OUTDOOR AUDITORS: FIRST NATIONWIDE AUDIT COMPLETE

An Out-of-Home advertiser’s worst nightmare: their fertility clinic advertised within meters of a Durex billboard – this is a perfect example of an advertiser not taking their environment into account before securing space. Until now there has been limited information available to advertisers with regard to the Out-of-Home (OOH) landscape. Outdoor Auditors, a first-of-its kind South African company, is ensuring that OOH is now planned in a more strategic and accountable way.
 
Outdoor Auditors, which came onto the Outdoor Advertising scene last year, has just completed its first nationwide audit of all 9 provinces, including 200 towns and over 7,500 billboards. This data is now available to advertisers in South Africa.
 
René Warburg, Managing Director of Outdoor Auditors says, “Until now this kind of detailed data has not been available to brand managers, media agencies or creative agencies involved in campaign planning. Previously there was little or no competitive analysis, and many would just take their chances with regards to local compliance with regulations.
 
“Campaigns have been planned and run without taking into account the existing outdoor environment and how a campaign slots into this complicated and ever-changing puzzle. OOH works best when as much information as possible is gathered beforehand, which means taking the environment into account and leveraging it to its benefit.”
 
Applications of use for this data range from campaign planning to competitive analysis to compliance with regulations, such as FIFA World Cup by-laws and ARA restrictions.
 
Data collected by Outdoor Auditors not only includes fields such as  size, media owner and site reference number, but also aspects that some advertisers might not usually consider,  like run-up, visibility and condition of structure.
 
Outdoor Auditors collects its data at set intervals several times each year, ensuring it remains fresh and gives an up-to-date snapshot of the OOH landscape.