Haugesund is one of the first cities to use digital advertising on the street. "Digital screens in the cityscape give us greater and more flexible options," says Svein Erik Schmall of Haugesund Municipality.

This spring, it became clear that Clear Channel (now: Bauer Media Outdoor) had won the tender for advertising-financed street furniture in Haugesund. The contract included modernising the advertising surfaces and renewing them from static to digital. The new screens are now out in Haugesund's city streets - to the delight of advertisers, residents and the municipality.

"We see the transition to digital screens as a streamlining of the analogue screens we used to have in the city centre. These required a lot of resources to keep them updated. Now we will save a lot of time and resources by doing this digitally. It's also a much more environmentally friendly solution for the municipality.

Svein Erik Schmall, Head of Technical Department, Haugesund Municipality

Clear Channel has been commissioned to sell advert content on the advertising screens. Part of the revenue will go back to Haugesund Municipality and benefit the residents. In addition to funding new recycling bins and their operation, as well as new waste bins in the city centre, the municipality will have access to communicate with its citizens on the screens.

- "Haugesund Municipality has a great need to provide information about the programmes and services we offer. The city centre is the heart of our city, so it's great that our residents can meet us there. We will also be able to effectively reach parts of the population that would not normally receive information elsewhere. Not everyone has access to a mobile phone or a paper newspaper, and it's important to be able to reach these residents too," says Schmall.

Good experience in Europe

Nils Li is Head of Establishment at Clear Channel and is responsible for finding good solutions for municipalities and partners. He praises Haugesund Municipality for recognising the opportunities in digital advertising and believes they are a pioneering municipality in Norway.

- "Sweden has had digital advertising in its towns and cities for a long time and has had very positive experiences with it. Norway has held back a little, and Haugesund is, as far as I know, the first municipality to have political support for digital advertising at street level," says Li.

Digital outdoor advertising is politically anchored in the municipality. As of now, the agreement covers up to ten advertising hoardings, totalling 20 advertising screens. The decision includes moving adverts, which increase public attention, which will benefit both the advertiser and the municipality. The business leader wants to use Haugesund as a digital showcase for other cities and municipalities.

in addition to funding street furniture for the municipality, the new screens will provide the municipality with an extremely effective communication channel to its citizens, which we see other cities in Europe have used very effectively in emergency situations where it is critical to get information out quickly to all citizens. We hope that more municipalities look to Haugesund and follow suit. We are certainly ready to digitise Norway.

Nils Li