František Farenzena on the development of digital OOH, which has become a key communication medium komunikačním médiem 

Out of home (OOH) is the oldest and most widespread form of advertising. Imagine, for example, the illuminated advertising spaces in Times Square or Piccadilly Circus, which are famous all over the world. Despite its ubiquity, however, OOH is a difficult medium to measure, and has lost points in popularity in competition with online advertising. But even OOH is evolving, and one of the most advanced is one in which the online message is delivered in a relevant environment where large numbers of people are present. We're talking about digital DOOH that reaches x times more customers with each play than just one user behind a monitor.

And that's what Lurity offers: the DOOH in 50 shopping malls, post offices and healthcare facilities with 500 screens, operating in three markets. But what is the most important criterion for success? "Being in the right place at the right time. In the case of shopping centres, we approach the customer in the ideal frame of mind, when he is ready to buy and is literally a few metres away from the opportunity," says František Farenzena, director of Lurity SK/CZ.

Before you became the director of Lurity SK and CZ, you worked in the press. How do you perceive the qualitative difference in the preferences of print and digital OOH readers?

Every medium has its place in the media mix, but not every medium can fully adapt to market developments. Digitalisation and the internet have changed consumer behaviour. Print content tends to be faster on the web, OOH is moving away from paper billboards and the number of digital spaces is growing. Times are fast and the time needed to produce posters can no longer keep up with market dynamics. With digital DOOH, printing is eliminated and distribution has been reduced from hours to seconds thanks to the online connection of the surfaces to our planning portal. The whole process is time and cost efficient.

So how does it work?

At portal.lurity.com, our clients easily create, manage and control their campaigns. When building it, the goal was to make it easy to use: planning a campaign should be no more complicated than ordering a pizza. Several thousand completed campaigns are a good calling card and motivation to improve it. One of our innovations is the Live feed campaign: automatic generation of ads drawing data from an external data source.

Statistics say that the effectiveness of DOOH rivals that of online and TV. Is this true?

Shopping centres are unique in terms of footfall. No other type of advertising space shows such a massive concentration of customers in one place, regardless of the size of the agglomeration in which the OC is located. Therefore, this target group is the most preferred by advertisers.

Lurity has 500 sites in three countries, reaching more than 15 million people per month…

According to the current data, this is a realistic figure based on the average number of visitors to the centres and the declared movement of consumers around our premises. Data on consumer movement within the reach of the areas is generally the Achilles heel of OOH. However, we are improving our measurement capabilities here as well. We intend to provide clients with regularly updated data in the near future.

How is DOOH doing in Slovakia and the Czech Republic? What is its future?

Lurity has been operating in the DOOH advertising segment for six years. The growing trend in the markets where we have been operating over this period is clearly in favour of DOOH. The number of carriers, the number of clients and the number of campaigns are growing. We currently have up to 50 shopping centres in three markets and several hundred additional outdoor and indoor spaces in the digital segment. In terms of market distribution, the majority is allocated to the Slovak and Czech markets. We have a lot to offer our clients. The trend says that the interest in this type of media will continue to grow. We are also expanding the possibilities of using our planning portal to monetize additional space.

Do you have any new plans abroad?

We have big ambitions. For the last two years we have focused on fine-tuning the product, but now we are ready to enter new markets.

František Farenzena, Director of Lurity SK and CZ

He has been working in Slovak media and media houses for 18 years. He has been dealing with the challenge of digital OOH for almost 4 years. As Country Director, in addition to managing the team in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, he is involved in the development of the company's planning software and contributes to its vision and strategic direction.