PMG partners with TAPTAP to launch Ground-Breaking Geo-Location Technology to Drive Greater Integration of Mobile and OOH

Provantage Media Group has taken its digital offering to the next level with the launch of ‘Sonar’, an audience powered mobile geo-location offering that will allow for the extension of campaigns from Out-of-Home (OOH) into the digital realm.

PMG, through its various divisions, will be offering this geo-location service to all its campaigns to create additional reach, fostering a greater integration of OOH and mobile, and offering brands the opportunity to drive more personalised engagement and a closer connection with consumers.

This follows PMG signing an exclusive agreement with Africa Media Alliance that will see it roll out Sonar across all its divisions, with a focus on PMG’s digital platforms, in the form of its digital place-based networks and digital boards.

Africa Media Alliance is the sub-Saharan Africa venture partner of global behavioral and location intelligence technology platform, TAPTAP Digital, having launched the TAPTAP product in South Africa in 2019.

Technology

TAPTAP leverages geospatial technology and artificial intelligence for multi-dimensional audience planning, omni-channel media activation, and advanced online and offline measurement.

“This venture is the result of extensive research into finding the right partner (with an advanced technology stack, deep audiences and scale into many markets?) and has been driven by the growing link between OOH and mobile. The link is further enhanced through the ability of pairing geo-locational technology with campaign roll-outs in order to deliver even more effective solutions for brands,” says Jacques du Preez, CEO of Provantage Media Group. “It is well known now that OOH and mobile integration drive brand lift, recall and ROI, and we’re excited to be able to offer our existing and future clients a world-class mobile integration service alongside our various OOH platforms. This will change the OOH landscape in Africa.”

The TAPTAP technology focuses on three key platform utilities:

• Profiling: building custom audiences and using multi signal location qualification – navigation patterns, intent, digital profile and consumer affinity.
• Activation: driving engagement via TAP2actions and an omni-channel approach, focused on relevance and context – right person, right time at the right place.
• Attribution: full funnel reporting – both physical footfall and digital reporting, with full transparency.

Applying these principles to PMG’s new Sonar product, it will allow for campaigns delivered within the airport space, for example, to extend their reach using location-powered mobile Out-of-Home.

“By geo-fencing airports, malls, golf courses, billboards, commuter nodes  and activation zones  we can drive additional awareness and engagement across the various locations, as well as retarget consumers who have been in these locations, via their mobile devices,” says Du Preez. “Based on the brief, we can build custom audience segments using multiple location-enhanced data points, to effectively amplify specific sites/locations.”

 Scale, Reach and Engagement

What sets Sonar apart from its competitors and other location-based marketing players is its access and large footprint.  It is able to run campaigns in 36 African countries and its total reach across the continent is over 200 million users and billions of impressions. What this means is that PMG could provide an integrated OOH and Mobile campaign for a client that runs concurrently in South Africa, the Ivory Coast and the United Arab Emirates (Sharjah) – all countries in which PMG has a presence.

“We are very excited about this partnership – it further entrenches TAPTAP as an omni-channel, scalable location intelligence and technology-rich platform driving business for brands, both big and small,” says Garth Rhoda, Director of Africa Media Alliance. “We were looking for a partner in the OOH space and were attracted to the Provantage heritage, their innovative approach with their products, and their diversity in their offering, covering many demographics in the market. We look forward to assisting more clients in amplifying their messages into the digital space, focusing on extending the reach and driving engagement and performance for brands.”

Continued Integration of OOH and Mobile

Out-of-Home and mobile are increasingly being integrated as the platforms complement each other, and, if combined, are able to optimise interaction with an audience and represent an efficient way to maximise reach.

In an October 2018 piece titled ‘Case Studies: OOH + Mobile Integration Drive Lift, Recall, and ROI’, Rainbow Kirby-Stearns and Elizabeth Rave suggest that “Data + Mobile + OOH = Results.”

They go on to cite research shared in Campaign, which showed that mobile click-through rates increased by up to 15% when supported by OOH. Additional research from Outsmart stated that better performing OOH campaigns created a 38% uplift in short-term brand action taken via mobiles, with 66% of all actions being direct to the brand itself.

The days of treating advertising touch points as if each works in isolation is long past and marketers are being forced to ask themselves which combinations of ad exposures work best to influence customers. Specifically, this applies to a consumer segment for which the smartphone has become an ever-present tool.

Marketing Week has predicted that incorporating cell phone connectivity with OOH will “become the norm, not a ‘special’ part of a campaign”, and that’s difficult to dispute.

PMG recognises this and is proud of its market-leading Sonar mobile location technology partnership, which allows it to offer the best in breed to brands to enhance their campaigns. In doing so, it is putting mobile OOH in the hands of consumers and giving brands the opportunity to drive greater engagement and specific, measurable actions.