Route Data and Insight For Supermarkets
Russ Curry, Ministry of New Media
The research body Route this month added retail spaces to those already included in its groundbreaking system. It has measured the outdoor sites at malls, supermarkets, pedestrian shopping areas, and motorway services across the country. Its GPS travel survey that forms the basis for audience estimates, now includes a sample of 34,000.
Group M media agencies, MEC and M4C are the first pure play media agencies to sign up to Route and will be able to access Route’s data to plan their outdoor media campaigns.
The first retail data available covers 6,000 sites, at supermarkets and motorway services. The largest 1,323 supermarkets across all parts of the country, as well as many major motorway service areas, are included.
Behind the audience calculations lies a huge survey of attitudes and behaviours, with GPS data revealing that the average time spent in the vicinity of a supermarket is 31 minutes.
In addition, Route’s survey reveals that shoppers in the South West travel the furthest to visit a supermarket, with 8% making a journey over 25km. 3.1% of the whole population travel 50km or more to a supermarket, but most of us travel no more than 5km.
The average weekly audience for a frame in a supermarket parking area or entrance is 20,610. 60% of this audience see the ad while in a vehicle.
To create these figures, Route’s research project involves digitising the real world. Supermarket sites alone require the inclusion of 46,000 separate pathways mapped onto the Route network. These connect 8,850 entry and exit points around outdoor retail spaces.
James Whitmore, Managing Director, Route, said: “I believe we have once more broken ground in audience measurement. The detail involved in modelling is astounding, and the end product will enable out-of-home to plan, trade and evaluate with even more sophistication. The news that MEC and M4C have signed up is great as this data will be hugely useful for media agencies to plan their campaigns.”
Chris Marjoram, Managing Director, Rapport, said: “This is a significant step in proving outdoor’s value and accountability to brands. We now not only know how people behave as they travel, but what they see when shopping. Route offers a 360 view of consumers, and a rich seam of data insight allowing our planners to create more integrated cross-environment solutions to deliver tangible efficiency results for our clients.”
About Route
Route produces audience estimates for out-of-home advertising. The data it publishes tells subscribers how many people see an advertising campaign and how often they do so. The information is used as the currency for planning, buying, selling and evaluating advertising investment in the medium.
Route is committed to a continuous programme of research and development to meet the evolving needs of the marketplace.
Ownership and Funding: The trade associations for the buyers and sellers of the medium underwrite Route jointly. The IPAO represents the interests of the specialist poster agencies (or planners & buyers) working on behalf of advertisers. The Outdoor Media Centre represents the interests of the media owners (or sellers).
Route receives additional income from subscriptions to the service and is a non-profit making organisation, run on commercial principles.
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