The delphi technique in outdoor advertising

This article aims to present the Delphi technique as a research method applied to the outdoor advertising sector in Portugal. The Delphi technique was chosen for its characteristics of finding consensus and its link to marketing. By starting the research on this theme, it was possible to reveal the lack of consensus on the definition of outdoor advertising by companies operating in this market in Portugal. This led to a survey of the number of companies holding outdoor advertising media as well as advertising agencies and academic researchers in marketing and advertising field and a Delphi questionnaire was applied. The economic role of outdoor advertising is important as globally, it has registered sustained growth in its investment, global spend of $28.36 billion in 2010 increased to $39.9 in 2019.Outdoor advertising is one of few media that is expected to grow in the next three years with expenditure projected to surpass 42 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2021 according to Statista. Outdoor advertising is an important sector as it ranks third in advertising investment in Portuguese market and is a highly visible medium as advertisements are displayed seven days a week and twenty-four hours a day. Additionally, the weather conditions are favorable for consumers to spend a lot of time on the street. Different studies have proven the effectiveness of outdoor advertising in memorizing campaigns and associated with increased sales. The Delphi technique has been used to find consensus on certain issues and to determine future predictions and has been studied associated with the marketing field. The study was conducted with fifteen experts from the outdoor advertising industry, between operators and advertising agencies and after two rounds a consensus was found on a definition of outdoor advertising. Other techniques were used in this study as a starting point to gather information that made it possible to reach the Delphi questionnaire, such as web content analysis and interviews with outdoor advertising professionals.