15th June is being hailed as the ‘first hello’ for Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising, the week when Outdoor audiences are expected to return - as non-essential retail opens up, accompanied by the return of national brand advertisers to the medium. Campaigns include eBay, Shein (an online fashion brand), Therapy Box’s Language Explorer app (via our Nurture team), The British Red Cross, UNICEF and Minor Figures (via our Nurture team) among many others.
JCDecaux UK predicts that in the ‘first hello’ week, the audience for its roadside 6-sheets and large-format billboards will be at 60% of its pre-lockdown levels. Audience numbers have been increasing between 6-8%* each week for the last six weeks as the Government relaxes some lockdown measures.
This is a milestone moment for OOH, we are rebuilding optimism in the medium and setting the foundations for recovery. Last week our audience numbers reached over 50% in roadside billboards* and street furniture and from 15th June, we expect the opening of non-essential retail to see a return to 60% of our total audience as audiences continue to grow. This is a new chapter as we welcome back our audience. It has taken a huge amount of preparation from our teams, underlining our commitment to OOH, our brand partners and the local communities in which we serve. The enormous effort from our Operations teams included disinfecting and cleaning all our poster sites and bus shelters and ensuring they are in peak condition for the public and our clients. Our teams are equipped with new PPE and have been trained in new working practices, following new health and safety guidelines for the field and our depots – all to ensure the safety of our key workers and the public.Dallas Wiles, Co-Chief Executive Officer of JCDecaux UK
To mark this key moment for the medium, JCDecaux UK has launched a ‘back to business’ hub, containing the latest audience insight and intelligence and will be running our in-house designed “Welcome back” creatives across England. The ‘first hello’ for posting in England will be 15 June, followed by 29th June for Scotland and Wales. (*source: Location Sciences mobile data).
