Analysis

Is infrastructure the new TV for advertisers?

Big brands looking for captive audiences are increasingly considering partnerships with infrastructure projects from naming rights to information screens.

Naming rights are a new source of revenue for Prasarana

This week the public transport authority for Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, Prasarana announced a deal with three major companies for naming rights at three of its stations. Air Asia, Bank Rakyat and Suez Capital are now going to be highly visible on the Kuala Lumpur transport network.

“Fifteen to twenty years ago the obvious thing for a brand to do was to advertise on television,” he says. “But now a lot of people don’t watch TV. You are looking for a captive audience and you find that at stations, airports, stadiums and even libraries – anywhere where lots of people spend time" - Marcus Wight, Phar

AirAsia will become the naming rights partner of the Bukit Bintang monorail station with a category exclusivity along the monorail line while Bank Rakyat and Suez Capital have the naming rights of the Bangsar and Universiti LRT stations respectively.

The first of its kind in Southeast Asia, the station naming rights programme offers corporations or brands the opportunity to bid for the right to transform a station to reflect the brand’s corporate identity and name the station after in exchange for a fee and enhancing the overall experience for commuters using it. The stations original names are retained in order to denote location.

Naming rights are not new in the UK witness the Emirates Stadium, and Barclays and now Santander cycle hire in London. But it is likely that more and more infrastructure will attract the attention of companies seeking to find a guaranteed audience for their products according to Marcus Wight, CEO of international media, marketing and sponsorship consultancy Phar. The business brokered the deal in Malaysia.

“Fifteen to twenty years ago the obvious thing for a brand to do was to advertise on television,” he says. “But now a lot of people don’t watch TV. You are looking for a captive audience and you find that at stations, airports, stadiums and even libraries – anywhere where lots of people spend time.”

Phar has worked with London City Airport and Bloomberg which has put financial screens into the airport, the Eden Project which now has a list of big name sponsors from Asda to EDF and Transport for London where the operator has hooked the operator up with Diageo and Fiat. And there are on going relationships with Transport for Greater Manchester, London Legacy Development Corporation and Birmingham Library.

Benefits for the sponsor are obviously visibility but by working with infrastructure projects sponsors can also be seen to benefit from giving something back to society, particularly on public sector projects.

“Consumers now don’t want brands to sponsor big events or celebrity shows, they want to see them giving back to the community which means libraries and transport are now becoming increasingly attractive options,” says Wight.

Apart from helping fund the infrastructure, particularly the ongoing maintenance, there is also an opportunity to put in some cutting edge technology if the interested company is in that business, Wright says. “Sponsors can even be brought in early to help with design,” he says. This has happened in Bangkok, Thailand where a solar panel firm has supplied panels for station roofs.”

Deals can be over 10 years, revenues for the infrastructure owner in the multi millions, he says.

The issue always is finding the right sponsor, particularly for public sector schemes. Clients interested in this potential revenue scheme will always have to ask ‘is it a good idea to have this particular brand involved in my project’, Wight explains. “If the answer is yes, then the sponsor can often enhance and make the project better.”

“Consumers now don’t want brands to sponsor big events or celebrity shows, they want to see them giving back to the community which means libraries and transport are now becoming increasingly attractive options,” - Marcus Wright.

Prasarana introduced the station naming rights concept last year, and it has already been successfully implemented in transit systems in other parts of the world such as the New York Metro, Metro Madrid, Dubai Metro and New Delhi Metro.

“It is a great opportunity for brands to create a continuously active touch point that engages consumers with their expanded brand presence, which also results in revitalised and more vibrant stations to deliver a new, exciting experience for commuters,” says Prasarana group managing director Azmi Abdul Aziz.  

For Air Asia head of commercial Spencer Lee it’s all about being at the heart of the growing Malaysian economy. “We are happy to collaborate with Prasarana and look forward to painting the Bukit Bintang station red! We are very excited to be in the heart of the golden triangle. This collaboration will further elevate our brand presence in the capital’s commercial, shopping, entertainment and tourist hub,” he says.

“The initiative is in line with our business expansion plan to tap into the private sector. It is also an alternative channel for our customers to reach us via the mini kiosk, ATM, CDM and ground activities which will soon be available at the Bank Rakyat - Bangsar Station,’ said Datuk Mustafha Hj. Abd Razak, managing director/president of Bank Rakyat.

For Suez Capital Sdn Bhd group managing director Datuk Ter Leong Hing the move is “In-line with our brand promise to be a leading community builder”.

“Suez Capital strives to enhance the living standards of our residents and communities surrounding our developments. With the KL Gateway development well underway, we believe that the residents, working professionals, retailers and shopping patrons will be able to experience better travelling convenience, especially when a 100m covered linked bridge is built, connecting the KL Gateway Shopping Mall to the now renamed KL Gateway - Universiti Station."

The stations will be officially launched from August 2015.

If you would like to contact Jackie Whitelaw about this, or any other story, please email jackie.whitelaw@infrastructure-intelligence.com.