Richard Bon, UK managing director for Clear Channel and Europe commercial lead
The future is bright
Tell us a bit about Clear Channel
Clear Channel is an out-of-home media business, but I think what’s really exciting about the business is the fact that we are both media and infrastructure. We provide councils, transport authorities, and communities with urban infrastructure and in return we get advertising rights, so it's this idea of media and infrastructure coming together.
What was the inspiration behind Clear Channel’s ‘Get Real’ event?
It’s fair to say that it’s been a difficult 18 months for the out-of-home industry. It’s pretty hard when the government’s message is to stay at home when you’re running an out-of-home business. But, I think what’s been brilliant is seeing how the media industry didn’t waste that time. It’s invested further in infrastructure, invested further in screens, invested further in data, and also into communities. So, as an out-of-home business we felt that a virtual event just wouldn’t work. We believe that everyone has spent enough time behind screens, and that everyone wants to get back into real life, and into the real world.
I think it was really celebrating this idea of media and infrastructure coming together. It’s slowly but surely putting the pandemic behind us and really aspiring to this idea of bringing the platform for brands and the platform for good together; and getting our clients to lean back in to see how out-of-home is back stronger than ever.
Can you tell us a bit about some of the updates that were discussed?
We had some positive updates both on the platform for brands side and also on the platform for good side. From a platform for brands side, we were able to announce that actually audiences are now back ahead of pre-pandemic. We’ve also invested in further data with our RADAR tool and we’ve also got new connections in the programmatic world with our partners Hivestack and Broadsign.
I think it’s about making out-of-home more accessible. It’s really using the best of the digital world and bringing that back into the out-of-home space and the digital signage space; in order to really harness the powers of digital, but turning that into good and putting that back into the real world.
Clear Channel has invested in producing green infrastructure such as vertical meadows and bee bus stops
Over the past two years, as well as RADAR, Clear Channel has also invested in a sales platform called LaunchPAD. PAD stands for Programmatic, Automated, and Direct, and really in about opening new channels to new brands in order to make the most of out-of-home as a reach channel, but also as an activation channel. Our hope is that digital brands and digital budgets will realise that out-of-home has entered that digital space; but we felt that digitalising our channels wasn’t enough. It’s really important to us also to bring near real time data, so RADAR, which is our data audience platform, really uses all of the data that exists on that small and private screen in your pocket, but allows us to then harness that power through the big public screens on the streets.
How important do you believe out-of-home is to UK businesses and industries
One of the unknown secrets and an out-of-home superpower, I believe, is the fact that 50p out of every pound spent in outdoor advertising goes back into local transport, local councils, and local communities.
Bon says digital out-of-home will evolve to become connected out-of-home as it is digitalised further
The infrastructure and the media come together and because of that very public nature, but also that infrastructure nature, out-of-home is in a place where it delivers sustainability and inclusivity. I believe that those are things that as a society, as brands, and as communities who participate in this real world, is really something everyone is aspiring for. So, it’s really bringing together a platform for brand and platform for good, and infrastructure and media in order to create a more sustainable channel, but also a very inclusive channel.
What opportunities or inspiration could the wider sign industry take from the work that Clear Channel is doing?
I think the brilliant thing is that it’s leaning towards a change. I think it’s an ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn. What we’ve seen at Clear Channel is we’ve not wasted the last 18 months. We’ve spent more time actually thinking about what the future estate looks like. In a way, movement of population, ways of working, ways of commuting, the way people are blending working from home and working from the office meant that our estate and the needs for infrastructure have changed. I think that if you lean towards that change, you have a greater opportunity to shape that. Where do you put your real estate? how do you harness mobile phone data in order to better understand audience demographic movements, and then open new sales channels through the likes of programmatic and LaunchPAD?
I think for me it goes back to the DNA. It’s this idea that out-of-home might be the oldest medium, but I also think it’s the one with the brightest future. Digital disruption actually does not impact us. I would actually say that digital allows us to accelerate.
I think for me it goes back to the DNA. It’s this idea that out-of-home might be the oldest medium, but I also think it’s the one with the brightest future. Digital disruption does not impact us. I would actually say that digital allows us to accelerate”
We can digitalise our screens, we can digitalise the way we work, we can use digital data to better understand what’s happening, and I think that’s why I’m confident that out-of-home is not only the oldest medium, but the one with the brightest future. I believed that prior to the pandemic, but I’m even more adamant now than ever.
Can you tell us a bit more about the green ambitions that Clear Channel has?
At the ‘Get Real’ event, we were really pleased to announce that Clear Channel in 2021 was actually carbon neutral. We’ve also set out a challenge to become carbon net zero over the coming years. We talk about media and infrastructure and previously that infrastructure was quite clear; it might have been a bus stop, it might have been signage, it might have been a bike scheme. What we’re seeing is that the communities, the councils, and the authorities that we’re working with, want different things, including green infrastructure. In response to this, we’ve launched vertical meadows, bee bus stops, and bio filters.
(Above & below) Infrastructure is moving away from traditional formats such as bus stops and signage
At times I think it’s about developing a catalogue of products that these communities, councils, and authorities could be interested in. We’ve got a personal responsibility as someone who operates in the real world.
We’re making bets on what we believe people will be looking for, and we have an ambitious plan. 2021 was the start date, and we plan to triple the number of vertical meadow and bee bus stops.
Clear Channel spoke about its involvement in charity projects at the ‘Get Real’ event. How important is charity work and what change have you seen come about from it?
I’m a big spiderman fan and I am a strong believer that with great power comes great responsibility. I think out-of-home is a very physical, very public, very inclusive medium which is our superpower; but with this comes great responsibility. I think through that, it’s really acknowledging that we have the ability to change the narrative. This is something that we intrinsically believe in. Part of our purpose is to be a platform for good and a platform for brands and I think the amount we donate to charities, charity partners, and partnerships really brings that to the core. We’ve committed in 2022, £20m of advertising space to some of our key partners which might be the likes of Bloom, Brixton Finishing School, and all other kinds of great partners. It’s something we want to do because we believe in the power of our channel. It’s something we want to do because we intrinsically believe in that responsibility. It’s something that our teams and the communities we are operating in are asking for.
Do you have anything else to add?
It’s brilliant to be back in the real world and I hope our partners will lean our way and ensure that the out-of-home industry thrives. Never has out-of-home reached as many people and been so inclusive, but also more sustainable. I love the idea of media and infrastructure coming together and we look forward to that continuing.
We’ve seen an interesting journey for out-of-home. We’ve gone from out-of-home to digital out-of-home, and I think what happens over the next three years is we’ll go from digital out-of-home to connected out-of-home. So, out-of-home playing within the broader eco system, connecting further with other platforms outside of out-of-home and really embracing other data sets to make sure that we’re not only the oldest medium, but also the one with the brightest future.
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