Stewart Easterbrook Appointed Chairman of Talon for Global Growth

Talon, the independent global Out of Home (OOH) media agency, has appointed Stewart Easterbrook as its new Chairman. Easterbrook brings extensive experience in media strategy and will lead Talon’s board in driving international growth and technological development.

Easterbrook’s appointment comes on the heels of a successful period for Talon, highlighted by the recent acquisition of Evolve, a rapidly growing independent specialist OOH business, and the acquisition of Novus Media Canada Corp, bolstering its growth in this market and giving global access to its best-in-class buying, planning, creativity and industry-leading technology platforms. As Talon celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, the company has expanded its reach with new office openings in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, as well as securing new investment from Equistone Partners Europe, providing capital to continue its global expansion and technical innovation.

Easterbrook is a seasoned advisor to multiple omnichannel companies in media, data analytics and technology. Since 2014 he has worked with MiQ the leading global analytics technology and programmatic media specialist. Serving as Chairman for seven years before transitioning to an advisory role in 2022, he played a key role for MiQ, successfully attracting significant private equity investments.

In addition to his role at Talon, Easterbrook serves as Chairman of Medialab Group, an award-winning agency specialising in data, digital and media planning. He is also a board member of Instrumental, the world’s leading online music talent discovery and management business, and a member of the management team that launched Content Inc., a specialist content marketing company.

Prior to this Easterbrook spent 17 years at Publicis Groupe in various senior management roles, including a five-year term as CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group UK. He later assumed the role of Executive Director of Digital Development, overseeing growth and innovation across SMG’s key European markets.

Barry Cupples, Group CEO:Talon, said: “Stewart is an extremely impressive business leader, with decades of experience guiding global media companies through expansion and transformational change. We are very proud to have him join the team at Talon at such a pivotal time, following the recent acquisitions and Talon’s commitment to both building upon this success and advancing our technological capabilities for the future. Stewart will play a vital role as we continue Talon’s ambitious growth plans.

Stewart Easterbook, Chairman:Talon, said: “Talon is an incredible business that is reshaping the OOH industry – in a short span of 10 years it has achieved great heights in terms of funding, global expansion as well as technological advancement, which is evident in its collaborations with iconic brands and media businesses. I am thrilled to be on the board and working with an exceptional team to spearhead Talon’s ongoing development and growth, positioning the company at the forefront of driving the OOH industry forward.”

Trailblazing Talon Trio: Media Week’s 30 Under 30 Winners 2023

Talon is thrilled to announce that three trailblazing individuals from our team have been recognized as winners in Media Week’s prestigious 30 Under 30 list for 2023.
Asia Wray, Nicola Fox, and Dilki Weerakoon have been recognised for their outstanding talent, innovative thinking and dedication to transforming Out of Home. This acknowledgement not only highlights their exceptional contributions but also underscores the collective spirit of creativity, technology, and data that drives us at Talon.

Nicola Fox (29), Head of Programmatic, Talon

Prior to joining Talon, Nicola Fox spent seven years in outdoor sales at JCDecaux, progressing to become the youngest-ever associate director. She joined Talon in 2022 as business director (product and data) and was promoted to head of programmatic in April 2023.

At Talon, she has identified knowledge gaps internally and externally, which were preventing the business from capitalising on the growth opportunity that programmatic OOH (PrOOH) presents. Using her previous sales experience and newfound product knowledge, she has bridged those gaps, running a six-week masterclass for the data team, showcasing how insights can fuel compelling narratives to clients. This was followed by an all-company education week written and hosted by Fox and her team, upskilling planners on programmatic OOH opportunities.

Outside of her day job, Fox is a founding member and sits on the organising committee of PrOOH Practitioners, a network of global PrOOH stakeholders working together to grow the medium.

Judges said Fox “has a strategically very important role in programmatic OOH and it is great to see how she’s leaned into it and taken people on the journey with her”.

