Out of Home Advertising in Ghana: Norbert Rufu Presents DDP Outdoor, the Market Leader in Outdoor Advertising

Interview with Norbert Rufu, CEO of DDP Outdoor

What is your assessment of the sector in Ghana? What are the major trends? Is the market competitive?

Our sector is called the out of home advertising sector. It is very much an emerging market. There is a lot of competition but we are seeing a shift happening now from the traditional static billboards towards digital billboards.

Do you see that the sector itself will change with mergers between companies? What is involved when the sector moves to digital?

You need more technology to be able to do that, and not just that, but the digital boards are also a little more costly compared to the statics. For the companies to be able to venture into the digital they need a good backbone in terms of capital and financing. The media will be improving a lot in the next few years and there will be a lot of merging of companies to be able to play in that space.

What do you bring to the market that is different from the competition?

DDP is the biggest in Ghana. The next biggest compared to us is only one quarter of our size. A portfolio like ours gives us dominance in Ghana and very good access into the whole of West Africa.

If you look at the out of home space in Ghana, the majority of our competitors have mid-sized billboards. As DDP, we are the only company who can supply what we call “super-signs” or huge unipoles across the country, not just in Accra. This is the kind of thing that most clients are looking for. When it comes to advertising, the bigger the media, the better it is for brand visibility. That really sets us apart from our competition. On top of that, we are the only concessioners that can run airport advertising for the domestic airports and the international airport. That sets us apart because all airport advertising must come through DDP.

Are there regulations on these “super-sign” billboards?

They are regulated by the City Council or the Assemblies. You cannot put them everywhere, only on designated locations as approved by the municipalities.

Who are your clients?

We deal with almost every brand that exists in Ghana that is active in out of home advertising. With the airport, we have many multinationals or companies that deal in various countries as well as a lot of international companies as our clients. When you look at the general outdoor space, we have all the big multinationals who are operating in Ghana as well as all the local brands working with us. We deal with telecoms, banks, insurance, and every sector that needs to advertise their products.

What current projects are you developing? Do you have any success stories that you have achieved as a company?

The airport advertising is a new project that we are starting up. We were awarded that concession at the end of last year in October 2018. It is certainly something that we are still busy with and we are still developing. It was challenging in the sense that we had to do something that had never been done in Ghana before. We had to look for the latest technology, the latest advertising mediums, and do it in a way that is comparable to any international standard that you can think of. That is still very much running in terms of the rollout of that airport advertising.

What makes this advertising new at the airport?

There was advertising before in the previous terminal, but when you look at the kind of media we are doing and the kind of profiles we are using, it is completely different from what was being done before. It is the same thing that you would find in any other market, not just something which is ordinary or easy to do. We really looked for the highest quality there is when it comes to indoors and airport advertising.

What makes you successful in this business? What are the fundamentals?

The fundamentals are that when it comes to clientele, the clients are kings. Our relationships with our clients is something that is key. For us to be able to have good occupancy on all our medias, we need to have very strong relationships with our clients and deliver as we say. On the other side, out of home advertising is very capital intensive. Access to funding is fundamental because without funding, you can never really do something that is up to standard and professional.

Is there a possibility for investors, fund managers, equity managers, and those sorts of companies to partner with DDP?

One of our shareholders will be exiting either at the end of this year or in the next year because they are a fund manager. As they exit, there is that opportunity to take over their portfolio either from other fund managers or other players in the out of home industry who are interested in the Ghanaian market or this portfolio.

It is a worthwhile opportunity?

Definitely. DDP is the biggest in Ghana. The next biggest compared to us is only one quarter of our size. A portfolio like ours gives us dominance in Ghana and very good access into the whole of West Africa. This is lucrative because a lot of out of home development is going to happen in West Africa and you can use DDP as the best partner to be able to grow into this whole region.

Do you have a footprint in other areas of West Africa?

We started up in Senegal a few years ago. We have a footprint there and we are also operating in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso. We have not yet set up physical offices in those countries, however.

What are the major challenges that a company like yours faces in the market?

Our main challenge is financing. Out of home advertising is a capital-intensive industry and for you to be able to get the actual structures and quality that you need, you need to have the proper and adequate financing. You can see with some of these smaller players that come into the market without proper financing, they put up boards that are not to the right standard. That lack of financing actually impacts a number of aspects when it comes to out of home advertising. It impacts the quality of media that we can do as well as the quality of media that our competitors can do. If this improves, then the whole market and the whole industry in Ghana will really change dramatically.

Your boards are put up outside and you have an impact on the landscape. What is your policy towards environmental issues and what CSR activities are you involved with?

We work hand in hand with the government to sponsor our medium whenever they have campaigns that they run to bring awareness of different issues to the public.

Do you have a final message that you want to give?

We want to use this opportunity for anyone interested in the out of home market space in Ghana to acquire this technology. It is a great opportunity and very profitable. DDP is the biggest in Ghana in terms of out of home advertising. With the tech that will be available to DDP Ghana, and our new airport project that is very new and very fresh, we have another full seven years to run with this concession and that is a massive opportunity to be able to come into DDP at that level.

What do you want to achieve in three years’ time, the medium term? What is your vision for the company?

I see the company growing to become more of a bigger, multinational company. There is a lot of opportunity coming to West Africa. We have already started some inroads into there and a lot now hinges on what will happen in the next six months to bring that vision into West Africa. There is a lot of opportunity in all of West Africa for more technology in out of home advertising that can be tapped into.

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