Global have released the results of its latest research study, ‘All Eyes on Bus’, which delivers new insight into the bus advertising audience in Northern Ireland and showcases the continued effectiveness of bus advertising at reaching, engaging and igniting action from audiences out of home.
Key highlights include the varied nature of people’s missions and modes of transport used when encountering buses and bus advertising. In addition, the research also reveals how buses continue to be woven into the fabric of society with 7in10 valuing their local buses and many describing buses as “essential”, “helpful” and a “lifeline”. This helps to generate a halo effect for bus advertising, making it one of the most trusted forms of advertising for brands.
The study, which follows Global’s ‘Thinking Outside the Bus’ research conducted in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, also sheds light on the movements of the bus audience in today’s evolved society as seismic shifts such as hybrid working accelerated a change in daily routines. Encouragingly, despite hybrid and remote working, All Eyes on Bus reported that responses were evenly spread throughout the week and only marginally higher on Tuesdays (34%) and Wednesdays (34%), mirroring reports that show Northern Ireland has lower levels of remote working than the rest of the UK and Ireland.
Explaining more about the All Eyes on Bus concept, Ryan Hoy, Marketing Manager at Global Northern Ireland said:
“Back in March, we set out to put bus advertising to the test in the real world, not just to educate ourselves but to allow Global to educate advertisers on the effectiveness of bus advertising in reaching, engaging and interacting with modern day audiences. Our first step was to launch a multi-format bus advertising campaign across Greater Belfast and Derry. The campaign’s secret agent concept invited audience eyewitnesses to come forward and join our investigation.
We had a great response with members of the public reporting to our mobile-enabled microsite to log incidences of spotting our bus advertising campaign. We combined the results with the microsite Google Analytics data, to create a bespoke audience intelligence report which we’re currently taking on a roadshow to advertisers”.
The call-to-action nature of the All Eyes on Bus campaign also reinforced the link between the offline and online world, further establishing the effectiveness of bus T-Sides, Supersides Rears and Passenger Panels at igniting immediate action from audiences. Over 93% of responses were received from mobile devices, proving the much talked about perfect marriage between mobile and outdoor advertising.
For more information on All Eyes on Bus visit our research studies section or contact us here.