Abstract:
The launch of the internet has had fundamental changes on the media and advertising
industry. Traditional media organisations have had to recreate and redesign themselves into
the digital ecosystem to ensure relevance and value creation in the media and advertising
digital world. The oldest form of traditional media, Out-of-Home, has had to reestablish itself
through digital transformation to ensure its survival, by positioning itself as a competitive
contender in the digital ecosystem.
This study leveraged the theories of strategic leadership; digital transformation and change
management to understand how Out-of-Home media organisations in South Africa are
responding to the threatening changes that are happening in the environment with regards to
the digital ecosystem. Through the extant literature review it was established that there has
been limited research on the Out-of-Home industry, most specifically with regards to digital
transformation within an organisation’s organisational and structural processes for the
enablement of digital transformation. Thus, this study has been conducted to understand and
highlight what change management capabilities have been enabled and utilised in an Out-ofHome organisation for the digital transformation it has needed to ensure survival in the future.
The study adopted a qualitative research design as it was exploratory. Interviews were
conducted with participants across mature traditional Out-of-Home organisations and also
newly established entrepreneurial Out-of-Home organisations in South Africa who have a
digital strategy in place.
The results of the study revealed that the Out-of-Home organisations that were researched do
not have a clearly defined digital transformation strategy that guides their initiatives. However,
the organisations have utilised key change management capabilities in their organisations that
drive and support digital transformation in the organisation.