Asia Wray (29), Client Director, Talon

OOH is a medium close to Asia Wray’s heart. At Talon, alongside her day-to-day client director responsibilities, she regularly showcases OOH from an educational point of view, taking ownership of quarterly planning inductions and discussing the complexities of planning and creative opportunities with new starters. Wray has also instigated actionable steps to ensure the agency is more inclusive, feeding into wider company objectives. She is the Race and Diversity champion within Belong, Talon’s DE&I committee. Her work championing DE&I has fed into wider business performance targets and she has been the dynamic force behind Talon’s partnership with MEFA. Wray curated and led the first MEFA Inspiration Day, hosted in November 2022 – a collaboration between Talon, Clear Channel and MEFA.

In the next 12 months, Wray intends to work on further new business pitches and help Talon reach its diversity targets.
Judges said Wray is “delivering exceptional work at Talon and pushing the boundaries of her role, championing DEI”.

Dilki Weerakoon (29), Client Development Director, Talon

Dilki Weerakoon was recently promoted to spearhead Talon’s UK New Business division, as the agency’s first client development director. Despite only being in this role for a year, she has been instrumental in landing 23 new business wins in the form of 11 agencies and 12 direct clients.
As well as driving forward OOH, Weerakoon’s responsibilities also extend beyond the UK, with Weerakoon working with Talon’s US offices to replicate strategies internationally, where she has identified huge opportunities for growth over the next 12 months. She will be coordinating international teams, implementing global processes and facilitating the sharing of best-in-class work across markets to ensure continued success for clients across Talon.

Weerakooon has also increased her external profile as a BAME woman, representing OOH at industry events. Judges said Weerakoon is “seeking opportunities externally through different initiatives and organisations” and had enjoyed “a great journey, becoming a great role model”.

A company built on people with big ideas

Talon is a company built on people with big ideas. Our Media Week 30 Under 30 winners —Asia Wray, Nicola Fox, and Dilki Weerakoon—exemplify the spirit of creativity and innovation that drives the business forward to re-imagine the possibilities of what Out of Home can be.

Visit Campaign for more information on Media Week’s 30 Under 30 and to see the full winners list.

Announced today, Talon is the headline sponsor of the Campaign Tech Awards 2023.

Talon 2023: Headline Sponsor of Campaign Tech Awards

Open for nominations now, the Campaign Tech Awards exist to celebrate and showcase the companies that represent the industry’s trailblazing thinkers, imaginative clients and cutting-edge technology.  Championing the collaboration between agencies, brands and the technology communities, and recognising the outstanding work produced together to drive the creative industries forward.

The awards honour successful innovators, celebrate amazing work, and stimulate even more ingenuity right across the marketing, advertising and media industries.

By embracing a technology-first approach to Out of Home, Talon have developed market leading proprietary AdTech platforms that have revolutionised OOH planning, buying, execution and measurement. Ada, our Data Management Platform enables behavioural audience-based planning and has been proven to deliver better short and longer term brand metrics. Atlas, our intelligent, automated digital OOH buying platform delivers 100% optimised programmatic OOH campaigns that generate more effective outcomes for our clients. And Plato, our in-house planning tool, automates campaign planning and buying for speed and precision.

Our technology platforms help our clients get the most from their outdoor campaigns –  sponsoring the Campaign Tech Awards is a perfect fit for Talon, elevating the amazing work being powered by technology across the wider media industry.

Nominations are open now, closing 22nd February. We look forward to celebrating with everyone at the awards ceremony!

campaigntechawards.com

2023 Advertising Trends: More Investment in Out-of-Home Expected

Data-Driven Targeting, Unmatched Scale/Reach, and Unskippable Nature Are Among Advertisers’ Top OOH Considerations

More than half (51%) of advertisers expect to invest more in Out of Home (OOH) in 2023, according to a new survey of brand marketers and agencies released by BWG Strategy, a leading provider of market intelligence, data, and other information, and Talon America, a leading independent OOH media specialist and technology services company.

