The leading out-of-home advertising company introduced the service to cut the time taken from receiving artwork to posting a campaign by 24 hours. Campaigns can now be received on a Friday evening and printed and posted by the Monday.

The 'hub' allows creative agencies to send artwork electronically to JCDecaux for file checking of print specifications, formatting and colour calibration. The file is then forwarded to one of JCDecaux's three chosen printers, all of which have digital presses.

It is using the decreased turnaround time to target newspaper advertising, which is said to have a typical booking deadline of around 12 hours.

Dave McEvoy, marketing director of JCDecaux, told PrintWeek: "Traditionally outdoor advertising has a reputation for being slow and things have to be booked in advance."

He explained that the service directly competed with press advertising – "which is in decline" – by offering customers the chance to change campaigns at short notice, which appeal directly to high street customers.

"The advances in digital printing are part of the chain that allows us to bring customers their campaigns faster. We also have the infrastructure in place to change the sheets no matter where they are located," added McEvoy.

Elsewhere, CBS Outdoor is also mounting a push on the benefits of outdoor using bus posters and billboards with the tagline: "One type of advertising is up everyone's street".