Exterion Media and TfL say Hello London!

This post has originally been published here.

Exterion Media and Transport for London (TfL) have unveiled a new commercial media partnership, Hello London, which aims to change the media landscape by utilising technology and data to offer a more tailored, relevant and contextual customer experience.

Hello London will serve as a one-stop-shop for advertisers looking to engage with London audiences and increase the efficiency of their campaigns. For the first time brands will now be able to connect with commuters across the entire London Underground and Rail Network.

This will include all of London Underground, London Overground, Tramlink, Docklands Light Railway, the Victoria Coach Station and, once operational, the Elizabeth line. The scope of the reach gives advertisers the opportunity to communicate with an audience of over 1.5 billion each year and will generate £1.1bn for TfL over the next ten years.

The partnership aims to declutter existing advertising space across TfL stations and trains as well as introduce fewer, higher quality advertising assets. This will include a refresh of advertising space, brand new formats, and an increased digital OOH footprint.

The transformation will see the introduction of large displays with high impact, premium screens, launching this year at Canary Wharf before rolling out across more key locations. Other changes will see a mix of next generation digital escalator panels and digital ribbons in Ultra HD LCD display running the entire length of the elevator.

In addition to significant technological changes, Hello London will also leverage data to make campaigns more efficient and relevant. This will see it use Abi (Audience Behavioural Insights), a bespoke insights tool that draws on anonymous, aggregated data from Telefonica UK’s 25 million O2 customers, allowing advertisers more accurately target them as they travel across the Underground.

The Abi data can be used to target audiences through four key approaches. The first is ‘station down’ and provides insights into entry/exit, demographics, interests, home location, day of week and hour of the day. The second, ‘Audience Up’ helps identify which stations the audience can be found and when. The third is ‘digital’ which – provides a way to evaluate when audiences are in stations at a daily, day-part or hourly level. The fourth benefit of the Abi data is ‘international visit targeting’ and identifies when international visitors are at every Zone one station, opening up opportunities for brands such as tourist attractions and luxury goods to accurately target foreign visitors.

Tfl selected Exterion Media as its media partner for the world’s largest outdoor advertising contract in March this year and the partnership launched in 1 October.