When Tomas Tiefenbach, CEO of Lurity, founded his first digital billboard company in 2016, he had no idea that it would grow into an international DOOH network with up to fifteen million monthly ad impressions and more than five hundred digital billboards in three countries. He didn't stop there, however, and later added Tapgest, Sentiner and the omnichannel project Simplaq. How does he see the future of digital OOH advertising today?
In the media market, one sometimes hears the opinion that out of home (OOH) as an advertising format is already dead. Is it really? How do you see the trends of OOH development?
Out of home as a format is certainly not dead, although some outdated formats have run their course. We are seeing paper surfaces gradually supplanting digital ones, which have a myriad of new possibilities.
The advantage of out of home areas is that they are close to the customer and to the points of sale where the customer makes purchasing decisions. Not every product can be sold online and not every customer shops exclusively online. In particular, I see the future of OOH in digitalisation and an omnichannel approach to advertising.
The goal of omnichannel is to create the same quality of experience across all platforms.
Tomáš Tiefenbach
What is the daily reality of digital out of home advertising in Slovakia and the Czech Republic? Is it progressing fast and maybe there are interesting advances in this direction?
We see that customers are more willing to experiment and try new technologies. Last summer, for example, well-known personalities from Telekom's "Respect" campaign spoke to passers-by through our screen in Aupark in Bratislava. It was one of the first campaigns in which screens were used to communicate with passers-by in real time. The next level will be when they will be greeted by personalised avatars with AI.
Where do you see your medium shifting in recent years? Has the client and their view of digital out of home advertising changed?
The popularity of our digital media is continuously growing, clients appreciate our efficiency and our unorthodox approach, and that's why they keep coming back to us. This allows us to further expand our network.
We have our own development team that already has considerable experience in programming truly unconventional campaigns based on augmented reality (AR), computer vision through cameras and gesture control of screens. We are true pioneers in these areas in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
What specific products or collaborations do you have?
We produce customized applications according to the creative requirements of clients or their agencies, and almost anything is possible here. Most recently, we produced a very successful screen app for the betting company Fortuna CZ, which was a great success not only with football fans.
We have also completed several international projects from outside the Czech and Slovak borders, these are playful applications aimed at visitors to shopping centres. These apps are also highly effective for brand marketing.
There is also a company in your portfolio that focuses on an omnichannel marketing approach. What exactly is it and what is its potential?
Omnichannel systems instantly transmit data across all channels. For the end customer, this creates a seamless and vivid shopping experience. For example, you can send a message about a special promotion in the form of a push notification, and you have the option to do this when the client is near the point of sale.
Simplaq is therefore also interesting for shopping centres that want to boost their tenants' sales through proximity marketing.
The goal is a comprehensive form of advertising?
The goal of an omnichannel approach is to connect different sales and communication channels into a single whole, so that the customer has the same good experience with the brand regardless of the platform. By the time they arrive at the point of purchase, they will have gone through different channels.
Our goal is to take advantage of the attractiveness of the locations where our screens are located and integrate them into companies' omnichannel strategy. The link to other channels can be, for example, via QR code coupons or various augmented reality apps.
What are your plans for this marketing tool in Slovakia and the Czech Republic?
In addition to expanding our network, we will continuously invest in innovation to bring our clients the most up-to-date form of advertising and thus greater efficiency.