Media&Marketing: The proliferation of taxis on the streets of Dublin since deregulation has created a potentially lucrative outdoor advertising market which is already attracting interest from some of the industry's bigger players.
Clear Channel Ireland, a subsidiary of the giant US media group Clear Channel Worldwide that operates in more than 50 countries, has just concluded a sales and distribution agreement with Dublin taxi advertising firm Cabvertise.
Cabvertise offers advertising space on the rear windows and back doors of taxis. The company was one of the first firms to realise the potential of the taxi format.
Clear Channel will now be selling these spaces and offering the slots as part of its overall service to clients.
Cabvertise chief executive Mr Peter Maguire, a familiar figure at Dublin advertising agencies, will manage the logistical side of the new arrangement.
Mr Declan O'Carroll, Clear Channel's business development director, said clients realised taxi advertising could deliver high visibility at the optimum time.
"These ads literally follow the audience," he said. "With 75 per cent of taxi time spent in the city centre, they are a great way to achieve penetration in areas of the city where other media are scarce.
"Gridlock seems to be an unfortunate fact of life for commuters right now.
"The upside of this for taxi advertisers is a captive audience in traffic that reaches less than nine miles per hour at peak times," according to Mr O'Carroll.
Mr Maguire said he had carried out extensive market research on Cabvertise's offering and claimed the results showed up to 50 per cent ad recall.
One amazing statistic he has unearthed is that taxis, at least those who have worked with his firm, travel 4,000-6,000 km per month.
The alliance with Clear Channel should at least give the taxi advertising sector a higher profile and more scale.
Clear Channel Ireland is one of the Republic's largest outdoor advertising companies. Its outdoor brands in the State include Adshel and More O'Ferrall.
Clear Channel Worldwide owns more than 1,200 radio and 37 television stations in the US and over 200 radio stations across the world.
Cinemas set record
Cinema admissions for 2003 in the Republic totalled more than 17.4 million, averaging 334,000 per week, according to new figures
This was an increase of 1 per cent on 2002 and represented the highest cinema admissions figures for the State.
Total box office revenue in the Republic climbed 4 per cent to € 97.5 million.
More than 25 films achieved blockbuster status, according to Carlton Screen Advertising, which sells advertising space in the State's main cinemas. The figures were supplied by Nielsen EDI and Carlton Screen Advertising.
Carlton said the figures were particularly good as cinema admissions in other European countries were likely to be down for 2003.
For the first time, monthly cinema admissions topped 1.7 million. January admissions reached 1.74million following the success of Gangs of New York, The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers and Eight Mile.
Films such as Finding Nemo, In America, Love Actually and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King delivered an extremely strong fourth quarter.
Ms Eithne Billington, general manager of Carlton Screen Advertising, said new advertisers were embracing the medium with expenditure from the motors category up threefold and the cosmetics category up twofold on 2002.
She said film releases such as Troy, The Day After Tomorrow, Kill Bill 2, Harry Potter, Shrek 2, Spiderman 2 and Bridget Jones 2 would hopefully contribute to growth in 2004.
Interest in 'Friends'
US advertisers are lining up to pay a record €1.5 million for 30-second slots during the final episode of Friends, scheduled for later this year.
That puts the TV series almost on a par with the cost of advertising during the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl is believed to be one of the most watched events in the world with an audience of about 100 million people.
About 30 million US homes are expected to tune into the final goodbyes of Phoebe, Joey, Monica, Chandler, Rachel and Ross.
Electricity re-branding
Energia, the firm which sells electricity on behalf of ESB's main competitor, Viridian, has re-branded itself ahead of full liberalisation in 2005.
The company has decided to review its brand identity and philosophy to create a brand that will bring Energia through the liberalisation process, said a spokesman.
The company believes it needs a recognisable brand that will bring the company through to the full conclusion of market deregulation, according to Mr Gary Ryan, sales and marketing director of Energia.
Energia has 30 per cent of the electricity market in Ireland and supply more than 550 megawatts of power to 500 larger industrial and commercial users.
The company will now use a new strapline, Switched On, and has also created a new logo.
