Deirdre Bourke
Marketing & Operations Director
Outdoor advertising is one of the oldest forms of advertising in the world, and over the years it has evolved and embraced new technology, moving from traditional billboards to digital, and more recently to smart digital. Now, an Irish company, Kinetic finds itself at the forefront of some of the latest positive developments in the industry, using Intouch.com’s Artificial Intelligence and helping to improve the in-store experience for retail customers.
Kinetic, a global agency with a Dublin base, focused on out-of-home and outdoor advertising and working with some of the biggest brands around the globe, including household names such as Ford Motor Company and Coca-Cola.
Simon Durham, CEO and co-founder of Kinetic, says that globally, while classic outdoor advertising will remain, “there is transformation underway in the digital offering, which means outdoor finds itself front and centre in its sector in an omnichannel era which has huge demand for personalisation, and digital has become a game changer for the medium”.
His company is a specialist buying unit that purchases outdoor advertising on traditional, digital and mobile spaces such as bus shelters, in-store, as well as at points of sale.
Since late last year Kinetic has worked with Intouch.com, a software company and a Microsoft partner, that has developed an intelligent platform allowing retailers and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands to better understand shoppers inside physical retail stores and ultimately increase sales of their products.
Intouch.com provides digital screens that are placed in stores around the country and using Microsoft Azure and AI, their software collects real-time data and information, such as the location, time of day, weather, traffic, etc. This then allows the screen to advertise products relevant to the shoppers in-store and what products may be relevant to them at that particular time, such as a cup of coffee on a cold morning, or ice creams and cold beverages on sunny afternoons. It can also tailor the messaging or copy on screen to reflect the geographical location.
Seamus McHugh, Retail Sales Director with Intouch.com, explains: “We have introduced this level of intelligence, that in real-time is able to understand what’s happening in and around each specific store. And therefore, the messaging becomes more relevant to the shopper.”
“It understands the days and the context of what’s happening, and it’s also specific to the area of the store. So, if you walked into let’s say the confectionery area, the advertising the shopper sees will be specific to that zone,” he explains.
“It’s about bringing in-store the online relevance that shoppers are already used to, similar to how websites recommend products based on our online habits. It’s bringing that same mindset to the offline physical space.”
Intouch.com. has built its AI engine that utilises Microsoft’s Azure platform and AI services. With data becoming an increasingly influential commodity in decision making, this technology enables brands to develop advertising offerings out of unique insights from consumer habits and in-store behaviours.
Kinetic and Intouch.com first started to work together in late 2020 and their campaigns have appeared on digital screens in Circle K stores around the country.
Simon Durham of Kinetic says that while it is still early days, as this offering is currently in a limited number of locations, he believes they “are very advanced in their AI offering and want to continue to pioneer this cutting-edge technology”.
Simon Durham, CEO and co-founder of Kinetic
Intouch.com has plans to dramatically increase its presence in retail stores around the country in 2021 and is now expanding into the US, Mexico and MENA region.
After working on a campaign, Kinetic is able to provide post-campaign analysis and reports, showing the number of times an ad was displayed and enabling them to show their clients the sales uplift.
McHugh says that through some of the campaigns they have run with Kinetic, they have seen anything from 27% to 39% sales increases for some brands.
“While we have a lot of other digital screens, these are the first with real-time decision making intelligence,” Durham added.
“We are now able to offer clients and advertisers so many relevant insights that demonstrate return when investing in outdoor advertising. It’s an incredible journey we’re on and it is a very, very exciting time to be in the outdoor industry,” concluded Durham.
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