Transit Ads – Knowing the Consumer Journey

Skhumbuzo Nkosi, Director: Media, Provantage Media Group, explains how purpose driven marketing campaigns that consider content as well as context will ensure that brand objectives are met successfully.

A successful marketing campaign is one that not only reaches consumers, but is also able to influence them. A great campaign is about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time and in the right environment. It’s creating the right balance between content and context. The media landscape continues to fragment and as such the use of out of home media and media in transit environments in particular, will continue to grow.

Over the past few years we have witnessed significant developments in the transit environments with the expansion and upgrade of the transport system nationally. This has created brilliant opportunities for out of home to fit seamlessly in this environment and has opened the opportunity to innovate.

Provantage Media Group has brought a number of key innovations to the transit environment, which have benefitted both consumers and advertisers. Digital television channel TRANSIT.TV™ has a national footprint and broadcasts to an audience of 10 million every month. Furthermore, each screen at each bus station, train station and taxi rank has been strategically placed to effectively optimise the elements unique to that area, considering dwell times, proximity to retail and the consumer’s frame of mind.

When these touchpoints are combined with other touchpoints along the consumer journey, it further enhances messaging and message assimilation. Brand experiences through strategic activations that are relevant to the consumer, brand ambassadors at point of sale and other media touchpoints that enhance the journey will effectively benefit the brand.

In terms of context it is vitally important to really know your consumer – what they like as well as how and when they move through transit environments. In order to uncover these consumer habits, research has become even more important. And marketers won’t engage with consumers effectively if the content is irrelevant or boring. For our TRANSIT.TV™ channel, for example, we are constantly doing research via TRANSIT TRACK to ensure that our content is interesting, entertaining and relevant to the audience. This is beneficial also for the advertiser as it keeps eyes glued to the screen.

It is also important to keep up to speed with your consumer’s journey. With the changes in the transit environment, shifts often occur in how consumers get from A to B. This affects how, where and how often they shop. It also changes what’s in their shopping basket on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

It is up to marketers to keep abreast and take advantage of these changing dynamics and known how, where and when to deliver brand messaging. Consumers are also a lot more savvy in terms of how, where, when and how often they get their information. Mobile phones and on demand television have changed the way we consume media. Fortunately within a transit environment, media cannot be switched off and consumers can’t channel hop. This is all the more reason that content needs to be relevant to context. The consumer is still king in terms of how marketers engage with them. Brands that understand what is relevant to their target audience and can have meaningful and authentic conversations with them will be ahead of the rest.

TRANSIT ADS is a key player within the South African transit environment. To harness these exclusive opportunities and reach an economically active consumer, contact Mauro Black on maurob@provantage.co.za