Currently, advertisers are allocating just 4 to 5% of overall ad budgets to OOH. The survey reveals that industry optimism for OOH is growing with 93% of advertisers planning to allocate 5% or more of their overall marketing budgets to OOH in 2023; and 97% are planning to allocate 5% or more in 2025. The study finds that marketers are planning to shift budgets from other channels to OOH – with social media (31%) and linear TV (25%) representing the top channels that advertisers will shift budget from to allocate more investment in OOH.

OOH is increasingly being used as part of an advertiser’s cross-platform strategy – with 86% citing that they somewhat often or very often consider OOH as part of their omnichannel strategy consideration. Additionally, the increase in digital screens and programmatic capabilities offers advertisers greater opportunities to expand the use of OOH. Adoption of digital OOH (DOOH) formats is high with almost half (49%) of advertisers stating that their OOH spend was DOOH in nature today, and 100% stating that they are aware that DOOH is available programmatically today. Programmatic is gaining momentum with advertisers as a way to transact for DOOH buys – with programmatic OOH spending projected to double this year, according to Insider Intelligence.

“Consumers have returned to the great outdoors in full force and marketers are embracing the full potential of the digitized and unmissable OOH medium that offers a limitless creative canvas and an unmatched ability to reach one-to-many at meaningful scale,” said Jim Wilson, CEO of Talon America. “Our BWG study validates that OOH is an effective and valuable channel – transformed by data and technology to deliver more targeted and measurable campaigns and built for omnichannel success to allow advertisers to start a customer journey from in-home to out of home.”

Driving brand awareness is seen as a key advantage of OOH with advertisers saying that they’re primarily using OOH for top-of-funnel marketing efforts: 76% of respondents indicate that they use OOH for mass awareness and 73% indicate that they use OOH for brand building.

However, data-driven capabilities in OOH are fueling advertiser adoption to achieve full-funnel brand goals. The study finds that the three most important attributes for advertisers when considering OOH are data-driven audience targeting opportunities (49%), unmatched scale/reach (49%), and the unskippable nature of OOH (43%). Additionally, over 70% cite having better measurability and attribution solutions would contribute to greater investment in OOH.

“Our study shows that advertisers are shifting their dollars to follow their audiences that have largely resumed their pre-pandemic outdoor lifestyles,” said  Brad Lyons, Partner & Head of Primary Research of BWG Strategy. “We can expect advertisers to take advantage of newer audience-based targeting and attribution capabilities in OOH for both brand building and performance marketing to engage consumers with the right message at the right time and in the right place.”

Methodology: 

Talon commissioned BWG to conuct an advertiser study on OOH usage, spending, and priorities in the planning, buying, and measurement of OOH advertising. BWG executed an online survey via Qualtrics among 40 brand marketers and agencies involved in the decision-making for OOH advertising. The survey participants were qualified as senior decision-makers at scaled advertising agencies that were allocating ad dollars into out of home. The study was conducted in September 2022.

The complete BWG Talon OOH Advertising study can be accessed below.

Krystal Restaurants and Talon America: A New OOH Partnership

Unveils New Creative OOH Campaign for Premium Side Chik Sandwich

New York, NY – October 31, 2022 – Talon America, a leading independent Out of Home (OOH) media specialist and technology services company, today announced that it has been appointed as U.S. OOH media agency partner by Krystal Restaurants, the original quick-service restaurant chain in the South. Krystal is expanding its brand of craveable indulgences for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night, and Talon was selected as a partner with proven data-driven targeting and measurement capabilities to develop and execute OOH campaigns for its new premium sandwich offering and support overall brand and growth goals.

Krystal Restaurants operates nearly 300 restaurants across 9 states and Talon will deploy an OOH format mix of static and digital billboards, spanning digital bulletins, posters, transit shelters, gas station video networks (GSTV), and among others. Leveraging its technology platforms, Talon will execute precision targeting and measurable campaigns to drive foot traffic and sales performance aligned to restaurant locations. Krystal and Talon just unveiled a new OOH creative campaign to promote the new premium Side Chik chicken sandwich.

