic counts and footfall data
The recent availability of digital "skeletons" of the road network has allowed for much more accurate research on both journey routes and on traffic flows. A reliable search was made of government and local council traffic data that could be of use. Amongst others the MON (since January 2010: OViN) government travel survey over three years was used.
2. Field work research on commuters behaviour
The purpose of the surveys:
- Collecting the journey routes over time of a representative sample.
- Researching the level and frequency of usage of supermarkets, malls and public transport.
The travel survey was conducted by TNS/NIPO and consisted of 10.637 interviews spread over nine months. The Netherlands were divided into 30 regions, each with a central 75.000+ city. These city regions were designed to fit within the Dutch provinces that themselves fit within the Nielsen regions.
3. Classification
Drawing up and classifying all outdoor advertising objects plus assigning a factor of visibility to each individual poster site based on eye tracking research (VAC = Visibility Adjusted Contact)
Each advertising object was photographed digitally and based on these images the poster classification program measured the visibility of the faces. In addition to the photography, all object were drawn up elaborately in order to collect all relevant details; e.g. type of surroundings, width of the road, number of driving lanes, GPS (Global positioning system) coordinates. Using these data (VAT plus OTS), it was possible to link each poster to an individual traffic flow and calculate the actual eye contact with the posted message on an advertising object.
VAC (Visibility Adjusted Contact)
The objective in the Netherlands was to take the European model (UK, Postar) with 20 years research and experience and adapt it to specific Dutch characteristics; i.e. the local street scene, the cycling culture and non-urban poster sites, like Highway Signs.
The main factors examined were:
1. Viewing angle: distance from poster site to roadside
2. Dimensions: Adshel, Billboard, Megaboard
3. Luminance: presence of illumination, day and/or night
4. Surroundings: clutter
5. Duration or distance of visibility.
The European model was then adapted to these findings, resulting in a Dutch visibility model – including the specific areas as urban/rural and cyclist – as a fusion of the UK, Finnish, Swedish and Dutch studies.
Environments; Roadside, Retail and Travel
The VAC per advertising face and the allotment of traffic streams – and thus OTS – enables a calculation of the number of passages with actual eye contact with the advertising object. The description of the process of allocating OTS and VAC to each roadside poster has been extended to two other environments. The “Retail” environment encompasses all locations where transactions of goods occur; e.g. shopping malls, supermarkets, pedestrian areas and gas stations. The “Travel” environment encompasses all locations where the primary purpose is that of travelling, including rail, Metro and bus stations, car parks and tram stops. The flow for non-roadside environments is the total number of entries and exits at any particular location.
4. Results
With software package (CAFAS) the reach and contact frequency of the packages, as offered by the operators, or of campaigns based on 'random' faces can be calculated for all Dutch citizens aged 13-75 and for specific target groups; not only at national level, but also per Nielsen area, per province and for each of the 30 regions. All formats and operators may be combined if desired. In addition, one can retrieve which operators have which formats in which municipalities (and vice versa). Various external sources have been used for the National Outdoor Advertising Survey:
- MON (Rijkswaterstaat)
- MTR+
- GVB
- NS
- RET
- Q-Park
- Shell / Texaco
- Locatus
- AH, C1000, Coop, Golff, Plus, Super de Boer
More information on the National Outdoor Advertising Survey can be found at www.buitenreclameonderzoek.nl. Of course we can personally clarify the ins and outs of the research.