Advertising at Entebbe Airport goes digital

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has stopped all analogue advertising at Entebbe International Airport, as it moves to adopt digital marketing at the new terminal building. 

The authority's publicist, Eugene Igundura, told journalists on Thursday that the new changes are meant to uplift the image of the airport to international standard. 

"Some of those static adverts look very old and are unpleasant to gaze upon, yet the airport is our first big opportunity to impress guests and tourists," he said. 

This was on the sidelines of an advertisers' sensitization workshop on the on-going airport expansion works at Hotel Africana. 

Igundura said so far, more than 20 small hangers for digital adverts have been fixed in the arrival and departure lounges to make them more attractive. 

He said another 20 giant advertising screens will be fixed as soon as the on-going terminal building expansion is complete. 

"All over the world, advertising is part of the airport experience, and here, we want to make it better by adopting digital adverts which are more interactive," he said.

Tom Wasswa, CAA's marketing and commercial manager, said the project will be implemented through Prime Media advertising agency, which holds the mandate to manage advertising in and around the airport. 

In May 2014, the agency was awarded a contract of selling and marketing advertising space at the airport. 

Wasswa said they are also coming up with a downloadable mobile phone app, to facilitate advertising, promote tourism and guide visitors around the cosmopolitan area of Kampala, which includes Entebbe. 

"The app will have a route chart that visitors can use to trace their way back to the airport in case they are lost," he said. 

He explained that going digital will increase advertising space at the airport and also make the place look more modern, as the country strives to attract more tourists. 

According to the Uganda Tourism Board, the airport handled approximately 1.2 million arrivals last year, a slight decrease from 1.3million tourists that were received in 2014. 

"By 2018, we are projected to handle about 3.5 million arrivals and 5 million by 2020. The airport therefore, is very important in adding to the tourists' experience in the country. For this, we expect 80% of all adverts at the airport to be digital by 2018, and as we speak placing of adverts on walls have been discontinued," he said. 

Brutus Kagingo, the executive director Prime Media, said digital media will also be used to support government programs such as health, education and commerce. 

He said the screens will initially be placed in and outside the airport, but will eventually be installed in the entire municipality, before being rolled out to the rest of the Kampala Metropolitan district.