2019 proved to be another rollercoaster year for the global travel industry, and 2020 promises to be no different, as fluctuations in the economy, technology and politics continue to affect the way that people navigate the world. This is evident across all industries, not least in the global travel and international OOH sector. As the year is beginning to unfold, PSI has looked into what the rest of the year behold from the increase in hyper personalised travel experience, the global transformation through OOH automation and being connected at 35,000 feet

2. 2019 proved to be another rollercoaster year for the global travel industry, and
2020 promises to be no different, as fluctuations in the economy, technology and
politics continue to affect the way that people navigate the world. This is evident
across all industries, not least in the global travel and international OOH sector.
Ed Heaney, Strategic Development Director at global location and OOH marketing expert, PSI, identifies some
of the key trends expected to impact these industries during the next 12 months.

3. Technology has made people more connected globally, and with
that, bringing more awareness: people are increasingly wise
to, and reactive to, global and local threats and issues that may
impact their lives, be it the unrest currently seen in Iran, or the
ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
Against this backdrop, consumers are now more concerned
with how brands behave, than at any previous point in time. This
includes where marketing budgets are invested, how they treat
employees, how and where products are sourced, any political
affiliations, and more. In effect, consumers have wised up to, and
are increasingly interested in, the impact that brands have on
the world around them. They are more inclined to seek out and
purchase from brands that have an authentic brand purpose.
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of surveyed global consumers prefer to
purchase from companies that stand for a purpose that reflects
their own values and beliefs according to Global Consumer
Research from Accenture. Consumers want companies to take
a stand on the social, cultural, environmental and political issues
that they care about the most and as a result, brands have had
to fundamentally revaluate their relationships with their most
valuable audiences. In order to attract and retain loyal customers,
brands are now placing significant importance on their values
being reflected and experienced through all forms of brand
communications. Without this, consumers will simply avoid brands
they feel are unauthentic or lack distinctive values.
2019 was dominated by global political and environmental turmoil.
With neither showing signs of slowing down as we enter 2020, it
is our expectation that brands will take an increasingly vocal stand
in communicating their values, executing initiatives that reflect
social issues that are of growing importance to their audiences.
OOH advertising , with its unmatched creative canvas and
recognised ability to build trust and confidence among consumers,
will remain an important and unmissable vehicle to help brands
raise awareness of what they stand for.
OOH an authentic platform
to help brands walk the walk
Corona’s outdoor special build
featuring a wave created from
plastic bottles, in support of its
commitment to reducing plastic
in the world’s oceans.

4. Global passenger traffic is forecast to reach over 17 billion
by 2037 (double that of 2018) according to Airport Council
International (ACI). As well as the undoubted benefits increased
tourism brings, we are now seeing the birth of a new substantial
issue known as ‘over-tourism’, from the queues witnessed on
Mount Everest earlier in 2019, to images of parked cruise liners
blocking the idyllic view of Venice. More worryingly is the harm
being done to the surrounding natural ecosystems, and that there
are a growing number of popular destinations that are subject to
this impact of ‘over-tourism’.
Over-tourism is a very real issue, one that some destination
marketing organisations (DMOs) are tackling in increasingly
innovative and creative ways, with the view to bring about
more sustainable forms of tourism. Amsterdam is one such
city focusing on smarter forms of ‘tourism distribution’ and
management, using the travel app, “Discover the City” to subtly
redistribute tourists by sending notifications warning when
attractions are busier than usual.
The city has also renamed more far-flung destinations to
encourage visitors to travel further. For example, Zandvoort,
less than 20 miles from the city centre, has been rebranded
‘Amsterdam Beach’ and included as part of the city card offering.
Effective management of tourists in overcrowded city hotspots
will become key in 2020, as tourism brands and DMOs continue
to make better use of data and travel distribution to make tourism
more sustainable. A greater need for effective marketing of
‘undiscovered’ areas (those less affected by current tourism) will
cater to travellers hunting unique and unexplored experiences
whilst supporting new market destinations. For brands looking to
reach these audiences, there is value to be unlocked by tapping
into the zeitgeist of culture and data to identify these emerging
new destinations.
Over-tourism and the path less travelled

