Digital Changemakers

In this episode, Andrew Tindall, Senior Vice President - Global Partnerships at System1, and Chris Felton, Director of Data and Insight at JCDecaux UK, join Ian Whittaker to discuss the controversial, but hugely popular article; ‘7 out of 10 OOH ads don’t work. Here’s why and how to fix them’, written by Andrew for The Drum, on the lack of creativity in Out-of-Home advertising. System1 are ad-testing experts who measure emotion to give brands confidence that their ads will work and Chris brings a wealth of experience, new groundbreaking research and a string of recent awards to prove what really works when it comes to OOH advertising. Read the full article here.Download your copy of our ‘Creative Best Practice Guidelines' here.

In this episode, FMCG trailblazer, Jess Vega, Marketing Manager at Natural Balance Foods, joins Ian Whittaker to discuss creativity as a crucial component in successful brand building. Having worked at global brands such as Mondelez, Nestle and Ferrero, Jess noticed a shift towards online ROI focussed marketing during the pandemic and so wanted to try and rebalance the brand funnel - refocusing on brand building to drive growth. She set out to do this in a groundbreaking and creative way. Jess is joined by Andrew Mullins, Creative Director at JCDecaux UK, here to give insight into how innovative and creative ideas like Jess’s can be applied to your brand to fuel growth. 

In this episode, Emma Rowson, Marketing Executive at JCDecaux UK, joins Ian Whittaker to talk about the British Journal of Photography’s annual Out-of-Home exhibition of Portrait of Britain. Celebrating the creative, diverse and resilient spirit of the nation, Portrait of Britain is the UK’s biggest annual photography exhibition and since 2016, the exhibition has partnered with JCDecaux to showcase 100 winning images in a month-long digital screen display across the UK. The large-scale exhibition uses the immense reach of Out-of-Home to bring art to public spaces nationwide, creating a joyful and poignant celebration of British identity. Read more about Portrait of Britain Vol.6 here.View all 200 shortlisted images here.

Is your advertising getting enough attention?In this episode, Mike Follett, Managing Director at Lumen Research, joins Ian Whittaker to talk about attention as a vital new metric in campaign planning. In a world of information overload, grabbing a consumer’s attention and maintaining it is becoming increasingly important for advertisers. Find out how the development of innovative research methods, such as eye-tracking technology, is shaping attention into a new currency to be used amongst the advertising industry.You can read more about the relationship between attention and priming here.

Want to unlock the secret to creating the perfect poster?In this episode, Chris Langley, Director of Global Media Partnerships at System 1, and Nick Drewe, Research Executive at JCDecaux UK, join Ian Whittaker to share how they worked with brands such as Three and Specsavers to develop new results-driven guidelines on how to create the perfect poster. The new collaborative research from System1, Lumen Research and JCDecaux UK combines AI, Emotion and Attention testing to show that creativity is a key driver for effectiveness.In a world where attention is a finite resource, find out how to optimise your Out-of-Home creative to build your brand and drive results through the brand funnel. You can download your own copy of ‘How to make the perfect digital poster’ here.

Research shows that when it comes to purchasing clothing, Gen Z are more sustainably minded than previous generations but that price is often prioritised. So how can consumers balance price and sustainable engagement with fashion?Josephine Philips, Founder and CEO of SOJO, a sustainable fashion-tech start-up, joins Ian Whittaker to give an insight into how businesses and marketers can meet the various needs of their customers without compromising on sustainability. In 2022, Josephine was named one of the Forbes 30 under 30 in the Technology Industry and JCDecaux welcomes Josephine as an industry pioneer who is challenging attitudes towards fashion and promoting investment in the clothes that consumers already own by repairing items rather than replacing them.As a recipient of the JCDecaux UK Reach Programme which is designed to support brand growth for Black, Asian and Multi-Ethnic brands, Josephine discusses how start-ups such as SOJO can benefit from the mass reach and cut through that digital Out-of-Home provides.

With Gen Z now comprising 15% of the UK population, tapping into their increasing spending power is an opportunity that marketers can’t afford to miss. But how different are Gen Z from previous generations and how should this shape brand and marketing strategies? Kian Bakhtiari, founder of The People, a Gen Z insights and strategy agency, joins Ian Whittaker to explain the importance of understanding Gen Z and the channels that work best to cut through. Named as one of the Top 20 Future Leaders by the Financial Times for his contributions to marketing, JCDecaux welcomes Kian as an inspirational changemaker who is bridging the gap between brands and young people by giving Gen Z a seat at the marketing table.Following the launch of JCDecaux UK’s GENgage, a new programme to help brands reach and engage the digitally native Gen Z audience, Ian and Kian talk about the opportunity that digital Out-of-Home provides marketers with so that they can connect and be relevant within the context of young people’s lives.

How do you balance business growth with sustainability – or does sustainability drive the bottom line? Giffgaff balances people, planet and profit with equal value and effort. Having launched a call-to-arms to market for brands to bring sustainability higher up their agenda when it comes to media planning, JCDecaux welcomes a true pioneer in the space. B Corp-certified and very much focused on long-term cultural change, giffgaff’s Georgina Bramall, Marketing Strategy Director, shares her experience and learnings for others wanting to push sustainability further up their organisation’s agenda.With a new report out from JCDecaux UK and Campaign on a new report to market, looking at the importance of sustainability in brands’ media planning, Ian and Georgina discuss how sustainability can impact media planning and the role of channels such as Out-of-Home in that sustainable journey.

Ugo Agbai, Co-Founder of Ruka Hair, joins Thanh Catachanas, from JCDecaux UK’s Reach programme, who are on a mission to create the definitive hair brand for Black women nationwide. The pair talk about the power of the public screen and how Out-of-Home will be key in scaling up and buildingbrand fame.  Launched during the pandemic and a recipient of the 2022 Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, RUKA Hair focuses on bringing the latest science and innovation to the treatment and management of curly, coily and wavy hair. Now they’re bringing their brand to a national audience with their upcoming OOH campaign, giving them unprecedented scale and reach.