OUTSMART OUT OF HOME LIMITED

OUTSMART CHARTER – STANDARD OF BEST PRACTICE

2016

43-45 Dorset Street London

W1U 7NA Tel: 0207 224 3786

e-mail: info@outsmart.org.uk

www.outsmart.org.uk

CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIES OF OUTSMART 1 3 STANDARDS OF BEST PRACTICE 2

3.1 Maintenance of Plant 2 3.2 Material Obstruction 3 3.3 Paper Quality 3 3.4 Copy Content 3 3.5 Acceptability of Panels 3

4 HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY 3 5 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY 3 6 ROADSIDE DIGITAL SCREENS 4 7 ALCOHOL ADVERTISING NEAR SCHOOLS 4

8 SEXUALISED IMAGERY 4 9 PROCEDURE FOR DEALING WITH COMPLAINTS 4 10 NON-COMPLIANCE WITH CHARTER PROVISIONS 5

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 This Charter sets out the structure and activities of Outsmart Out of Home Limited as well as certain best practices to which members of Outsmart should adhere in order to enhance the effectiveness and wider reputation of the Out of Home advertising medium in the UK.

1.2 Outsmart supports legal and responsible use of the medium. It will not sanction illegal uses of the medium such as flyposting, trailers in fields and graffiti.

1.3 Membership of Outsmart is restricted to companies who have the right to sell Out of Home Advertising.

1.4 All members must comply with the Charter in order to retain their membership.

1.5 All members guarantee that they will behave in a professional and ethical manner towards their advertiser clients and agencies, that they will accurately represent their media offering, and that they will deliver campaigns as promised.

2 STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIES OF OUTSMART

2.1 This Section sets out Outsmart’s purpose, its structure, the services it provides and the way it is financed.

2.2 Outsmart is the marketing body representing Out of Home media owners throughout the UK. Its affiliations include the Advertising Association and the Advertising Standards Authority (Outsmart is a member of the CAP committee). There are also links with the IPA (advertising agencies), IPAO (Out of Home specialists) and ISBA (advertisers).

2.3 Outsmart’s primary objective is to inform, educate and inspire people to do wonderful things in Out of Home. Outsmart want to help advertisers and agencies get excited about Out of Home and make it a ‘must have’ on every media plan. There has never been a better time to advertise on Out of Home. Outsmart will give brands the confidence to ‘get out more’ and take advantage of the many opportunities offered by classic and digital Out of Home.

2.4 Council, Board or Associate membership is open to any UK poster contractor on the following terms:

2.4.1 Council membership is open to Out of Home contractors upon receipt of satisfactory references confirming the applicant’s general good standing and sound business practices who are prepared to subscribe an annually agreed sum towards the running of the Association. Council membership automatically gives a seat on Outsmart Council and voting rights as to the running of the Association.

2.4.2 Board membership is open to any Out of Home contractor upon receipt of satisfactory references confirming the applicant’s general good standing and sound business practices for a reduced annual subscription. A board member does not have voting rights but will benefit from Outsmart’s services.

2.4.3 Associate membership is open to any Out of Home contractor upon receipt of satisfactory references confirming the applicant’s general good standing and sound business practices for a reduced annual subscription. An associate member does not have voting rights but will benefit from Outsmart’s services.

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2.5 The Association is chaired by the Secretariat through Outsmart’s Council and is run on a day to day basis by the Chief Executive.

2.6 Outsmart is funded entirely through its Council, Board, Associate and Resource members and is a non-profit making body. This is based on a subscription paid by Council members (on a bi-annual basis) and Associate members (once a year) to meet the running costs of the Secretariat. A levy is paid as necessary for specific projects which may not include all members.

2.7 Outsmart is involved in a range of activities and services with other organisations, including:

Poster Audience Measurement (ROUTE)

2.7.1 ROUTE is the name of the research methodology which provides the industry’s site classification and audience measurement system. It is run by ROUTE Limited which is the Joint Industry Committee (JIC) representing all sides of the industry (Outsmart, IPAO, IPA and ISBA). Audience coverage and frequency is built up from traffic and pedestrian passages past sites, which in themselves are classified by various criteria. ROUTE is funded by Outsmart members and IPAO.

