At the end of 2021, Innovocean — a joint venture between Tractor Outdoor and Reveel — was awarded the exclusive advertising rights for the Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront, encompassing all of the out-of-home (OOH) and digital out-of-home (DOOH) signage applications.
At the time the contract was awarded, the company announced its intention to create new digital opportunities, which included the use of current as well as futuristic technology, paired with brand new infrastructure and aesthetically-stellar inventory design.
A few months later, Innovocean’s plans are well underway — both in terms of inventory development and the engagement of exciting new technology. These technologies, explains Ben Harris, Managing Director at Tractor, have played a leading role in the design development: “By integrating mobile location data with heatmaps overplayed across the mall environment, Innovocean was able to better interrogate which zones saw the highest footfall, and plot our roll-out accordingly.”
Innovocean will officially begin structural installation from 1 April 2022, with all new OOH sites installed by early May.
“We have a number of very impactful sites that will be implemented at a later stage. Compliance with the advertising and signage bylaws is a non-negotiable for us in all of our installations, and we are currently awaiting approval from the City of Cape Town’s signage department on these newly-identified sites. Once secured, we will commence roll-out, and are extremely excited about the possibilities that these new sites will unlock,” he adds.
Tanner Rock, Commercial Director at Reveel, says that several unique and innovative new elements will be integrated into key sites, and references the V&A’s iconic Amphitheatre and Centre Court sites, explaining, “We have significantly increased the size of these screens ensuring a far greater impact for our advertisers. These screens will also lend themselves very well to the increasingly popular anamorphic effect, and we cannot wait to see what our clients, along with some of South Africa’s best creative agencies, have planned for this incredible space.”
Harris adds that every single DOOH screen will be fitted with a camera and state-of-the art facial recognition technology, whilst adhering to all data privacy laws.
“This will allow us to tell advertisers not only how many consumers were exposed to their advertisements, but also the gender and age category that those consumers fall within. The technology even allows us to gauge and report on the mood of a consumer, based on their facial expressions — something which is now possible, thanks to the recent relaxing of Covid laws that required masks to be worn when outdoors.
“Through this technology, we are also able to ascertain how many people were reported as looking at a specific screen at any given time, providing us with verified impression metrics.”
Innovocean also plans to integrate other cutting-edge technologies, which will allow marketers to serve adverts to consumers based on the shops they have visited, via their mobile devices — a location settings opt-in. “For example, if we identify a visitor frequenting a female fashion store, our algorithms can use this as a trigger to showcase a competing brand when the consumer passes a screen.
Concludes Harris, “The Waterfront, situated in the heart of the Mother City, has always been one of Africa’s most iconic shopping and tourism destinations, and we believe that this roll-out will set the benchmark for retail advertising projects to follow.”
