Why advertising to the commuter market makes good sense

Commuters are very aware of their surroundings. According to AMPS 2015, 93.78% recall advertising on OOH in the past four weeks, with the highest recall for taxi branding and static advertising in their immediate locale.

A commuter’s journey can start any time between 04h00 am and 07h00 am, and could take between 60 and 120 minutes (Primedia Rank TV Research, 2015). That means commuters have high exposure to OOH advertising, particularly that found beside the road and within ranks, where a large proportion of the taxi commuter segment spend an average of 10-20 minutes at the ranks. This allows plenty of time for consumers to engage with advertising, which can serve as a welcome distraction.

The rank space is rife with opportunities to engage with commuters during the customer journey. Almost three-quarters (72%) of the commuter market segment make retail purchases within a 10 minute walk from the taxi rank (Millward Brown, 2014), making it the last touchpoint before a purchase decision.

Vincent Clarkson, OOH Planner/Buyer for OMD South Africa, is one of the people behind the GSK campaigns conducted across Primedia Outdoor’s commuter network. He argues that advertising in the commuter space is one of the best ways to reach the LSM 5 - 7 group, which can be challenging for any South African advertising/media practitioner. “By definition this group is diverse, both geographically and in terms of language and culture. As such, this is where I believe OOH can really flex its media muscle. Opportunities like advertising in the commuter environment cannot be beat in terms of value”.

Moreover, the nature of the commuter channel infers that this advertising is targeting an economically active audience, as Wayne Bishop of PHD South Africa points out – and the ways and means of using this channel have continued to develop. “Media owners such as Primedia Outdoor have been able to help brands deliver against more than just reach and affinity objectives”, says Bishop. “We are now able to deliver against context, responsiveness, interactivity and immersive experiences, through various options such as digital screens, sampling and promotional executions within the commuter journey.

“The commuter environment has become an ecosystem of media touchpoints that can help shape a consumer’s experience across their path to purchase” he says. “This is invaluable for all advertisers and comes with the added benefit that it comes at scale.”

“A proliferation of OOH opportunities in this space give us (media planners) the ability to achieve unrivalled impact, reach and frequency in a more targeted way than ever before”, agrees Clarkson. “Consumers spend hours a day commuting, which gives us the opportunity to engage on various levels with content that is relevant to their psychological state.”