Out of Home Revenue

2.7.2 Outsmart works with the Advertising Association in order to compile and publish historical expenditure records. This involves the collection of historical revenue information on a regular basis from Outsmart members which is then anonymised and aggregated before being passed as a total revenue figure for the Out of Home advertising sector to the Advertising Association for inclusion in their Advertising Expenditure and Advertising Forecast reports and for the wider advertising community.

3 STANDARDS OF BEST PRACTICE

Maintenance of Plant

3.1 All members are responsible for any questions which may arise in relation to the relevant Town & Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations in respect of their plant and should at all times adhere to the following best practices in relation to the maintenance of their plant:

3.1.1 All Out of Home advertising structures should be maintained in a good state of repair, be regularly painted and kept reasonably clean.

3.1.2 All Out of Home advertising panels should be numbered and should display the names of the contractors who have control over them.

3.1.3 All copy delivery should be carried out with due care and attention so as to ensure that every advertisement is displayed in the manner intended and in due time.

3.1.4 Any advertisements found to be damaged or defaced should be replaced as soon as is practical.

3.1.5 Any forecourts, gardens or other land within the precincts of panels, and any fences erected by the contractor as part of a display, should be maintained in a good condition.

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Material Obstruction

3.2 No advertisement should be erected which would materially obscure the view of another member’s advertisement under contract. In case of doubt the other member should be consulted before the advertisement is erected.

Paper Quality

3.3 All paper posters shall be printed on good quality paper of a minimum weight of 105g/m² and, where relevant and possible, the weight of the paper shall be printed on a lap edge of each poster to ensure a high standard of display.

Copy Content

3.4.1 Without in any way diminishing the obligations of the advertisers, all Outsmart members are expected to use their best endeavours to ensure that the copy and illustrations depicted on all the posters they display comply with all statutory and other legal requirements and with the provisions of the Codes of the Committee of Advertising Practice.

3.4.2 In certain instances Outsmart may be asked to apply a pre-vetting procedure as laid down by the ASA and CAP (“yellow card”). Details of this procedure are contained within this policy section.

3.4.3 If  advertisers  persistently  flout  the  rules  for  appropriate  advertising  copy  in  the  view  of  the  ASA,  CAP  and  Outsmart,   they  may  be  excluded  from  using  the  medium  altogether  (“red  card”)  for  a  period  of  2  years.

Acceptability of Panels

3.4 For new sites erected after 1 January 2000, no panels will be erected without, and in full compliance with, a contract with the site landlord or other person entitled to give permission.

Contractual obligation to customers

3.6 All members must carry out any contractual obligations that they have committed to with their customers.

4 HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY

4.1 All Outsmart members shall take all reasonable steps to minimise any health and safety risks that could arise to their employees, their on-site labour and the general public.

4.2 All Outsmart members shall agree in writing to comply with the provisions of Outsmart Health and Safety Policy Statement at all times.

4.3 No Outsmart member shall use on-site labour, either direct or sub-contracted, that has not attended and passed the approved Outsmart Health and Safety Training Scheme.

4.4 All Outsmart members shall ensure that all labour, either direct or sub-contracted, is in possession of current certification issued in accordance with the provisions of Outsmart Health and Safety Training Scheme and have duly attended all requisite Outsmart approved refresher courses under the Scheme.

5 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

5.1 All Outsmart members shall take all reasonable steps to minimise any detrimental impact to the environment that may arise in pursuance of their Out of Home activities.

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5.2 All Outsmart members shall agree in writing to comply with the provisions Outsmart Environmental Policy Statement at all times.

6 ROADSIDE DIGITAL SCREENS

6.1 Outsmart members shall consider to comply (as a voluntary and unilateral measure) with the provisions of Outsmart Digital Code of Best Practice for Large Format Roadside Billboards.