5. The rise of digital OOH, which now accounts for 50% of all OOH
revenues in the world’s most developed markets, has unlocked a
new wave of possibilities for advertisers across the world. From
flexible media buying and more targeted audience engagement
strategies, to dynamic creative and messaging, technology is
enabling more sophisticated, automated planning and buying of
OOH inventory, which is delivering more relevant communications,
and better creative opportunities, fast and at scale.
Key to the way advertisers can continue to leverage these
opportunities will be the use of richer, and more effective,
location data (historical and real time). And whilst the accuracy,
consistency, and scalability of this data hasn’t yet received the
attention it deserves, we predict that 2020 will see better use of
location data paired with increasingly responsive and agile OOH
infrastructure to accelerate the transformation of OOH, continuing
to expand the solutions and roles the channel can deliver for
brands.
A brilliant example of a brand using technology to produce
more creative and engaging marketing in 2019 was seen from
Kellogg’s. Their campaign utilised a bespoke “dynamic purchasing
system” (DPS) across Spain, which used several different data
feeds to determine where and when relevant audiences were
in proximity to digital out of home screens, in real time. When
specific audiences were seen to be concentrated around a frame,
the DPS identified this, and dynamically served the relevant
creative associated to that location and audience.
Gavin Lee, Global Technology Officer of Posterscope:
“As technology advances the capabilities of digital out
of home, and clients become more familiar with what
is possible, we expect to see more of these kinds of
campaigns as the increased levels of automation not only
provides enhanced ROI through improved optimisation,
but also allows creative to truly flourish in the out home
medium.”
Global transformation through
OOH automation

6. As in other walks of life, travellers now expect more personalised
experiences, driven in large part by mobile technology. The travel
app ecosystem is becoming an ever more complex battleground
as thousands of apps look to carve out and enhance individual
stages of the travel journey.
2020 will continue to see more established traveller apps
leveraging their dominance, broadening their offering to cover
more of the end to end passenger journey, taking market share
away from travel competitors. For example, Airbnb has seen a
successful launch from solely accommodation booking to tailored
in-market experiences, while Google continues to develop and
offer multiple services under its platforms such as Google Maps,
Google Lens and Google Travel (which brings together Google
Flights and Google Hotels ). We expect 2020 will see these,
so called, ‘Swiss Army knife’ apps continue to shape the mass
personalised experience in the travel industry. In addition, the
persistent rumours of Amazon entering the travel space in a more
aggressive way could become a reality in 2020.
One such travel brand that continues to see substantial growth as
a result of its approach to mass personalisation with its tailored
content offering is Culture Trip. Natalie Malevsky, VP of Product
Marketing at Culture Trip remarking:
“Personalisation at the point of a transaction has been the
staple of the online travel sector for years. The capabilities
are quite established. But it’s not widespread for the
inspiration phase. With the help of machine learning, Culture
Trip is able to customize the user journey at the very top of
the travel funnel as our algorithms determine which articles,
photography, video and illustrations surface from more than
70K+ pieces of original content.”
2020 will see growth in both niche hyper personalised travel
apps along with consolidation of travel services by larger players.
As a result, travellers will be able to take advantage of enhanced
personalised service offerings throughout their journey from
beginning to end, and, along with this, new opportunities for
brands to connect with them along their journey will emerge.
The hyper personalised travel experience

7. The rise of on-board personal devices and connectivity through
increasingly focused and powerful satellites is making on board
streaming easier and more effective. As this technology is rolled
out across more airliners during 2020, the potential for airlines to
drive ancillary revenue will grow.
According to Inmarsat Aviation, inflight retail accounts for a mere
5% of travel spend with only one in ten passengers making an
inflight duty-free purchase, and this figure is falling year-on-year.
In addition to sales, airliners are overly conscious about their
weight, and everything from the in-seat catalogues to the heavy
shopping carts are adding to the operation costs. The solution
could be the digitalisation of the inflight experience through better
connectivity.
Better connectivity will unleash huge potential for airliners,
retailers, duty-free operators, onward travel services, hoteliers, and
car rental brands to create a new retail window to engage with
consumers in a high dwell time environment; previously a dark
spot in the global travel corridor.
Demand for inflight opportunities from brands will only increase
over the next 12 months and the challenge will be how they take
an enhanced digital retail experience to 35,000 feet.
From Panasonic Avionics’ perspective, it’s no longer about if an
airline will offer connectivity, it’s about when. Our conversations
today focus on how fast can we get it installed and how can we
offer it to our customers, especially when we see trends leading
towards free of charge. Combine that with the unique nature of
air travel. On average, airline passengers fly for an average of
five hours per flight and they want the same amenities in the air
that they enjoy on the ground. For Panasonic and others, our job
is to deliver just that. Through our leadership in global inflight
connectivity, brands can meaningfully reach captivated consumers
at scale while traveling. As an industry, we’ve only just begun to
scratch the surface for opportunities to reach passengers by
advertising pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight enabled by this
perpetual, high-speed connection. The possibilities are endless.
Connected at 35,000 feet

8. In 2020, consumers will continue to demand
more personalised experiences whenever
and wherever they travel in the world, but
in a more socially and environmentally
responsible way. Brands will be able
to leverage increased connectivity to
communicate with these audiences more
frequently and in new ways, but those
wishing to build deeper and more meaningful
relationships will need to demonstrate their
ethical values too.
PSI is the international division of Posterscope, and a market-
leading international out-of-home communications agency. PSI
are committed to delivering creative, effective and quantifiable
out-of-home solutions to advertisers seeking to engage with
ever more mobile and connected consumers around the globe.
They strive to balance multi-regional acumen with local
implementation in order to deliver meaningful positive impact to
the businesses they work with.