I have to begin by saluting the resilience of Nigeria’s outdoor advertising practitioners; these guys operate in an atmosphere of uncertainties. If Ogun state ministry of finance is not levying them, social miscreants a.k.a “area boys" are complementing government multiple taxations in Lagos state and the Niger Delta, etc.

Proliferation of laws does not bring any form of succour either, e.g. there is the FEPA Act 1988 while others include schedule IV Nigerian Constitution 1979 (which gives the various local government councils in the country the power to pass by-laws in respect of outdoor advertising and hoardings), Control of Advertisement (Federal Highways) Act Cap 66 LFN, Control of Advertisements (Lagos State) Act 1965, Land Use Act 1990 LFN, Lagos Local Government By-laws 1958, and Cap 7, Laws of the Federation 1990, otherwise known as the Advertising Practitioners (Registration, etc.) Act, etc. Again, it is share madness that a federal road maintenance agency could go about posting “remove" stickers on billboards! What then is the role of APCON?

In spite of these constraints, I commend our practitioners for striving to be innovative as evidenced by the wall scapes, the roller visions, the computer digital displays, etc. Of course the bulletins and tower billboards are here to stay while the ultra-waves/vision billboards continue to tickle consumers’ fancies.

The balloons, motion displays, backlit, lamp posts, bridge posters, etc. hardly give a hint of the pressures these guys are going through. Even in the U.S there have been several governmental and legislative attempts to quash the progress of outdoor advertising. Like Nigeria, however, this trend has not prevented the outdoor advertising market in that country from continuing to expand and prove itself a viable, effective and an increasingly attractive advertising medium.

Of course technology plays no small role in the market’s resilience. According to Nancy Fletcher then president and CEO of the outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), outdoor advertising has suddenly found itself gaining renewed respect as a result of a rebirth of sorts it is experiencing. Fletcher opines that the biggest trend affecting outdoor advertising is digital technology. Asked about her assessment of the public perception of outdoor advertising today, Nancy believes “… that the public image of outdoor advertising is way up into as high a position as it’s ever been. And that has to do with improving quality and how the business is."

Computer painting courtesy of inkjet, electrostatic and digital airbrushing, is transforming outdoor advertising by the day. Whereas in 1992 approximately 5% of the billboards actually used digital technology in the U.S, today it is used on about 80% of the billboards. Two obvious advantages of this technology are: billboards look better; its speed allows advertisers to change boards more frequently with less cost.

Bulletins are actually regarded as the “prime time" of outdoor advertising because of their imposing size which cannot fail to appeal to a vast audience; with larger-than-life images that feature colour, elegance and excitement, the consumer is thoroughly astounded!

There are two types of painted bulletins- the rotary bulletin and the permanent bulletin. Rotary bulletins share the same visual characteristics of permanent bulletins except that they are rotated on a 60-day cycle to a new strategic location within the market. Rotating to new locations usually provides advertisers an opportunity to maximize their market coverage by having considerable impact on new market areas on a bi-monthly basis.

Out-of home was a concept without a name until digital technology gave it one. Rather than hand-paint a bus or shelter, for example, a self-adhesive graphic can be digitally imaged within a short time and applied with considerable ease. Developments in the durability and weather-ability of inks and vinyl substrates can only keep the images looking sharp for a longer time. Out-of-home goes beyond billboard advertising to include other places that attract high pedestrian or vehicular traffic, e.g. bus shelters, transit (bus exteriors, commuter rail cards, station platforms, underground shelters, etc.), street furniture (newsstands, benches, etc.), airports, malls spectaculars and painted walls.

More and longer-lasting billboard substrates, from vinyl to flexible-face fabric as well as large-format digital technology, some of which can create a billboard in less than 60 minutes, have helped to stimulate interest in outdoor advertising. Others include creative uses of 3-D fibre optics and other spectacular effects on billboards.

Satellite lighting systems allow outdoor companies to remotely adjust billboard lighting to change with seasons and daily variances. Lights are programmed to turn off at the end of an advertiser’s contract while two-way communication allows outdoor companies to know when a power outage occurs.

The Global Positioning Systems (GPS) make it possible for the outdoor advertising industry to determine display locations by longitude and latitude; data is assembled with a hand-held GPS receiver that receives radio signals from satellites. The data is then moved to mapping database systems that visually position billboards and other out-of-home advertising displays at that location. This device enables an advertiser to test its creative designs at specific locations from a computer before it commits to them (Signs of the Times 2002).

The Barcode Identification tracks an advertiser’s campaign from poster production through shipping, display and removal. Its advantage is that advertisers can verify the status of their campaign through online communication with the outdoor companies.

Computer-mapping systems aid advertisers to combine demographic and geographic market research data with outdoor locations so as to determine the best place to advertise.

The technology that makes it possible for outdoor advertisements to communicate to any device that runs the palm operating system is known as streetbeam, which was launched in the U.S on December 01, 2000. Jan Renner, Streetbeam’s president, had stated that its mission was to “wirelessly enable outdoor displays with interactivity."

Outdoor advertising on kiosks, bus shelters, and other outdoor media vehicles are equipped with infrared signals that can beam a small file into your PDA. These files contain promotional information about the product or company that is being advertised, and encourage consumers to visit the sreetbeam website. In streetbeam technology when the web is accessed through a computer, you can download the streetbeam conduit which then gives you updated promotional information whenever your PDA is made to work at the same rate as the blinking light.

You can then request for information by simply pointing at a streetbeam-equipped outdoor advertisement. The technology works on Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) devices in Europe. The streetbeam application makes it possible for us to selectively request product information even when walking down a Nigerian street, someday.

Can the Electronic Video Board (EVB) be rightly considered the hottest outdoor advertising medium of the third millennium?

Thanks to the advent of new true colour, ultra-bright LED technology which now makes it possible for outdoor electronic billboards to be capable of performing like a real outdoor television even under direct sunlight. The EVB is an attractive, animated giant outdoor advertising video screen which is noted for arresting people’s attention on a busy street whether pedestrians or in a car or bus or stuck in traffic. The electronic video advertising screen refreshes itself constantly while it is operated by PC. It can display any television commercial, any live event, any useful information, any breaking news, etc. instantly from any remote location. That the picture is bright cannot be disputed, while its ability to take on sound clearly transforms it into a giant outdoor television.

However, the device is not suitable for fast speed highways or major streets despite high vehicular traffic because people will not have time to see many advertisements or video clips. More so we do not want accidents on our highways. Busy streets (pedestrians or vehicles with slow traffic) or a major intersection are better.

What makes outdoor so difficult is the fact that your audience’s attention is more focused on driving a car, not on digesting advertising. If the car is whizzing past the advertising at 100km per hour then you need about two seconds or less to get the driver’s attention. Delivering an effective outdoor message in so short a time is therefore a real challenge.

How is the Nigerian outdoor advertising sector bracing up to this and several other challenges?