2013 – The year in outdoor
IN JANUARY outdoor advertising company APN Outdoor acquires the space for eight new large roadside panels in Brisbane.
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The Advertising Standards 
Board bans RJ Graphic’s outdoor ad which depicts a man being punched in the face and the line ‘Design for impact!’. The ad, which appeared on the back of Sydney buses, launched shortly after a Sydney man was killed by a blow to the head.
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FEBRUARY sees a busy month for Brisbane airport with APN Outdoor replacing Eye Corp as the advertising vendor for the Virgin Australia airport terminal and oOh!media launching a new LED site at the transport hub.
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APN News & Media’s annual results for 2012 reveal the company’s regional media businesses saw a 10 per cent drop in revenues. Adshel, however, reports a 29 per cent increase in profits.
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IN MARCH MOVE (Measurement of Outdoor Visibility and Exposure) launches its 2013 data update, confirming that out-of-home media is reaching more people. The data reflects an increase of 9 per cent in total daily contacts measured by the system, up from 355m in 2012 to 385m.
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FIGURES RELEASED IN APRIL show the outdoor ad industry has grown 3.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2013. Revenue from sales is up from $117.6m to $122.1m.
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EYE New Zealand undergoes a massive rebranding with almost 1,000 posters and billboards getting the makeover to oOh! The new brand, with the tagline “a world away from home,” comes after oOh! acquired EYE Corp’s Australian, New Zealand and Indonesian operations from Network Ten late last year.
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MAY SEES APN Outdoor switch on their latest large-format, high definition digital billboard at the arrivals/departures intersection at Sydney Domestic Airport.
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Foxtel pulls down a billboard for TV channel Studio featuring a scene from the UK series Black Mirror. The image of a fictional British PM preparing to have sex with a pig comes down less than 24 hours after it is erected.
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A media survey reveals 92 per cent of out-of-home employees feel they are an important member of their team and organisation, higher than any other media channel; 82 per cent say they are adequately resourced to do their job. The survey also reveals outdoor is considered the second highest ranking medium for innovation and creativity.
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IN JUNE outdoor advertising posts a 6.9 per cent decline in bookings and a $48.2m revenue result.
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McCann Melbourne picks up a Gold Lion in the outdoor category in Cannes for a series of eight pieces of outdoor advertising from the Dumb Ways to Die campaign.
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JULY is more positive with the out-of-home industry recording a 5.2 per cent growth in the second quarter for 2013.
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The former chief executive of Austereo Michael Anderson is appointed chairman of the board at advertising company oOh! Media.
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APN Outdoor’s former sales boss Phil Eastwood joins rival firm oOh! Media as national commercial director of sales. His appointment follows the retirement earlier in the month of oOh!’s commercial director Ian Woods.
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AUGUST SEES advertising bodies urge a Queensland parliamentary inquiry into sexually explicit outdoor advertising to reject a push for greater regulation of outdoor advertising. Christian groups urge the QLD parliament to look at laws that will provide government regulation over outdoor advertising.
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IN SEPTEMBER taxi advertising group Rova Media rolls out advertising across the Victorian taxi fleet in Melbourne for the first time in more than a decade.
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The OMA rules against 
an outdoor poster for skin brand Ella Bache because of the expression on the naked models’ faces. A version featuring the models smiling is approved. Charmaine Moldrich, CEO of the OMA tells Mumbrella: “Sometimes it’s a fine line. We felt that the image where they looked happy and in control, they are empowered. But we felt that in the image where they are staring down the camera they are more sexualised.” In late September the cosmetics brand went ahead with the unapproved image, projecting it on a lightbox displayed outside Customs House at Sydney’s Circular Quay.
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OCTOBER SEES APN News & Media agree to sell the other half of its out of home advertising business APN Outdoor to Quadrant Private Equity. The company sold the first half to Quadrant in February 2012.
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Billboards reading ‘BOOBS’ in the Bonds logo style begin to pop up across Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The campaign is eventually revealed to be a promotion for the launch of a new Bonds bra range.
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IN NOVEMBER online bookstore Bookworld transforms bus shelters in Sydney and Melbourne into shelves full of books which commuters can help themselves to. The stunt is part of Bookworld’s Christmas campaign aimed at encouraging Australians to shop locally this Christmas.
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Victoria Bitter celebrates the Ashes season with giant scoreboards in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The six metre high by 15 metre wide scoreboards deliver live match updates to passers by.
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