OOH continues to be the most effective medium for reaching one-to-many at scale – and 43 percent of U.S. adult consumers are noticing OOH ads more than before the pandemic, jumping to 59 percent with Millennials, 62 percent in cities with populations of one million plus, and 63 percent with Gen Z, according to the OAAA.

“Krystal has built a reputation of offering hot, fast, and friendly service paired with highly craveable menu items and OOH offers an unmatched creative canvas with new audience-based targeting and outcomes-based measurement capabilities for reaching local audiences with impactful storytelling,” said Jim Wilson, CEO of Talon America. “We look forward to our collaboration with Krystal to helping them achieve their full-funnel brand goals – from awareness to the purchase stage – with bold, unmissable OOH campaigns that reach high value on-the-go audiences.”

“As we continue to expand our restaurant locations and menu offerings, we’re refocusing our investments in OOH as an integral part of our omnichannel strategy for driving awareness, engagement, and conversion,” said Casey Terrell, Chief Marketing Officer of Krystal Restaurants. “We’re impressed with Talon’s OOH expertise, data, and technology capabilities that can deliver precision targeting and measurable performance outcomes in creative OOH campaigns to support our growth.”

About Talon

Talon Outdoor is the leading global independent Out of Home (OOH) media specialist and technology services company focused on delivering smarter, creative, data-driven integrated OOH communications. Combining independence with a collaborative approach, Talon promotes open and transparent working relationships between many of the world’s leading agencies, clients, and media partners. Headquartered in London with additional offices in Manchester and its affiliate Talon America LLC headquartered in New York City, Talon delivers expertise at the global, national, regional, and local levels. Additionally, Plexus, Talon’s global OOH planning and buying network, connects over 20 Talon and partner offices around the world, enabling expert campaign planning in over 100 markets worldwide. Learn more at www.talonoutdoor.com. Connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Krystal Restaurants LLC

Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Krystal Restaurants LLC is the original quick-service restaurant chain in the South. Krystal hamburgers have been served fresh and hot off the grill on the iconic square bun since 1932. The company proudly sticks to the classics, but over the years, they’ve never been afraid to innovate.

Krystal has grown to be in 9 states with nearly 300 restaurants and continues to deliver a one-of-a-kind taste experience through their unique menu items that are offered at a great price. The company’s Atlanta-based Restaurant Support Center serves a team of more than 3,500 employees. In 2019, the company was selected as USA Today’s 2019 Top-10 Best Regional Fast Food List.

For more information, visit krystal.com or follow on Facebook and Instagram.

According to Talon Tracker, out-of-home advertising has recovered faster than the industry predicted, with Q3 spend for 2022 in line with the same period last year. Diageo led the spend, with a total estimated ratecard of 3.2m. The top spending category for Q3 2022 was Retail with a spend of 7.3m.

Top Categories

The top five categories on OOH for Q3 2022.

Retail was the top spending category, accounting for 19% of total OOH spend. Spend on Supermarkets & Grocery Chains amounted to 4m, accounting for 55% of Retail spend. Lidl (1.2m) was the top spender of the mid-category, followed by Musgraves (1m) and Tesco (723k). Fashion stores/brands (1.6m) accounted for 22% of category spend, with Sports Direct (656k) as top spender of the mid-category, followed by JD Sports (560k) and Boohoo (182k).

Food was in second place with 18% of total OOH spend. Chain Restaurants (3m) took 44% of category spend with McDonald’s spending 1.7m, followed by Subway (431k) and Domino’s (265k). Confectionary/Treats amounted to 2.4m, 35% of the category spend. Mondelez International was the top advertiser of the mid-category, with an OOH budget of 1.4m, followed by Nestle (357k) and McVities (219k).

Beers were the third biggest category in Q3 2022, accounting for 11% of OOH spend. Zero/Light beers (783k) accounted for 18% of the total Beers spend. Heineken (409k) was the top spender of the mid-category, followed by Diageo (253k) and Asahi (121k).

