Tube Advertising

The London Underground system carries over 1 billion passengers every year, with around 3.5 million journeys made each day. It’s no surprise that tube advertising has become increasingly successful and popular amongst many businesses, as it is such an effective way to get a product or service into the public eye. There are a number of options for targeting the public on the underground; from tube car, lift and escalator panels to larger poster sheets extending along the length of the platforms. Tube advertising allows companies to convey their message to an affluent audience who have enough time to absorb the information. Travellers spend an average of three minutes on the platform interacting with various adverts and passengers on the tube have an average of 13 minutes to take in the ads inside the carriages. And it works. Research shows that around 80% of commuters have bought something, looked something up or visited a place as a direct result of tube advertising. Bus advertising is another effective marketing tool and with over 6 million people using buses in London every day, it is not something to be overlooked. Digital Out of Home media (DOOH) has become a popular means of communication and can now be found on many of London’s transport services. This type of outdoor media is very powerful and can heavily influence decision making and experiences of the general public. Research has shows that it leads to easy consumer engagement which can develop into brand loyalty as well as allowing advertisers to reach otherwise difficult audiences. Digital advertisements can be precisely located to target a specific audience. The introduction of recording devices on televisions now means that people are more frequently skipping through television adverts, and therefore out of home advertising is more appealing. DOOH includes interactive media in venues such as bars, restaurants and health clubs, and the availability of cheaper LCD screens has enabled companies to create interactive video messages. Other advantages of DOOH are that adverts can appear almost anywhere, they have a 24/7 presence, they do not interrupt people in their daily lives and are less intrusive. Additionally, digital ads have more flexibility as the technology allows sites to be updated or changed very easily. Some examples of this Digital out of Home media can be found at various bus stops, shopping malls and train stations. Standard Life Investments have had digital screens at City Airport, Artemis at Heathrow, L&G Investments at Liverpool Street and JP Morgan at Victoria Station. It has been estimated that DOOH advertising as an overall industry increased by over 15% in 2010 which suggests that digital media really is the future of advertising. Bio Talon Outdoor is the only independently owned out of home media specialist. It offers a fresh approach to the planning and buying of all outdoor media, including poster advertising, bus advertising and tube advertising.