JC Decaux welcomes Australians back outside in new campaign
A day after the City of Sydney awarded its outdoor contract to rival out-of-home company QMS, the incumbent on the enormous account, JC Decaux, has launched a campaign, welcoming Australians back to public spaces after lockdown.
The message of ‘Hello’ will be communicated in 10 of the most commonly spoken languages in Australia, in addition to Auslan and First Nations dialects, across the JC Decaux network this week.
The message in Arabic and English in Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station
Using audience data, the messaging is geo-located to ensure the language is tailored to the suburb or area. The company also worked with First Languages Australia to ensure appropriate greetings from Indigenous languages were displayed.
“JC Decaux is in a unique position to make meaningful connections with communities, wherever they are, be it in the hearts of cities or deep in the suburbs,” said chief marketing officer Essie Wake.
“The easing of restrictions is seeing people returning to public places, and people have a strong desire to get back to business and spend more time outdoors. Our ‘Hello’ campaign acknowledges the return of communities and aims to make people feel welcomed and comfortable moving about within those communities.”
A display panel showing the message in the Gadigal language of the Eora Nation
The campaign, which launches off the back of the company’s ‘Thank You’ campaign addressed at essential workers, drew upon the company’s Audience Mobility Monitor data and deal with Adsquare, which sees JC Decaux have access to mobile GPS data for more than 4m Australian devices. That GPS data points to a return to “more normal outdoor behaviour patterns”, despite many Victorian suburbs being forced back into lockdown again this week.
Upon yesterday’s news that the City of Sydney contract was being moved, two and a half years after first going to market, JC Decaux said that, while the account is still “meaningful”, “it is not of the same calibre as the one we entered into in 1997”.
The Mandarin and Cantonese version of the campaign creative
“Irrespective of the result of the tender, JC Decaux will maintain a significant presence in the City of Sydney into the future due to its payphone contract with Telstra,” local CEO Steve O’Connor said.
“Commuters and advertisers can rest assured that for JC Decaux it will be business as usual until at least 31 January, 2021, and possibly longer. We will continue to provide these services with total professionalism and dedication until required. Further, we will continue our long standing relationships with the many cultural institutions we support here.”
Last year, JC Decaux’s reported revenue was €3.89bn (approximately $6.33bn). It has more than a million advertising panels across 80 countries worldwide, including 40,000 assets in Australia and New Zealand. Across the Asia-Pacific region, it has 239,300 panels.
Brittney Rigby was Mumbrella's deputy managing editor - news and analysis. She left Mumbrella in April 2021.
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Fantastic initiative!
Wouldn’t it be great if we include Australian Sign Language (Auslan) in the campaign!
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