NCSC is thrilled to announce a continued partnership with Ocean Outdoor – the masters of The Art of Outdoor.
Commercial spaces are increasingly transforming into platforms for consumers to interact with brands. Ocean’s integrated Out Of Home approach with a full motion digital core also covers murals, large format banners, innovative tech, and immersive 3D formats such as DeepScreen. These engaging media solutions play an imperative part in this change. NCSC is proud to announce a continued partnership with such a strong industry player who constantly pushes the envelope to create added value for the visitor.
We sat down with Hoss Khosravi, Nordic Chief Development Officer, to find out what exciting developments are on the horizon.
Ocean’s work seems to align well with the latest trends in commercial spaces. Could you tell us more about this?
Absolutely. We were the first Out Of Home company in the Nordics to focus on DOOH in commercial spaces and have made it our mission to assist in the development through our products, services, and innovation. This is based on a couple of core areas for us; Audience centricity, location-based communication, and research to name a few. We are continuously trying to build a deep understanding of how commercial spaces evolve and are conducting our own studies in the Nordics to map findings with such from our partners and of course NCSC. An example is the Nordic Mall Index study that we did in 2021 where we did more than 5 000 interviews across the Nordics and found that the average time of visit is 90 minutes and that 42% see the same DOOH advert more than 5 times per visit. These are very reassuring figures that tell a compelling story for the future of shopping malls.
How do you bring your visions to life, what can your customers expect?
Contrary to many other Out Of Home companies we have a rich experience within digital signage and location-based communication where we are centered around the physical place and its attributes and how these parameters can be excelled through creativity, tech, data and innovation. This is part of a methodology that we call Integrated Out Of Home (IOOH) and ultimately our raison d’être, The Art Of Outdoor. IOOH and the Art Of Outdoor are also about connectivity between physical – digital – virtual, where we work to utilize our solutions to either provide brand-building capacity, elevate a physical experience through DOOH, combine it with mobile or bridge it to online.
Just looking at our DeepScreen format, research shows that 35% of the audience would like to return to the location to see the ad again. That in itself is good news as it can be linked to increased dwell time and positive association between Digital Out Of Home and the location environment.
What strategies do you employ to measure the effectiveness of screens in driving customer engagement and sales?
As confirmed by research from the likes of effectiveness guru Les Binet, we are avid believers in long-term brand building as a strategy to influence demand and solid sales over time. We are talking about ‘Brand Performance’ which is about understanding if advertising is driving demand and interest in your brand, product, service or location. In this regard we have launched Ocean Analytics powered by MyTelescope which is a unique platform for measuring demand and interest based on the Share of Search (SoS) metric.
Equally confirmed by research so-called “fame campaigns” where creative effectiveness is at the core are closely linked to Ocean’s D.N.A. This is best conveyed through our development of super premium screen locations such as Piccadilly Lights, The Halo in Stockholm or the Falcon screen in Copenhagen. We are continuously tracking all forms of campaigns to draw conclusions both from how the media has been utilized and how different creative concepts perform in different formats. Just looking at our DeepScreen format, research shows that 35% of the audience would like to return to the location to see the ad again. That in itself is good news as it can be linked to increased dwell time and positive association between Digital Out Of Home and the location environment.
How does Ocean strive to contribute to a more sustainable future?
To carry out our mission at Ocean Outdoor in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way as possible is a cornerstone in our method of functioning. We are committed to the Paris Agreement which means that we are aiming to reach net zero by 2040. This implies that we need to be very focused on reducing our carbon emissions. This work affects all aspects of our work such as procurements, facilities, electricity and travels. To put even more pressure on ourselves but also not risk being accused of greenwashing, we have appointed an external sustainability company to hold us under the magnifying glass and measure the carbon emission of our entire operation.
We are entering an era of hyper-personalization and A.I. What are some of the developments we can anticipate from Ocean in the coming years?
Personalization at scale has been available for a while within Digital Out Of Home. Both through programmatic buying and use of mobility data. A.I. is acting as a catalyst in this development. In 2023 we deployed “AI Window” and “AI Photobooth”, 2 products that are built with and integrate A.I. Innovation and tech sit firmly at the helm of Ocean Outdoor but we are also advocating that all development in this area are ethical and work from an integrity perspective. Other areas we are working with involve first-party data. An area we think has untapped potential for the industry.
We’re thrilled about this partnership. What would you like to share about this collaboration?
That makes two of us. Coming back to what I said earlier, we are excited to continue our long history of partnering with commercial spaces and to be a part of the continued growth of the sector. The partnership with NCSC is an excellent and exciting avenue where we can engage in dialogue and learn from the members. Hopefully, we’ll also be able to offer some new insights and inspire people along the way.