News & Tv was in fourth place with 11% of total OOH spend. Newspapers (162k) took 4% of the category with Independent News & Media (65k) achieving the top advertiser’s spot in the mid-category, followed by the Irish Times with a spend of 41k. TV (4m) accounted for 96% of the category spend with Sky (2.5m) as the highest spender. Streaming Services took 46% of overall TV spend with Disney+ (973k) being the top advertiser of the sub-category, followed by Amazon Prime (537k) and NOW tv (359k).

Soft Drinks took fifth place with 8% of total OOH spend. Spend on Soft/Energy Drinks amounted to 2.9m, accounting for 79% of Soft Drinks spend. Coca-Cola (1.1m) was the top spender of the mid-category, followed by Suntory (826k) and Britvic (164k). Water/Juices (637k) accounted for 21% of the category spend with Suntory (268k) the highest spender, followed by PepsiCo (148k) and Coca-Cola bottlers (120k).

Top Advertisers

A look at the Q3 2022 top spending advertisers and a YoY comparison.

Category Increases/Decreases

Looking at the categories in more detail, we wanted to pull out who the big spenders/fast growers were when compared to the same period last year.

Category Increases

Retail is consistently one of the top-performing categories in Out-of-Home. The intense competition means Retail brands constantly have to fight for consumer attention and secure that all-important space in consumer baskets. As we have now entered the busiest quarter of the year, we expect retail to keep its top spot with events such as Black Friday and Christmas in the not-too-distant future.

Retail (+31%)

It comes as no surprise that the Beer category remains resilient in the current economic climate. Diageo is a top-performing advertiser within this category. In recent years, we have seen low/non-alcoholic beers become increasingly popular. Similar to Retail, this category is entering one of its busiest times of the year, therefore we don’t expect to see much of a change in spend.

Beers (+23%)

Our tracker report showed Soft Drinks as one of the biggest spenders in OOH for Q3. Soft Drink brands such as Coca-Cola and Suntory are consistently turning to OOH for both mass communication of brand/new products while also using digital sites and point-of-sale sites to drive further action. Another strong category that should hold its spend going into the final quarter of the year.

Soft Drinks (30%)

Category Decreases

Motors (-75%)

Health & Beauty (-31%)

The Health & Beauty category includes a wide range of personal care products for both males and females.

Utilities (-76%)

Out of Home (OOH) advertising has evolved into a targetable and attributable high impact medium for brands to reach, engage, and influence consumer behavior in an effective way. But what exactly is driving OOH’s renaissance and what will fuel the creative future of the advertising channel?

Driving OOH Creativity: Tech, Strategies & Emerging Opportunities

Talon’s Group CEO Barry Cupples sat down with Advertising Week Global President Ruth Mortimer for a fireside chat at Advertising Week New York 2022 about the growing excitement for OOH as an integral part of the multi-media, multi-channel ad strategy. Barry delved into what’s behind OOH’s Renaissance, including how audience-first planning, intelligent technology platforms, creative innovation, and flexibility are all contributing to driving meaningful and measurable business outcomes.

Among Barry Cupples’ key takeaways:

For a discussion on the undeniable power of OOH creativity in breaking through the clutter and capturing consumer attention, Talon America’s Senior Vice President of Client Strategy Enza Chiodi was joined by Jay Young, Grand Visual Chief Client Officer; Brad Simms, GALE CEO & President; and Al Dejewski, MilkPEP Vice President of Marketing. The panel of OOH, creative, and brand experts shared how craft, canvas, connectivity, and content can help marketers tap into the endless creative possibilities of OOH, allowing any brand to execute out-of-the-box campaigns that are not only location drivers, but can drive cross-channel storytelling, social amplification, consumer engagement, and measurable outcomes. And with digital OOH innovations and immersive technologies like AR, brands are entering the next dimension with visually bold and creative storytelling campaigns that deliver compelling, larger than life moments.

Among the panelist key takeaways:

OOH creativity has evolved in the last few years.

Tech advancements are driving creativity – and taking OOH campaigns to the next level.

Driving client inspiration and ideas starts with moving OOH upstream.

The next big thing in OOH is…

As Talon approaches its 10th year, it is the perfect time to revitalise the Talon brand – including a fresh new look that will be applied to every element of the business. Coming soon!

