The London Games 2012 confirm the 'Olympic dimensions'’ that is acquiring digital signage

London 2012 has just finished and can already be highlighted as the first completely digital Olympics, a great event that has turned out to be a global experience in which outdoor digital advertising has taken on a great role, allowing spectators to get closer to the athletes or show their perspective of the event.

The London Olympic Games 2012 They will be remembered as the Olympics with the highest participation due to their high levels of follow-up and interest., that were not the product of a single streaming platform, but they respond to a true revolution and modernization of the media, including outdoor digital advertising.

19,8 millions of people followed the London Olympics through digital-out-of-home screens (located in places such as subway stations, cafes, gyms, etc) with Earth, the company that acquired the broadcast rights in the United States, Latin America and Spain. The CEO of Terra, Paulo Castro, has highlighted the technological changes that have occurred in the last four years: “We have experienced a great technological leap between the last two Olympic Games. Comparison between London and Beijing, our reach has almost quadrupled. In Beijing 2008, we only had computer screens to offer our live content interface. In London, we have been able to show it through tablets, mobile phones and DOOH screens, in addition to smart TVs, a platform that undoubtedly has a promising future and, besides, can support 3D diffusion”.

The power of the Olympics effect on advertising is demonstrated by data from CBS Outdoor, which reflect that digital out-of-home revenue in London this quarter will be a 132% higher than the same period last year. In all the assets that this outdoor advertising agency owns in London - both digital and non-digital- income has increased by 50 percent, with all the spaces on the British capital's bus routes “busy”.

Aware of this relevance, coinciding with the start of the Games, The company RAM Vision installed a giant screen in the Stratford Center shopping center, in east london, on the main pedestrian route on the way to the Olympic venues. In the same area, the official shopping center of london 2012, Westfield Stratford City, used digital communications software Scala to add a live Twitter feed service to your network of over 300 digital signage screens, allowing visitors to view their tweets and photos instantly on video walls throughout the center.

In another shopping center, One New Change, Screenfeed reported in the digital kiosks about the winners of the different Olympic events. The Dutch brewing company Heineken, for his part, also took advantage of the Olympic fever with a simple but effective campaign on the Transvision screens of JCDecaux located in London train stations, that showed the Olympic medal table updated in real time.

Frantic activity

Another of the great outdoor advertising agencies, Ocean Outdoor, ensures that, during the Games, their out-of-home digital screens showed 976 changes in real time, with advertisers like Panasonic, Nike, BP y Strongbow. This last signature, For example, celebrated Usain Bolt's gold medal in the 100 smooth meters with a tribute in 11 of the main outdoor screens that Ocean Outdoor has in London with instant changes of the “Earn It” message (Ganatelo) a “Earn(ed) It” (Cattle) with the brand's classic insignia adapted to simulate the typical pose of the Jamaican sprinter.

Panasonic, for his part, showed exclusive content on the outdoor screens that this agency has in the Two Towers East area, on the way to the Olympic Village, interspersing photographs of the Games with portraits from the Facebook tag campaign and mobile apps of the Japanese company's flags, which allowed fans to paint their faces in the colors of their national team.

The CEO of Ocean Outdoor, Tim Bleakley, has assured that “These have been the Games in which outdoor digital advertising and brands have worked together to offer the best of themselves. Sometimes the speed of change was as fast as a Usain Bolt race.. The results have been impressive and have helped raise the bar in terms of creative and technical approach”.

Citizen participation

British oil company British Petroleum, BP, wanted to pay tribute to the heroes behind the Olympic Games by using their photographs in the brand's digital outdoor advertising ads that were installed throughout London. The campaign was planned and managed by Mindshare and Kinetic and for it the CBS Outdoor mupis have been used in the London Underground, JCDecaux screens at train stations and the premium network of ECNlive. The latter also deployed its digital signage network in the London skyscraper The Gherkin, offering real-time weather and travel information, financial updates and news from the Olympic Games.

Finally, a McDonalds initiative created by Leo Burnett proposed to the public, under the claim “What kind of supporter are you?”, who sent his images via Facebook during the Games and became the protagonist of his advertising campaign on the large digital billboards, such as Picadilly Circus; while the sports brand Adidas, with the collaboration of designer Nash Money, created adiPower Barricade shoes with an integrated LCD screen that displayed Twitter updates, which allowed athletes to receive direct support messages while competing in the Olympic stadium.