Around 70% of Australian households own a pet, but most of them are likely unprepared if something happens to their furry friend. Would they know what to do if their dog was choking or bitten by a snake?
This pocket-sized guide (below), developed by the RSPCA is filled with excellent information that helps pet owners feel prepared in case of emergency.
In fact, it’s already saved the lives of several animals. Below is some amazing supporter feedback that RSPCA have received thanks to the pet guide.
Hundreds of thousands of leads have been generated for this campaign, of which around 15% have come from out of home advertising. Over 80k Aussie households now have an RSPCA pet first aid guide, and over 10k generous pet lovers have committed to becoming monthly supporters as a result.
Having trialed most retail and transit locations and formats, we’ve learnt that:
- Shopping centre washroom ads are consistently our strongest performer, with female washrooms out pulling men’s every time
- Trains work well, with back-of-seat ads performing better than end-of-carriage or above-window ads
- Trams and buses perform consistently, but ferries tanked
- Inside of buses works, although bus shelter ads don’t
- There isn’t a huge appetite for table-top ads in food courts
But why?
There are three key variables that influence why someone might respond when it comes to out of home advertising (in addition to the obvious – that it’s a strong offer. In the example here, that’s clear; text and we’ll give you a free pet first aid guide).
Dwell time. The prospect has time on their hands. Sitting on the toilet, catching the bus to and from work, on the train into the city for a night out. What else would you be doing? Probably browsing Facebook.
Repetition. When people are commuting on the same train or bus line every day, they could be exposed to the ad up to 10 times by weeks’ end. Which is when we see response peak. It didn’t necessarily register on Monday morning, but it sure did by Friday afternoon.
Placement. If the ad is staring you in the face; on the back of the toilet door in front of you, or the back of the train seat you’re facing, chances are you’ll read it. More so than if the ad is placed above the window panel, or at the end of the carriage. (When was the last time you pushed someone aside to get to that ad at the other end of the train?)
Back-of-seat train ads (above, top) performed better than end-of-carriage train ads (above, bottom).
Other quirky placement tidbits:
- Ferries tanked because **apparently** the views of Sydney Harbour are slightly more interesting than our lovely charity advert stuck inside the ferry (side note: placement that requires your head to spin on an axis to see it doesn’t inspire much response)
- Inside of buses work (repetition, dwell time) but bus shelters don’t? It’s fair to say most bus travellers spend their wait time looking impatiently down the road, bemoaning the lateness of their lift home as opposed to admiring the inside of the shelter.
- Women spend more time in washroom cubicles than men. Go figure.
- Shoppers don’t want their lunch interrupted with a slightly unwell looking dog. That makes table-top ads in food courts quite expensive.
Above-window ads in buses, performed better than bus shelter ads.
So what?
Don’t just think about who you’re advertising to, but also the environment they’re in: how easy it is for them to consider your ad, how often they’ll be exposed to it, and what competing interests do they have when they’re presented with your offer?
