The €3m system provides a much more meaningful comparison between outdoor and other media than is currently possible. It favours Visibility Adjusted Contact (VAC) figures – calculating the number of people who actually look at an advert,  rather than the less accurate Opportunity To See (OTS) measurement .

In partnership with 'out of home' (OOH) research specialists Simon Cooper Associates (SCA) and market research experts TNS NIPO, Beacon Dodsworth have created a research methodology and delivery system centred around four key areas.

Beacon Dodsworth’s user-friendly self-completion web survey, TripTrax, was developed exclusively for the new measurement system as there was no other off-the-shelf solution. The survey was teamed with traffic modelling, highly sophisticated GPS processing and site classification, which included eye tracking studies.
 
Initially commissioned to revolutionise the evaluation of out of home advertising in the Netherlands, the research solution and delivery system complies with specific demographic data and is capable of producing high-resolution street level mapping, including points of interest and public transport, with easy-to-use export and reporting capabilities.

It can help media buyers and marketers everywhere with planning, buying, selling and implementing outdoor campaigns, showcasing the medium as a genuinely effective alternative to TV, print and radio.

Beacon Dodsworth chairman, (right) Geoff Beacon notes: “Outdoor advertising has always caused mediaplanners a headache. As a passive medium, it is notoriously difficult to measure because people do not actively seek to view the advert. 

“This new combination of exclusive and innovative technologies has provided the breakthrough… We’re delighted to have been involved in the creation of what we anticipate will become the industry standard OOH measurement throughout the world over the next few years.”
 
From Double Dutch to a measurable medium 
Traditionally, OOH advertising would be measured using opportunity to see, which includes everybody that passes a panel, regardless of whether they look at the panel or not. The new research provides visibility adjusted contact (VAC) figures,  meaning the number of people who actually look at a panel, giving a far greater accuracy than OTS alone.
 
VAC figures being always lower than OTS ,means it has taken time for everybody in the outdoor industry globally to fund this more accurate way of working, now appreciated as the best approach  fitting  the new world research ESOMAR guidelines on out-of-home media research.
 
The project and its implementation  
 A  Dutch consortium of outdoor specialists, advertisers and media agencies Platform Buitenreclame Exploitanten asked Simon Cooper Associates in cooperation with Beacon Dodsworth to tender for the development of accurate out-of-home media measurement in the Netherlands.  This partnership, which also included TNS NIPO , created a research methodology and delivery system centred around the key areas, each of which presented its own challenges to ensure an inclusive and credible research architecture.

Beacon Dodsworth researched, mapped and measured the travel patterns and behaviours of the 66 Dutch cities with a population of over 75,000 people, achieving results that would give a meaningful and reliable country-wide insight into the reach and frequency of an outdoor advertising campaign. With some 85,000 out-of-home advertising panels to consider, this was no mean feat.
 
In a world exclusive, Beacon Dodsworth developed a self-completion web survey (TripTrax ) in conjunction with GPS modelling. The survey (sampling 75% of respondents) maximises sample sizes at an affordable cost, while the GPS modelling (of the remaining 25% of respondents) gives the  representative data for the lifetime of a particular campaign.
 
Accessed on demand, the interactive software, creates routes in a quick and simple manner. Respondents enter a few locations, their chosen mode of transport and TripTrax software calculates the route based on these points. Respondents can quickly edit their routes until the correct points are recorded.
 
In designing the software to be simple enough to be intuitive, no user training is needed. Thanks to extensive checking and testing and with the availability of interactive video help, even devout technophobes have got to grips with the TripTrax software.
 
As no off-the-shelf browser-based application existed previously, Beacon Dodsworth created one that is based on a bespoke version of its own Prospex GIS mapping and analysis system. This works intuitively alongside purpose-built interactive route software. The approach allows detailed background maps showing such  points of interest as railway stations, shopping outlets, tourist information and public transport lines (eg. metro, tram etc.) ensuring ease-of-use and aiding navigation. 

Where traditional models relied on expensive face-to-face surveys, TripTrax reduces costs and ensures a larger sample size as no interviewer is needed. Experience dictated a minimum sample size of 200 respondents per city region, ensuring the mix of males and females in a number of age breaks.
 
Traffic modelling sophisticated audience profiling
It is essential for marketers to know the cumulative effect of a number of advertising panels over a given period of time - not just dimensions and locations. The travel survey accordingly includes detailed information on demographics, exposure to other media, shopping habits and use of public transport - in-depth understanding to the types of people that see various poster formats.
 
To ensure a comprehensive VAC, traffic-flow is calculated using several key datasets. The last recorded visits in the web-based travel survey measured traffic flows published by government and local councils oon pedestrian footfall and usage data at public transport locations.
 
Tracking cyclists made the GPS  element of the research particularly challenging as no comprehensive dataset for cycle routes in was easily accessible.  Given that cycle journeys represent a large proportion of journeys in The Netherlands, it was imperative that Beacon Dodsworth created a three mode journey model, that included vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. The GPS survey used accelerometer readings, travel speed and route smoothness to address this.
 
To ensure accurate and efficient location and mode of transport calculation, handheld GPS units (provided by MGE Tsjech) are also used in the methodology. The devices measure location and speed of travel to determine the precise coordinates and the method of transportation. For example, if the device records a pause every couple of minutes, it is likely the recipient is travelling by bus.
 
The GPS processing raised some interesting challenges for BD to overcome. As the device relies on an active connection with a satellite, processing had to be sophisticated enough to account for gaps in data (for example if the connection with the satellite is lost due to tall buildings etc).
 
Beacon Dodsworth is only the second company worldwide to offer this level of processing for GPS and the combined approach of web-survey and GPS modelling ensures that data collected is accurate and reliable allowing credible comparisons with other media.
 
To  give users the ability to build poster campaigns using various demographic and geographic tools, Beacon Dodsworth created a mapping module to interface with the SCA developed Cover And Frequency Audience System.
 
The system embodies the modelled data from the research and calculates cover and frequency analysis. By adding a unique mapping module to this software, this data is instantly visualised and hotspots identified in real time.
 
Outcomes
 Because of its use of new technology, the web-mapping, ensures a user-friendly experience and an accurate measurement of the medium. Research,  both roadside and non-roadside data, is more reliable. Increased sample sizes, reduced field costs, more accurate reporting and the opportunity to obtain meaningful comparisons between outdoor and other media, means that more people will use outdoor advertising in the Netherlands.
 
In addition improved research and advanced delivery systems facilitates easier planning, buying, selling and executing of outdoor campaigns. Through more accurate campaign modelling and better targeting, research and delivery system will boost the Dutch outdoor industry in terms of both revenue and media use by presenting the outdoor as a true, measurable and sophisticated alternative to print, TV or radio.