Outdoor Advertising Jargon Buster
What is OOH? Don’t know your NFC from your CPT? Not sure how to calculate the Gross Rating Point for your 48 sheet?
When you step into the world of outdoor advertising you enter a minefield of business jargon and acronyms that can leave even the savviest of us scratching our heads in despair.
We want to make it as easy as possible to book your outdoor advertising space, so we’ve put together a list of the most common terms you’ll come across in the industry coupled with some straightforward definitions.
General Outdoor Advertising Terminology
Billboard & Poster Types & Sizes
General Outdoor Advertising Terminology
Ambient
Ambient advertising is a form of out-of-home advertising that uses non-traditional or alternative media. It’s about placing ads in creative or unusual places to encourage people to interact with or think about your message in a different way. Check out these great examples of ambient advertising
Audience
An ‘Audience’ is the group of people that an advertising campaign targets; that is, the potential customers for the product or service being advertised. Amongst other factors it can be defined by age, gender, income, geographical location or ethnicity.
Campaign
An organised, strategic group of adverts that actively works towards a goal. This could be client awareness, reaching new potential customers, branding or promotion of an event.
Hashtag (#)
Hashtags are used by social media sites to identify words or phrases on a specific topic. They’re a useful tool to engage with consumers beyond an out-of-home campaign.
iBeacon
iBeacon is the name for Apple’s new wireless technology that provides location-based information to iPhones. The beacons are small Bluetooth transmitters that send out signals to your iPhone. Apps installed on your iPhone respond to these signals when they come within range of a beacon.
Media Owner
This is the organisation or individual who owns the right to sell outdoor advertising space
NFC
Near Field Communication (NFC) is short range wireless technology that enables two devices to communicate by bringing them within about 4cm of each other. NFC can be used to enable consumers to interact with adverts using their smartphones, Its also how your oystercard or contactless payment works
OOH
Out-of-Home (OOH) refers to any advertising that targets consumers outside of their home, in public spaces
Outdoor Advertising
Outdoor Advertising is any advertising done outside, including (but not limited to) ads on billboards, at bus stops & train stations, in malls or on vehicles.
QR Code
Quick Response codes are those little black and white squares you often see in the corner of print adverts. They can be read by the cameras on smartphones which will translate the code to provide the user with a web address or more information about the product being advertised
If you want to try it out scan the Q.R. Code below to go to our blog page
Signage
Signage is the use of signs to communicate a message, particularly for commercial or marketing purposes
SMS
Short Message Service – better known as a text message
Billboard & Poster Types & Sizes
48 sheet
A 48 sheet is your classic billboard. It’s a 20ft by 10ft space, so quite large and ideal for viewing from a distance
96 sheet
Like a 48 sheet, but double the size (40ft by 10ft). A 96 sheet is basically two 48 sheet billboards side-by-side
6 sheet
With over 80,000 of this poster size across the country these 1.8m x 1.2m sites are most commonly found at bus shelters but also in railway stations, the underground, malls and numerous other environments across the country
Backlit
Exactly what it says on the tin: lit from the back. Backlit describes poster displays that are illuminated from behind. Sometimes abbreviated to BL.
Banner
Banners are large vinyl poster sites that tend to be placed on the side of buildings
Billboard
Billboards are large format advertising spaces, which are best viewed from a distance. This includes the 48 sheet and 96 sheet boards.
Digital Out-of-Home
Digital Out-of-Home (or DOOH) refers to advertising panels that use digital technology to display an ad. It can be more flexible and versatile than printed adverts as it is easier to change advertising content. That doesn’t include TV or Radio advertising. Think Piccadilly Circus
Face
The face is the surface area of the panel on which the advert is displayed. With some advertising spaces (scrollers) there are more than one face on a location which rotates between multiple adverts.
Head on poster
Head on posters are those that face oncoming traffic or pedestrian flow
Illuminated face
A panel equipped with lighting in order to illuminate an advertising message after dark
Panel
A panel is an alternative term for a poster site
Parallel poster
Parallel posters are those that are positioned along side the main flow of pedestrian or vehicle traffic. As they’re positioned parallel to the traffic they’re visible to traffic from both directions.
Transit / Transport Advertising
Transit Advertising refers to adverts that are fixed to moving vehicles or in transit stations
Design & Printing
Bleed
Sounds severe, but Bleed is a printing term that describes any images or elements that extend beyond the edge of a panel frame
Copy
Copy is the industry term for the written words or text on an advert
Typography
Typography is the visual appearance of written words, commonly defined by font, size and colour
Measurement Terms
Coverage
The Coverage is the percentage of people from a specific audience group reached by an advertising campaign
CPT
In English, ‘Cost Per Thousand’. This refers to the price of 1,000 impressions per ad. That is, how much it costs for 1,000 individuals to see your ad
Cycle / Period
This is the 2 week period during which an outdoor campaign is in place. You can extend the length of a campaign by buying several cycles
Display Period
As you might expect, this refers to the time period during which an advertising campaign is displayed
Dwell time
The dwell time is the period during which a consumer is in close proximity to an outdoor advert. So if your bus is running late you’ll have an extended dwell time next to a bus shelter ad
Impacts
Also referred to as ‘Impressions’, Impacts are the number of times an advertising campaign is seen
OTS
Opportunity To See (OTS) refers to the number of times a person is likely to see a particular ad
Pedestrian Count
Pedestrian Count measures the number and types of people passing a particular location. It can be used to determine the effectiveness of a potential advertising site.
POP
Point Of Purchase. Also Proof or Posting, a photo that shows when a poster has been put up.
POS
Point Of Sale
Reach
An advertising Reach is the percentage of a target audience your ad reaches
SOV
Share Of Voice (SOV) is the weight or percentage of a brand’s advertising activities compared to the total advertising activity for that sector or product type
TRP
Total Rating Points (or Gross Rating Point) is an indication of an advert’s exposure to the target audience. TRPs are calculated by multiplying an advert’s reach by the frequency of its exposure. So, the number of people that have seen an ad multiplied by the number of times those people see the ad.
Traffic Count
Traffic Count measures the number of vehicles or pedestrians that pass along a particular road, intersection or path
VAC
The Visibility Adjusted Contact (VAC) indicates how many contacts an advertising panel will get; ie how many people are likely to see that advert. The VAC is calculated by taking into account various different factors, including size, viewing distance, and any obstructions etc.
Highly energetic post, I enjoyed that a lot. Will there be a part 2?
I want to to thank you for this great read!! I absolutely enjoyed every little bit of it.
I’ve got you book marked to check out new stuff you post…