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Kinetic throws Fuel on digital out-of-home fire

Kinetic's new in-house creative department will focus on DOOH and mobile opportunities and interactivity.

September 7, 2011 by Christopher Hall — w, t

Kinetic, WPP's out-of-home arm, announced that it has created a dedicated in-house creative division, calling it Fuel.

The launch of Fuel is an effort to expand the firm's in-house digital, design and creative planning resources and, according to the announcement from Kinetic, is a response to the burgeoning scope of out-of-home advertising, particularly the integration of digital interactivity, dynamic displays, experiential and bespoke design into client brand campaigns.

"Fuel will embrace emerging technology helping its clients to identify relevant opportunities to engage their customer base," Fuel head Rebecca Bainbridge said in an email to Digital Signage Today. "Our report on the 'Future of Out-of-Home' media revealed more than half of consumers would be willing to interact with digital screens, and we envisage this number will increase as people's confidence with new technology grows. We have witnessed a rise in interaction with QR codes with many brands now including them in their campaigns and with image recognition applications and NFC gaining momentum, Fuel predicts people will increasingly seek to engage with poster sites via their mobiles."

Kinetic said Fuel will form a creative hub within the firm and operate across the agency, on an ad hoc basis bringing together experts covering a broad range of existing disciplines including digital, mobile, experiential and strategic planning. "Working in collaboration with the Kinetic planning team, Fuel will keep clients ahead of the opportunity curve by providing insight and opinion on emerging technologies and identifying cross platform opportunities to amplify OOH campaigns," the company's announcement said.

Bainbridge, who joined Kinetic in July, will lead the new division. She has previously worked for leading international branding and design agencies TDG Communications and Landor Associates in Geneva, Switzerland, managing Procter & Gamble accounts and also as a planner for Poster Publicity (now Kinetic). Kinetic said she combines creative expertise with a detailed knowledge of Out of Home media.

"The launch of Fuel is an exciting change in the direction for Kinetic's business," Kinetic UK COO James Copley said in the announcement. "The proposition fits seamlessly with our existing business units and reflects the changing nature of out-of-home media and the huge opportunities that emerging technologies add to the established reach and impact of posters."

The launch of Fuel follows the predictions made by Kinetic in its report on the future of Out of Home media that new opportunities across digital and non-digital poster advertising would help grow the medium's share of U.K. advertising spend up to 2020.

"The Fuel initiative develops on the great out-of-home and digital OOH work we've done, through the client relationships we have, through our production arm Hi-Rezz and through our joint venture with Grand Visual," said Nick Mawditt, Kinetic's global director of marketing, in an email to DST. "That venture continues, and there is full co-operation with Fuel. Kinetic has led the agency market in terms of insight (the first and continual face-tracking across digital environments), plus our annual digital OOH handbook, now in its third year."

For more on digital out-of-home, visit our DOOH Advertising research center.

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