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| Methodology |
Two separate research programs needed to be undertaken and married together to calculate who is reached or covered by a campaign of posters.
The first program is a travel survey to determine the journeys and routes of a representative sample of the population. Because we are not just asking a simple yes/no question, but tracking our respondents over time, the reliability of the survey is based on the total number of passages made past posters, not just on the total number of respondents.
The second program is a classification and traffic allocation system for every poster included in the research system. This classification and traffic allocation system produces three, gradually more refined, basic measures for each poster site, Traffic Flow, Opportunity-to-see and Visibility Adjusted Contact. (Flow/OTS/VAC)
By the integration of the travel survey, data and the poster classification survey complex mathematical models were developed to measure the coverage and frequency of networks or campaigns of poster sites.
The Outdoor industry then moved one step closer to measuring true contact by developing the concept of a Visibility Adjusted Contact or VAC. A visibility study was carried out with the help of Dr Paul Barber of Birkbeck College at London University to evaluate how people actually look at particular kinds of panels in different situations. He conducted carefully controlled eye camera experiments where people viewed numerous scenes and different poster layouts. The respondents played one of three roles – driver, passenger or pedestrian – without knowing that the study concerned posters, to replicate actual behaviour. This visibility model estimates the probability of an OTS being converted to a contact for every poster in a campaign.
Travel Survey
The travel survey component of the Outdoor research system was such a fundamental area that considerable time was taken in design and preparation. The purpose of the survey was not only to collect the journey routes over time of a representative sample, but also to research the level of usage of supermarkets, shopping centres and public transport.
The travel survey was conducted by Quota Search with sampling by TNS under the direction of Dick Penney and consisted of 2,400 interviews spread across Ireland. The sample was structured and randomised within region, with quotas on age, sex and working status imposed to ensure maximum representation. This is the same method as used by JNRR and other media research.
To take consideration of Dublin’s commuter belt an area called ‘Dublin Plus’ was created stretching north to Drogheda, west to Monasterevin and south to Arklow.
Coverage areas within JNOR:
1. Dublin Plus (ref yellow on the map):
2. Cork: County border.
3. Limerick: County border.
4. Galway: County border.
5. Waterford: County border.
6. Rest of ROI: Area outside Dublin Plus and County borders.
7. Dublin Met: Dublin metropolitan region, same as JNLR and JNRR.
Dublin Plus Map
Vehicle and Pedestrian Flows
All government and local council traffic data that could be located was purchased and linked to the digital road network skeleton. In addition footfall counts were carried out at 50 pedestrian locations and models were developed from the travel survey to estimate traffic flow, given the area and road type for static panels.
In the poster classification program, a GPS (Global Positioning System) co-ordinate for every poster was collected. Using this data, it was possible to link each poster to an individual flow.
Examining Bus Panels
Bus advertising represents a unique situation where an advertisement is not limited to one environment or traffic flow. A separate OTS model was created to ascertain the encounter rate between buses, pedestrian’s and drivers throughout the week. Approach and dwell times at junctions, walking and vehicle speeds were studied by Quota Search in the Dublin Plus area according to a methodology signed off by the bus technical committee. A similar methodology is applied as per roadside to determine Flow, OTS and VAC.
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