Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Tim Bleakley, CEO of the UK-based Ocean Group, gave the 100-plus attendees at the DailyDOOH Investor Conference in New York last week, a great rundown on what’s going on in digital out of home in the UK and what specifically the Ocean Group is doing.
We used to talk to Bleakley about Ocean Outdoor, but since the company acquired Signature Outdoor in 2014 and MediaCo in 2015, giving it properties in Birmingham and Manchester respectively all now come under the guise of the Ocean Group.
During his talk he showed some superb looking billboards and perhaps even better creative – among them were LEDs at the UK’s Birmingham’s New Street Station called the Media Eyes – shortlisted as a finalist in The DailyDOOH Gala Awards this year, Ed.
Another mention he made was of The Loop, a network of more than 20 full motion portrait screens located in 12 high-footfall pedestrian zones across Birmingham’s regenerated city centre – again shortlisted as a finalist in The DailyDOOH Gala Awards this year, Ed. The Loop enables brands to deliver full motion advertising content to the heart of the city and it even has its own programmatic buying and marketplace system.
Bleakley said that the UK Digital Out-of-Home was growing quickly, with the all-screen ad spend in the UK forecast to reach GBP12.9 billion by 2020.
“In the Ocean Group itself, we now have 180 locations, but we only want to be in the top 20 cities in the UK, and we want always to be in the city centre and with no clutter around,” he said.
Ocean Group’s The Media Eyes
Among his announcements was that the Ocean Group will be part of the Alliance, a set of joint ventures with screen operators across the world. To launch in 2016, it will see Ocean Group in the Far East in the near future.
Ocean Outdoor is well known across the UK especially for its creative contest, which has grown continually, not only reaching a record number of entries but some winners going on to reach Gold Lions at Cannes. Bleakley said that in 2016, the contest will become a global contest. Details of same are still being worked out, but it could be that the award event will be simulcast from the London’s IMAX theatre.
As the company partnered with Team GB for next year’s Olympic Games, it will be bringing content across its screens that can otherwise only be accessed via the BBC and social media.
Among other announcements Bleakley made was that a new Channel O will have a content wrap of 100 digital screens across the UK in January, 2016 – using Ocean Group screens, naturally.
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