7 ALCOHOL ADVERTISING NEAR SCHOOLS

7.1 In the interests of responsible advertising to protect minors from undue exposure to alcohol advertising, Outsmart members shall commit to not displaying alcohol advertising on static panels located within a 100 metre radius of school boundaries.

8 SEXUALISED IMAGERY

8.1 For social responsibility reasons, do not display any advertising on static sites for lap dancing clubs or sex shops within 100m of schools or other sensitive locations such as churches and mosques

8.2 Insist any such advertisers – and any other advertisers where you have reasonable cause to believe their ads may cause offence – to seek copy clearance from CAP/ASA prior to display.

8.3 Offer the opportunity to all advertisers to not advertise on static panels within 100m of schools, should they flag up that requirement at the point of booking.

9 PROCEDURE FOR DEALING WITH COMPLAINTS

9.1 All complaints in relation to unacceptable sites of, or behaviour by, Outsmart members shall:

9.1.1 be in writing and sent to the Chief Executive of Outsmart;

9.1.2 give the full name, address and telephone number (if any) of the complainant;

9.1.3 give the name of Outsmart member against whom the complaint is made; and

9.1.4 give the full details and nature of the complaint.

9.2 The Chief Executive of Outsmart will consider each complaint on a case-by-case basis and will in each case:

9.2.1 acknowledge receipt of the complaint;

9.2.2 record in Outsmart Complaints Register the date of receipt of the complaint, the names of the parties and the nature of the complaint; and

9.2.3 inform the complainant of the steps taken in relation to the complaint.

9.3 Where the Chief Executive considers that there are reasonable grounds for the complaint he will:

9.3.1 notify the complaint to the member concerned; and

9.3.2 require the member against whom the complaint has been made to provide the Chief Executive with a response within 14 days of the member’s receipt of Outsmart notification of the complaint.

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9.4 The Chief Executive will have regard to the member’s response and will, in his absolute discretion, determine on the validity of the complaint.

9.5 Where the Chief Executive determines that the complaint is justified, the relevant Outsmart member must rectify the situation within five working days and notify the Chief Executive that this has been done. Failure to do so within such time limit could lead to expulsion from Outsmart subject to the conditions set out in section 9 below.

9.6 The Chief Executive will maintain on Outsmart Complaints Register details of all complaints, decisions, challenges and outcomes.

10 NON-COMPLIANCE WITH CHARTER PROVISIONS

10.1 Any material breach or a series of repeated breaches (whether material or not) of the provisions of this Charter by an Outsmart member may lead to the suspension or termination of its membership of Outsmart.

10.2 Allegations of a material breach or repeated breaches (whether material of not) (“relevant breach”) of the provisions of this Charter shall be made to the Chief Executive in writing.

10.3 On notice of any relevant breach of this Charter, the Chief Executive will inform the implicated Outsmart member of the alleged relevant breach in writing, setting out the details of such allegation and inviting Outsmart member to comment on the alleged relevant breach.

10.4 Should the Chief Executive determine that the allegation of a relevant breach is not supported by the facts, the Chief Executive shall inform Outsmart member concerned of his determination and discontinue his inquiries.

10.5 Should the Chief Executive determine that the allegation of a relevant breach is supported by the facts, the Chief Executive shall inform Outsmart member of his determination and require Outsmart member to remedy the relevant breach, providing Outsmart member a reasonable period of time in which to do so.

10.6 On the expiration of such period allowed for remedy of the relevant breach, the Chief Executive shall assess whether the relevant breach has been effectively remedied and shall inform the implicated Outsmart member and the complainant of his assessment, giving reasons for such assessment.

10.7 Where a relevant breach has not been effectively remedied, the Chief Executive shall determine whether the implicated Outsmart member’s membership of Outsmart shall be suspended (pending the breach being remedied) or terminated.

10.8 Details of any alleged relevant breach and of the subsequent complaints procedure shall be recorded by the Chief Executive in Outsmart Complaints Register.