Posterscope gets ready for Hyperspace lift-off

Which is how Rickard came to meet up with Media during a local pitstop of her regional assessment tour. Despite experiencing the unpalatable combination of jetlag, sleep deprivation and an untalented harpist playing in the background of the hotel lobby, Rickard graciously managed to inject her dry, self-deprecating humour with candid business talk. This British sense of humour will come in handy for tackling certain assumptions about her company.

A low profile in the region has led to much speculation about Posterscope — while some have seen glimpses of it in the shadows of its headstrong sibling, Carat, more often than not, Posterscope is often viewed as just another outdoor buying unit.

Ironically, this is exactly how Rickard started the company in the UK over 24 years ago. Over the past two decades, she has quietly transformed Posterscope from what was essentially a one-room buying business into an international outdoor conglomerate.

However, now that she's joining the charge into China, Rickard knows she can't afford to take her time. "The speed of change here is much faster in China. Whereas in Europe, where you've got 10 or 15 years of learning, here you've got maybe three," she says. "Part of that is the technology. It is here already. "The pace of change in China and the scale of the market just makes it too important to not focus on."

Rickard estimates that in China alone, the market is worth US$1.3 billion, and will continue to grow at 10 to 15 per cent per annum.

Posterscope already has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, but in the run-up to the Olympics, Rickard says, "we'll really concentrate on developing the planning expertise — our key differentiator".

But while she observes that Asia is generally more open and interested in new ideas than Europe, Rickard is betting she won't be able to crack the market without more research.

Throughout the interview, she can't seem to stress enough the lack of accountability and outdoor research in Asia. "We need to provide more science behind how and why we're spending the money," she says. "We need to help clients understand the quality of the sites and the price we're paying."

Fortunately for Posterscope, one trend Rickard counts in her favour is the aggression of Clear Channel, JCDecaux and Viacom into China. The all-consuming behaviour of these three has paved the way somewhat for Posterscope, which Rickard says is their biggest global client. "They'll probably get more consolidated in Asia too," she muses. "I think the fact that they're in there will make it faster for us to get to where we want to get to."

Not only are major training schemes underway, overseas secondments are planned as Rickard aims to shortcut the "huge people challenge" that seems especially characteristic of media planning companies. She will certainly need all the help she can get to answer questions which, admittedly, she doesn't know how to address yet.

One example is the ubiquitous issue of return on investment. "ROI isn't more important here than anywhere else," she says, "but that question has gotten here a lot faster."

And until she gets the answers, hopefully some of the work will speak for itself. In Asia, Posterscope has conceptualised feats such as adidas' 'Vertical Sprint' in Japan and National Geographic's 'Megastructures' outdoor show in Singapore. To increase such executions, Rickard is ramping up investment into her creative think-tank, Hyperspace, which is regionally based in Singapore. This unit is devoted entirely to driving creativity, early adoption and innovation in Posterscope's campaigns. "If the medium doesn't exist, Hyperspace makes it,"

Rickard says. "For example, we built an ice-skating rink in the centre of London for Absolut Vodka. Around the world, we've made 200 to 300  such sites."

Meanwhile, apart from China, Rickard is also paying more badly-needed attention to other offices in the region. "We've got different offices in such different stages of development — China, Taiwan, a new one in Malaysia, the Philippines — and we need to manage them all better to make sure they're growing along the same positioning."

Rickard's upcoming months certainly sound unenviable. But at least she is armed with her secret weapon, one that has probably kept her in a traditional boys-only club far longer than most other women. And just what is that essential ingredient to longevity? "A sense of humour," she says.