Manchester is a city that’s never shied away from change over the years, especially on the media front. Recently, we saw that even its outdoor advertising is moving into the future, with the launch of Manchester’s first media wall.
Located on Trinity Way, the 141.2m² hybrid full motion screen will expose drivers to digital advertising. The first brand to appear on it was Microsoft, promoting its Lumia 735 smartphone.
Ocean Outdoor are the media company behind this billboard of the future, having already placed similar media walls in London and Liverpool. As with the original two walls, Manchester’s version is placed on a busy main road, used by commuters daily. It’s predicted that it will be seen by nearly a million people every fortnight.
It’s great to see other major UK cities take part in the DOOH (digital out-of-home) advertising phenomena. It’s becoming more and more common for street advertising to be interactive, with media walls being favoured over traditional billboards. As a B2B PR agency based near to Manchester, we always keep an eye on how brands are being communicated in the city. Will this be a phenomena here to stay or will the novelty wear off eventually? More importantly, will it have a bigger impact than traditional forms of advertising? All the same, I can’t wait to see DOOH advertising on the side of Manchester buses.
Alex Brown has just started his career at Skout PR and will be a regular contributor to the Skout blog.