One can hardly travel a few meters in Egypt's major cities without being exposed to some sort of advertising. In an environment where consumers are constantly bombarded with appeals for their loyalty, and money, innovative approaches are sure to stand out.
Drivers and pedestrians in Mohandiseen have been exposed to relatively recent high-tech additions to Egypt's crowded advertising world: two large digital screens. The screens, one each on Gameat Al Dowal Al Arabiya and Al Batal Ahmed Abdel Aziz streets, flash a digital mix of government and commercial advertisements.
Although they are not the only digital outdoor advertisements in Egypt, the Mohandiseen screens come with a unique twist: in addition to displaying government and commercial announcements, they are equipped with traffic control equipment, including cameras and vehicle sensors, as well as electronic indicators that count down the changing of traffic signals.
The digital screens alternate between the two types of content in coordination with traffic signals. During red lights, there are advertisements for companies such as Coca-Cola and Kia; when the signals turn green, the screens display government announcements, including alerts that inform drivers of the electronic surveillance and tell them to fasten their seat belts.
The equipment is the result of a deal between the government and advertising firm Marina Vierge, which did the installation. Company chairman Nader Azab says the equipment allows the government to monitor traffic and Marina Vierge to sell commercial ad space.
The digital billboards have been operating since early March, Azab says, adding that after 10 years of operation the screens will revert to government control.
Marina Vierge has an arrangement with the government to spread this type of traffic control equipment throughout the country over the next three years, Azab says. In the shorter term, he expects that by the end of next year the traffic monitoring equipment will be in operation at major intersections in the Giza, Cairo and Alexandria governorates.
While the Giza equipment will include digital screens with commercial advertising, such as in Gameat Al Dowal Al Arabiya and Al Batal Ahmed Abdel Aziz streets, the agreement with the Cairo governorate calls for the government to purchase the system outright from Marina Vierge with no provisions for commercial messages, Azab says. He notes that the company has already installed traffic monitoring equipment in Roxy Square in Heliopolis and Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo.
Details of the Alexandria arrangements, he explains, are still being worked out.
Ali Salem Heikal, chairman of the Public Works Department at Ain Shams University, explains that monitoring traffic via a live feed can allow real-time responses to accidents. He cites the potential in Cairo to use cameras to help divert traffic based on road conditions. "In Europe and the USA, they are used for area-wide control of signals and variable messages to drivers to inform them about delays on the road, better routes to avoid congestion and location of parking spaces," Heikal says.
The cameras in Mohandiseen send live images to traffic authorities, says Azab, who explains that at this point the system has not been used for real-time traffic diversion because the network has not been completed.
Nonetheless, Azab contends that this arrangement has already helped to improve traffic flow at the two Giza sites. He estimates that 4,000 vehicles are monitored at each location each hour; occupants of half that number are actually able to see the screens, which each face one direction.
The sheer volume of traffic in the two areas is a big asset for companies that advertise on the screens. The amount of traffic is an important factor in determining the value of outdoor advertising space, explains Ahmed Taher, chairman and CEO of Solutions Consulting. "When we look at an outdoor location, one of the key questions we ask [is], 'Is there a traffic jam in this place?'" He adds that if this is a "chronic" situation, the value of the advertising space consequently increases.
Nabil Kouchouk, senior brand manager for Coca-Cola's Egypt franchise, says the Giza locations are an advantage for advertisers. "These two places are very high traffic areas."
But Kouchouk also points out that the effectiveness of the screens is enhanced by their "novelty" and the actual nature of the medium. "You're not seeing a static billboard on the bridge or something," he says, but rather "a dynamic ad" with "a dynamic message."
Images in motion draw attention, Taher says: "Your eye is attracted to whatever moves, rather than whatever stays put."
Indeed, a crowded street is clearly not the only factor involved in determining the effectiveness of an outdoor advertisement. As Egypt's streets have become more crowded, so has the country's outdor advertising space, and Taher says that clutter has reduced the effectiveness of this kind of advertising.
In today's crowded advertising environment, it's arguably more important than ever for companies to take creative leaps in order to garner attention and get their messages across.
"We're trying as much as possible to cut through the clutter and to cut through the segmentation of the mediums," explains Kouchouk, who says Coca-Cola is working in Egypt to be creative and innovative regarding both content and methods of communication.
The Giza digital screens provide an edge in cutting through the clutter, Kouchouk says. "Innovation is becoming very important, and finding new ways of interacting with the consumer is becoming the challenge," he says, noting that this is "the key thing about going forward with this kind of idea."
The screens offer another advantage, Kouchouk says, citing the ease with which companies can alter messages. "You can change the message whenever you want," he explains, arguing that the ability to adjust messages at any point without needing to print new material increases the cost effectiveness of this type of advertising.
Kouchouk explains that the price for advertising on the Giza screens is about equal to conventional outdoor billboards, but that it is a less expensive option if one takes into consideration an advertiser's ability to alter its message as it likes.
Azab says that advertising on digital screens works out to 60 to 75 percent of the cost of conventional outdoor billboards.
With sponsors' advertisements playing during red signals on heavily trafficked streets, they are bound to draw the attention of many drivers.
Says Taher: "[From] an outdoor perspective, the captive audience is very important."
Additional reporting by Waleed Marzouk
By Louis Wasser
© Business Monthly 2009