Our Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Sarah Parkes, shares a sneak peek of Talon’s upcoming brand transformation. 

Talon has changed a lot in the last nine years, from our humble beginnings as an independent challenger brand in the UK OOH specialist market to where we are now – the largest independent global OOH agency with an ever-increasing international footprint. And our growth ambitions don’t stop there… 

We’ve invested in our people, in building market leading proprietary technology and this year we’ve invested in our brand too. You’ll have seen a taster of our new look and feel when you first visited the website and you’ll spy our new logo across our social channels. In the meantime, here’s a quick behind the scenes of what to expect when we officially launch our new brand by the end of the year. 

We are Talon 

If you’ve met us in real life or on Teams, you’ll know our mission is to drive the growth of OOH – supporting the transformation of OOH from a legacy medium to one that is highly effective, data driven, creative, and most importantly, measurable and effective for our clients. 

We’re growing fast, and our new positioning and website will support us on our journey – whilst championing the people who have made Talon what it is today.  

We’ve re-booted our brand look, feel and tone of voice to take Talon’s unique energy and spirit out into the world, and will start to bring the Talon global family together with one voice – including Grand Visual and Plexus which will rebrand to Talon International.

It’s everything our clients and agencies love about Talon – collaboration, bold adventurousness, relentless creativity and innovation – translated into new brand colours, a new logo, and a new website.  

We’re excited to share this next exciting step with you, but for now watch this space and begin to imagine what’s possible when we “think outside”. 

Audience behaviour and lifestyle changes over the past couple of years have been unpredictable. As new routines and behaviours have been established, independent Out-of-Home (OOH) agency, Talon, has created valuable insights to identify how city centre audiences have adapted and returned to a new way of living and working.

Urban Audience Dynamics Post-Pandemic: Talon’s Insights Unveiled

To understand how much these behaviours have shifted between different consumer groups, research was conducted using Ada, Talon’s expert audience DMP which delivers behavioural audience intelligence. Insights from this research offer advertisers the ability to conduct smart audience-first planning, which is vital in a fast-moving, uncertain climate.

The research, in collaboration with Maximus, reviewed audience behaviours in the centre of both London and Manchester pre pandemic (Jan-Feb 2020), during the pandemic (Jan-March 2021) and post-pandemic (Jan-March 2022). The results identified the differences in behaviours and how these have shifted across five desirable audiences, offering key insights for advertisers:

Trendsetters: Overall, lively neighbourhoods in London such as Hackney, Dalston, Shoreditch and Peckham have seen a 28% increase in audience visits pre to post pandemic. However, in Manchester, this audience are continuing to spend more time in residential areas suggesting London Trendsetters have returned more quickly to city centre shopping hotspots and entertainment venues.

Convenience Seekers: Now spending substantially more of their time in residential areas so brands should consider more localised messaging. Analysis shows a marked decline in city centre visits between 2020-22 of -78% in Manchester and -42% in London, indicating a sustained shift in this audience’s behaviour.

Health & Fitness Fanatics: This group are consistently avoiding city centre journeys as visits have declined by over 1/3 in both Manchester and London. Post-pandemic decisions and movements are based more locally, and they are opting for nearby gyms or local markets rather than travelling to city centres or larger public parks.

Luxury Lifestyle: Despite this audience visiting city centres more frequently during the pandemic, they have now declined by just over 60% vs 2020. This data indicates the evolving lifestyles amongst this affluent audience making the most of the emergence of hybrid working cultures.

Work Hard Play Hard: The data shows that this group remains active in city centres, with a marginal decrease in city centre visits compared to other audiences. In 2022, Manchester city-centre impressions are still +150% stronger than residential impressions reflecting a desire to get back to the office and reignite socialising.

Key Takeaways

This research has underlined several key learnings for advertisers and the industry:

Firstly, there has been a vast shift in behaviour and movements between different key audiences pre, during and post pandemic. The pandemic introduced a period of volatility in audience movements and behaviour, and we have seen how its legacy has continued to influence consumer behaviour and lifestyles.

