INTERVIEW: JCDecaux Greater China CEO urges you not to 'burn money' on TV ads

The group's Greater China operation is headed by Stephen Wong (pictured) as chief executive officer, who estimates a 70 per cent market share in Hong Kong and between 15 to 18 per cent in China's outdoor advertising scene.

In Hong Kong, bus bodies and billboards account for the majority of the remaining 30 per cent. In China, the operator has a smaller slice of the pie because it does not operate bus shelters and outdoor TVs there.

Trends in outdoor advertising include more use of digital animation as well as interactive mechanisms such as quick response (QR) codes.

"Clients are still figuring out how best to use these new tools to match their marketing objectives," Wong said in a video interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific. "Imagination, and not investment, is the challenge."

The evolution of conventional static display advertisements outdoors has been spurred by the economic and social development of Greater China itself, where people are upwardly mobile and live in densely packed cities.

Wong is confident outdoor media will continue to play a major role in media plans for Chinese and Hong Kong advertisers. Apart from being traditionally the quickest way to target the masses, outdoor advertising "will outperform the overall market", he predicts.

Wong sums up why outdoor advertising will have a bright future: Consumers are spending more time away from home, technology is continuing to improve the interactivity of outdoor media, and other media (print and broadcast) are suffering from declining audiences due to media fragmentation.

"In TV ads, you burn your money rather fast, to be honest," Wong said (see the video for more detail). However, he added that TV is still useful for selling emotions, making it a comparatively better medium than outdoor.

He also touched on how Chinese cultural and social norms shape the content of outdoor advertisements. The dictation by government regulations. Rather, advertisers who partake in "deliberate creative ploys [to be provocative] have to adjust to social expectations of them", Wong said. Especially in Greater China, "social responsibilities are sometimes more important than financial results," he added.