Billboards' hottest hits

Go for the big fish when they are all in the same place. And the rod in which to trust is the billboard.

You can't pin down your target market the same way you did 20 to 30 years ago, says Loeries CEO Andrew Human.

"The group with the most disposable income used to watch the same television channel after work, listen to the same radio station going to work and read the same newspaper at work," states Human.

That is no longer the case. South Africans now consume media from multiple platforms.

But all roads lead to Sandton.

Human sees Sandton's William Nicol Drive as South Africa's "golden mile".

"It is the richest road in Africa."

"It makes sense for outdoor media to get more traction," says Gordon Patterson, business director of Omnicom Media Group.

"People no longer live at home, they just sleep there," he says.

Even though the personal video recorder didn't kill the TV star, it has given viewers the option to never see an ad if they don't want to. And high-end consumers don't huddle around the radio in the kitchen.

"The most valuable square mile in South Africa is Sandton City," said Patterson. The arteries that feed it are the highways leading into Sandton.

Advertisers are trying to put the brand as close to the place of purchase as possible, especially because so much buying is impulsive.

But Patterson believes the highest-value billboards are the ones at big airports, which are hubs for wealthy consumers.

However, Les Holley, CEO of the trade association Out of Home Media South Africa, says there is no such thing as a "golden mile" in South Africa. "It's not like you have a Times Square or a Piccadilly Circus here."

He concedes that William Nicol is good for outdoor advertising, but emphasises that South Africa is a fragmented market.

"You want to be where the spend is, but the cost of rental will always be a function of the size of the advertisement and the quality of the audience."