There’s a reason people travel the world to see the Michelangelo in Rome. Or brave the heat to walk around Uluru. There’s a reason Elvis still holds the record for most Top 40 hits, 40 years after his death.

The classics never get old.

You know where I’m going with this. In the media industry we’ve been dazzled with digital for the past decade. Even in a business like JCDecaux’s, Out-of-Home (the first media channel of all time) has innovated, agitated and skyrocketed – all because of digital.

Digital Out-of-Home is exciting and full of possibilities, there’s no doubt about it. But the trusted strength of the classic formats mean they remain a firm favourite for many brands – you only need to look outside to see the big tech companies lining up to use classic Out-of-Home. They know it works. It delivers scale, efficiency and 100 per cent share of voice. And that ubiquitous presence in the real world grows brands.

Transit power

If you don’t see it on a bus, it’s not happening.

Brands large and small flock to bus and tram advertising. To launch the latest blockbuster or release the next series to binge, flavour to try, fashion to buy, car to drive – it’s one of the classic media platforms that attracts advertisers across all categories, all audience targets and budget size.

The classics never get old.

Not only do they not get old, but they also always get noticed. Tell me the last time you didn’t look twice at a tram hurtling past you down Flinders Street. Or sat behind a bus in Sydney traffic.

Bus and tram advertising (or Transit as we say in the biz) is the only impactful size ad that MOVES. So, whether you want to or not, your brain is going to tell you to take notice. It’s innate. It’s fight or flight. It’s been proven.

Neuro studies suggest when we are indoors our bodies are inert, our brains are in low energy mode and our senses are on stand-by. It’s a static and undynamic state. Contrast that with how it feels to be moving outside. Active, dynamic, responsive and alert, our sensory field is extended and broadened.

Our brains are hard-wired to be more alert when outdoors, around moving objects.

Without getting too ‘neurosciency’ here, the amygdala is the primitive area of the brain responsible for our survival instincts and sensory alertness. When our primitive brain feels the need to pay attention (for example when navigating around traffic or people), it adjusts the level of oxytocin so that we become more acutely aware of our surroundings.

It’s a fact, movement activates different regions in the brain that respond and encode information, and that response differs to how it reacts to something that is stationary or still.

Transit advertising improves campaign performance.

A moving performance

It’s all well and good to say that Transit advertising is noticeable, and people are in a heightened state of awareness when they are viewing it, but what does this mean for advertisers? Does it translate to improved campaign performance? The good news is, yes, it does. Guzman Y Gomez are long-time investors in Transit advertising (whose mouth doesn’t water after passing by one of their Megasides?). They enjoyed the highest sales ever in the history of GYG, with their Transit campaign driving 30 per cent YOY sales growth.

REA Group strategically geotargeted its Transit campaign to change out messaging based on what suburbs the bus and tram travelled through. When they ran tactically targeted messaging alongside their brand campaign they achieved exclusive market share uplift of 3 points, and a record number of site visits over the campaign period.

And optometry company Bailey Nelson began the two for $199 movement on new eyewear. They use Transit as their lead brand channel, focusing on areas in proximity to a Bailey Nelson store to generate reach and frequency of an audience more likely to become a customer. When they leveraged Transit with TV, prompted awareness increased significantly and, importantly, an increased volume of store traffic.

Reach everybody

As Byron Sharp says, in order to grow, marketers need to reach everybody and be always-on with advertising. Ad-stacking, bunching and bursting doesn’t work and is a waste of money. He says, “you need to fit into their busy lives, that is all.”

The humble classic ad on a bus or tram has gotten so much better, more efficient, and easier to plan and buy over time. As short-termism hit us and the demand for digital “I want my campaign to run next week please and I’ll give you artwork three hours prior” increased, so too did the flexibility of our classic, 100 per cent share of voice channels. Production breakthroughs allow us to print campaigns in half the time; installation is more efficient; certain formats get removed to allow brands to create a huge impact or generate broadcast reach, all in a smarter, more intelligent and sustainable fashion.

Be part of the solution. We are.

There is a common misconception that classic advertising isn’t the most sustainable choice, but at JCDecaux that’s not the case. JCDecaux takes the responsibility of being a sustainable business seriously. We’ve already implemented several initiatives to ensure we are leading the way when it comes to ESG, not just within the Out-of-Home industry but across the broader media industry.

We were the first media company across Australia and New Zealand, to join the RE100. Our Transit product was Australia’s first carbon neutral Out-of-Home advertising product, as certified by Climate Active. This year all of our large and small format classic campaigns have also been certified carbon neutral, when printed through our in-house printing service GSP.

Sustainability in advertising isn’t just a fleeting trend. Customers expect real action from brands, not just empty promises. Many brands, keen to communicate their sustainability credentials, use Out-of-Home due to the power of “cultural imprinting”. Because Out-of-Home is a publicly consumed medium, it’s perceived as more trustworthy and authentic and it’s a platform uniquely placed to normalise and encourage behavioural change.

At the end of the day, buses and trams go where people go. They drive down your suburban street, across motorways, and through our cities. And if the buses and trams are traversing the streets day and night, then so too is your brand. Reaching all audiences, all the time. Building brand awareness and consideration. Priming, so that the next time you are shopping for something, signing up to learn online or looking for a home loan - it’s your brand that’s top of mind.

The classic format is enduring and has stood the test of time – for a reason.