“Advertising in Boryspil International Airport and more. The Results of the Panel Discussion.”
12 December 2018
On December 6th, the event “Infrastructure World Café: Promo Search” took place on the premises of the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts, where the top managers of Boryspil International Airport, representatives of “Ukrzaliznytsia”, “Kyiv Metro”, PR, advertising, marketing agencies, business of transit advertising, cultural and artistic figures participated. Within the framework of the project, under the slogan “The Art of Dialogue with a Passenger: Innovating Look on a Fixed Concept”, there were four panel discussions, one of which was “Transit Advertising – a New Word”.
The organizers of the event were the Association of Transit Advertising Operators of Ukraine, Boryspil International Airport, the Aviation Committee at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, and the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Arts.
Olena Derevyanko, vice president of the Ukrainian PR-League, managing partner of PR Service, acted as a moderator of the panel discussion “Transit Advertising – a New Word”.
During the discussion, the traits of a rather new type of advertising – transit advertising on transport – were analyzed. Transit advertising is rapidly expanding its potential and creating serious competition for traditional outdoor and media advertising (TV, radio, Internet). In particular, the discussion participants considered: first, the main differences between outdoor and transit advertising; second, features and types of vehicle transport media; third, specifics of advertising in the airport, subway and railway; fourth, the main purpose of the interaction of the Association of operators of transit advertising with Kyiv City State Administration and other regions of Ukraine.
The first speaker of the panel discussion, chairman of the Association of Transit Advertisers of Ukraine, Sergiy Kiriy:
“Association of operators of transit advertising is a necessity, social pressure and social responsibility. In this business and in this market I have been for over 15 years. The transit advertisement, which became a separate category about 10 years ago, has now become an independent and a self-sufficient channel of communication. What’s more, it has more potential than standard outdoor advertising. Turning to figures, in Europe, transit advertising occupies 47% of the total advertising budget allocated by the advertisers,” – said Sergiy Kiriy.
The speaker stressed that the Association was created to generate dialogue with the authorities, to consolidate business interests of the city and advertisers and to systematize categories of transit advertising. In addition, the Association seeks to obtain a clear methodology for determining the effectiveness of transit advertising.
“There is much research done on the effectiveness of advertising on television, and a common methodology for determining the effectiveness of outdoor advertising. In this context, populist allegations that transit advertising does not work should be disregarded. Daily, consumers use public transportation, subway, railway, and there is a category of passengers who regularly use air transport – they all come into contact with transit advertising. I’m against the statement that “transit” is not a separate form of advertising. The introduction of the methodology will provide a clear understanding of this and will provide transparent data of foreign advertisers interested in our market,” – summed up the chairman of the Association.
The head of the Advertising Department of the Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Smirnov, in turn, drew attention to the modern regulatory measures of the city authorities in the sphere of advertising. The introduction of certain standards and restrictions on the placement of advertising structures contributed to their reduction in the city. Based on the regulatory framework, the Layout of advertising structures in Kyiv was established, which defines the location of only 4390 advertising media carriers.
“Thus, due to regulatory measures, we were able to determine the number of advertising structures that should be located in the capital. As a result, the amount of structures in the city has decreased from 12 to 6 thousand carriers and in a few months will approach the figure of 4400. Relevant rules and restrictions continue to be developed in the field of transit advertising. I want to emphasize that it is precisely these clear rules that will exclude the possibility to circumvent the restrictions in an alternative way. To ensure that no executor or an official could influence with own subjective on a regulatory decision,” – stressed Oleksandr Smyrnov.
The Director of “Trans-media” LLC, Oleg Havruk, from the standpoint of his experience in Kyiv subway advertising, had explained why transit advertising is useful and interesting for advertisers.
“All of us, airports, trolleybuses, subway, we all have one feature in common. Our consumers, who use transport and transport infrastructure, are all in the state of waiting. That is why they are ready to perceive the information. At the same time, placed advertisement has thematically diverse messages, from food and consumer goods, to Google services and charity organizations. We all move in a subway, and we all are consumers of the widest range of goods and services. From this perspective, the subway is an ideal carrier for the transmission of information to all segments of a population, ” – said the speaker.
Georgy Zubko, commercial director of Boryspil International Airport, within the framework of the panel, has spoken about the distinctiveness of advertising media at the main Ukrainian airport. He emphasized that modern advertising is not just a method of communication with the consumer, but also a social responsibility, and an ideological concept. That is why the airport, in the sphere of advertising, is oriented not only towards the commercial sector, but also always supports different governmental social initiatives.
“In the field of advertising, which, in the world of digital technologies, is changing daily, it is necessary to focus on compliance with new requirements and trends. We are installing new modern exterior designs, backlights and megaboards. In order to remove the standard stationary advertisement from the informational space, and to separate advertising from navigational information, we have installed more than 150 video stands and video monitors for broadcasting commercials all across Terminal D.
As a result of our work, the appearance of the airport has considerably changed. It has become more modern, and yet, there is still space to improve, given the successful experience of other airports in the world,” – Georgy Zubko summed up.
The representative of the advertising department of “Ukrzaliznytsia” Ivan Bushovskyy, for his part, described the current guidelines for advertising market of railway transport.
“We would like to focus on the reform of this sphere within “Ukrzaliznytsia” and provide advertisers with an open field for interaction, an important client-oriented approach and the necessary conditions for effective interaction in the field of advertising at “UZ”. Also, we would like to promote not only products, but also our country. My wish is for passengers of “Ukrzaliznytsia” to begin and complete their trip with a smile on their faces,” – said the speaker.
Panel discussion participants also talked about new standardized approaches for the entire field. Particular attention was paid to the introduction of modern, bright advertising media, effective tools for attracting consumer attention. Separately, they discussed the proactive approach to promoting transit advertising and promoting cross-selling within this category of advertising.
At the end of the panel discussion, moderator Olena Derevyanko summed up the fact that today the “Association of Transit Advertising Companies of Ukraine” faces an important task – to ensure a further separation of transit advertising as a self-sufficient category, to increase the culture of perception of this type of advertising, and to emphasize it within the advertising market.