Continuing our ROAD navigations into 2021
There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that 2020 has been a year like no other. I don’t believe that there is one company in the advertising world that can say they have not changed something to try and make a difference. Whether it has been the way they operate, the services they offer or the processes they have implemented. The OMC has not been unaffected and we have certainly, we believe, come out through 2020 with a renewed look at how we operate.
The dreaded virus affected the timing of our data update and now that we have our 2016/17/18 fused release, we are pushing hard to get our 2017/18/19 data out before mid-2021. This in itself is a huge task as our learnings from 2020 have necessitated the way the fusion of our research has historically been done, to be rethought and tweaked. We know though that the data we are going to be releasing in 2021 is not within the Covid-19 pandemic period. The ROAD data is historical trip information overlayed with historical satellite traffic flow imagery. We should have been in field during 2020 to gather our data to include with our 2018/19/20 release, but no great surprises, due to the virus we took the decision to not conduct any face-to-face interviews in 2020. We did however manage to get just less than 40% of our 1st wave of interviews done before we pulled out of field.
Because of this, we will have done part of one wave of interviews in 2020 and will be doing one wave in 2021 and we will release a combined 2020/2021 set of data. This combined data set will ensure we have our 15 000 sample for the two year period. Of course, we are holding thumbs that we will be able to be back in field to do our required quota of interviews in 2021. We are also looking at the possible option of doing a combination of both online and face-to-face interviews to ensure we get the right mix of respondents as well as reach the required number of interviews.
2021 is going to mean that the OMC Travel Survey will be made simpler so that people can answer the questionnaire online. It means that we will certainly see a difference in travel patterns that we gather and the true impact of the pandemic will be seen when we launch our 2018/19/20/21 data in 2022.
We all know too well that our lives have changed in every aspect. Ask yourself how many kilometres you have travelled since March 2020? How much time though have you spent sitting in front of your laptop or iPad attending webinars and meetings online? Putting in extra hours not because you want to but because you can! You don’t need to allow for travel time to and from the office and meetings. The number of ROAD trips will probably be drastically reduced and whilst we can see that traffic volumes are higher, the new refreshed way of travel and work routines need to settle.
The OMC are adapting to what is happening around us. We won’t be doing live traffic monitoring as it is not even being done successfully internationally. We will continue navigating our path to get to the next junction. We can however say that the next junction is going to be leading us to new, unchartered territory and we’re ready to enjoy the ride!
About Trish Guilford
Trish Guilford has been in the industry for just over 30 years and has a vast amount of experience in the media world. Trish was appointed the General Manager of the OMC in January 2018 and has managed to successfully grow the membership base over this period from 4 to 24 members. She continues to actively promote the necessity of Media Agencies and Clients to utilise the ROAD data to substantiate OOH’s importance in the media mix and to use the credible media parameters that ROAD supplies to ensure that optimal OOH plans are implemented on behalf of clients.
About the Outdoor Measurement Council
The OMC (Out of Home Measurement Council) is a non-profit Joint Industry Committee that has been incorporated to provide buyers of Out of Home Media with a currency and survey that allows for efficient and accurate OOH planning. It produces consolidated, inclusive and representative research covering the key OOH formats, commencing with Static Roadside panels in South Africa including the panels from all Out of Home participating Media Owners. The JIC aims to market and grow the OOH advertising industry within South Africa.