Walking can be hazardous to your health

So Forty days into the New Year, and I am pleased to report that my new year’s resolution is holding firm. My 180,000 steps completed YTD are a testament to my resolve. Unfortunately these large numbers of steps are yet to have a major impact on either my weight or waist!

But what all those steps have had an impact on, is the time I’ve had available to observe people as they commute to and from work. My usual seat in the taxi or car has been replaced with a brisk walk plus the bus or the MRT,  here in Singapore.

Now I know we’ve been talking up the ‘Year of the Mobile’ for years – and ad dollars are notoriously slow to follow shifts in consumer behaviour. But 2012 must be the year. Everyone has their head buried in some form of mobile device screen. As they sit or stand on the bus. As they wait at the bus stop.  And most annoyingly, as they walk to and from bus stop to the office or school – walk is perhaps a poor description -  it is more akin to a zombie shuffling aimlessly as they are mesmerised by the screen in front of them.

Smart digital people will be sneering back as they read this saying – “Told you so!  We need to put so much more money into mobile and on-line content and games integration and..and and.”  And they are partly right.

Equally as important, smart communications planners must start to question the value and price we are paying for outdoor and in-transit advertising.
 
Those lovely panels in that smart bus stop are seen by a fraction of the population actually standing at a bus stop on any given day.

Those ads in the MRT carriages are invisible to the masses whose attention is directed approximately 30 cm from their eyes at a small screen of their phone or tablet.
 
People really aren't 'multi-tasking' and adding an extra media to their repertoire - they are just not paying attention to anything other than the screen in front of them.

So what to do?

Well for starters it is time to have a serious conversation with our outdoor vendors on the price we are paying to reach an audience – and discount their audience numbers by a huge factor – as so many people are just not ‘present’ whilst they are passing the ad unit.

And we need a serious word with creative agencies. Outdoor executions have often been hit and miss. With few creatives really understanding how much information to put into the available space. This attention deficit disorder that transit-related spaces must now compete with adds an even greater  challenge. Because based on my recent observations  – even David Beckham in his new H&M Boxer Shorts, at twice life size, failed to capture the attention of one female (or male) zombie shuffling past with their head buried in Angry Birds or some riveting IM chat.

Keep Walking – but please look where you are going. And take a minute to look up at the ads and how many others have just missed them.

Neil.Stewart@maxusglobal.com