The data has demonstrated that shifts have occurred not only at an audience level but also regionally, with London seeing a quicker return in city centre impressions to pre pandemic levels, while in Manchester residential areas have remained stronger post pandemic.

These insights have substantial implications on advertisers and the ways we approach planning. Crucially, it has demonstrated that there is not one off-the-shelf strategy when taking an audience first approach. Post-pandemic, audiences are more divergent than ever, and each group of consumers and their behaviours must be approached individually in order to effectively target, reach and influence them.

Luke Willbourn, Chief Client Officer, Talon, says of the research: “Moving from the pandemic into further economic uncertainty has had a seismic impact on consumer behaviour. This research is a great example of the shift in local neighbourhoods and indicates that these crises have manifested in different ways across different consumer groups. What is clear from our research is that advertisers’ need to consider these emerging and varied behaviours when planning in order to run effective campaigns which truly capture the attention of the desired audience.

“Talon’s Ada technology delivers this critical insight. Through the data which the platform provides, campaigns can be tailored in accordance to audience insights, keeping our industry at the forefront of the new normal.”

The festive season seems to start earlier and earlier each year. As soon as the door closes on Summer, and Halloween is out of the way, brands turn their attention to Christmas and begin fighting for consumer attention and securing that all-important space on consumers’ shopping lists. October (23%) and November (22%) are key priming periods for early Christmas shoppers, even more so this year. With prices rising, our latest research suggests shoppers are moving their gift buying to earlier in the year, with many having already started (24%). This appetite to get going comes as no surprise given the current climate.

Consumer behaviours are ever-changing, and brands must keep up. To help with this we surveyed 250 respondents 16+ to get a glimpse of how the nation is feeling heading into the busiest quarter of the year.

With the cost of living rising, Christmas 2022 may be challenging for some, however, consumers are still craving acts of kindness and instances of connection. When looking at the differences between spending power this year versus last year, our research suggests that 73% of shoppers plan on spending more or the same this Christmas. With 26% citing that they have more disposable income than the previous year. Family is also a common theme this year with 35% citing that they will be spending more as they want to make this Christmas a special one for their family.

According to Kantar, Irish grocery sales were worth 3.1 billion during the 12 weeks to 26th December 2021. This year, our research suggests that the Irish public is geared up for a larger Christmas with 33% planning more family gatherings. More guests mean more food and 53% plan on trading up to a more premium retailer, with only 20% of shoppers staying loyal and sticking with their usual store.

For many, shopping for the Christmas season is all part of getting into the festive spirit. When looking at the in-store versus online shopping patterns we noticed a stark difference from last year. In 2021, 45% of shoppers were doing all their Christmas shopping online, this year that figure has decreased by 31% to 14%. With a further 38% of shoppers planning on doing a mix of in-store vs online. For those choosing to buy gifts in person, 47% are planning to visit shopping centres, 24% will visit the high-street, with 30% doing a mixture of both. This presents an opportunity for brands to capture consumer attention using the OOH channel.

Key Takeaways

Overall, the nation’s mood seems to be an optimistic one, with 49% looking forward to a normal Christmas without restrictions and 26% excited to see family and friends. As the Christmas shopping season has begun, what can advertisers and brands do to make the most out of this time of year? Based on our findings, see below a few points to consider:

  1. Advanced planning: With shoppers actively seeking Christmas deals earlier than usual. Consider planning your Christmas campaigns ahead of time so your brand is top of mind for consumers.
  2. Despite inflation, spending power is still prevalent: Our findings suggest that despite inflation, the nation’s mood seems to be optimistic, however, businesses need to be sensitive in their approach and adapt their strategies accordingly.
  3. Strong Community Connection: With friend and family gatherings being a common theme throughout our research results there is still that sense of importance in our local communities. So, although there are no movement restrictions in place brands should be making a conscious effort to reach these areas in their outdoor campaigns.

Methodology: Research was conducted by Spark Market Research, on a main urban sample of 250 respondents 16+ using an online methodology.