Rainbow Kirby-Stearns is a Marketing Communications Specialist at Clear Channel Outdoor. Liz Rave is a marketing director at Outfront Media. They’ve written a terrific article for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (“IAB”) on how to use digital out of home effectively. Insider thanks Kirby-Stearns and Rave and the IAB for permission to republish.
Modern marketers must regularly test, benchmark, and optimize their investments to find the magic media mix balance that demonstrates ROI. While the “connected home” was once thought to be the future, it’s the connected consumer who transformed the digital environment and primed the path for digital out-of-home (DOOH).
In our fragmented media landscape, billboards, transit displays, and other place-based media don’t face the same challenges as other mediums do – there’s no below the fold, changing channels, or ad blocking. Think about it. It’s impossible to miss a 14’ × 48’ canvas. Out-of-home creative is big, bold, and timely. With dynamic digital capabilities, mobile targeting, and enhanced traffic data, outdoor is more integral to the media mix than ever.
In recent years, DOOH is the main driver behind the outdoor medium’s resilience, attractiveness, and performance. Its inventory has increased by 30% in the last two years, reaching approximately 300,000 units globally.*
By utilizing mobile data, aggregated and anonymized from third-party providers, outdoor vendors can now advise brands on how to plan more efficiently and show attribution for their campaigns — a previous challenge. As DOOH continues to evolve, it’s able to deliver campaigns that are both contextually relevant and timely. Listed below are just a few examples from our DOOH Case Studies Collection on how DOOH’s capabilities are already amplifying messaging and driving results for brands.
Be Measurable. It’s not enough to think you had a great campaign or to rely solely on overall sales and/or store visits. Attribution studies and mobile surveys can prove the campaign worked by measuring brand recall. Many OOH providers use anonymous, aggregated mobile data to understand where your customer segments go and the best outdoor locations to reach them. A recent case study shows increased visitation rates (via mobile data) at gas stations after consumers were exposed to outdoor billboards. View here.
In NYC, a ticket provider wanted to target tourists by placing their messaging right in the heart of it all – Times Square’s theater district. By analyzing pre-and-post exposure data through geofences set in the area, the advertiser was able to ascertain that their objective was met and purchase intent increased. View here.
Integrate Personalization. Consumers expect brands to do more than just showcase products. Instead, they need to create meaningful and relatable connections in order to break through. An airline smartly encouraged fliers to send e-postcards while in flight and to share them on Facebook. The postcards campaign resulted in a 4.79% click-through rate (CTR). View here.
Make It An Experience. Inviting consumers to be part of a brand experience can be accomplished through direct interactions or through interactive digital displays. In a major airport, place-based charging stations were manned by ‘Human’ actors promoting a new drama series. While consumers charged their phones, they were able to watch a trailer, and send a social souvenir to friends and family. View here.
Be Contextually Relevant. Localization has always been a core component of outdoor advertising, and this has increased trifold with real-time messaging, location data, and weather feeds. An OTC drug brand drew the attention of allergy sufferers by displaying a digital pollen count in local neighborhoods. Red and orange alerts directed them to a retailer to get the product that would help them get “allergy ready.” View here.
A music streaming service took “right time, right message” to the next level by only displaying its digital ad in the hour before and after its artist’s concerts. In New York City, this real time messaging drove social mentions of the brand up by 184%, compared to four hours prior. View here.
To increase foot traffic to traditional brick and mortar stores, a denim brand used place-based kiosks in NYC to attract passersby and encourage them to check out the spring launch. Lift in store visits increased 80% within 14 days of ad exposure. View here.
Promote in Real Time. Digital signage can be used to broadcast timely promotions, drive to web, post tweets, and share real time traffic updates. An airline merged data from the Google Maps API with its own flight tracker to provide consumers the exact time it would take to get from that digital billboard to the advertised destinations, in real time. To further promote action, they linked a social contest for free tickets. With multiple flights and destinations, flexibility is a huge advantage. View here.
Amplify Reach with Mobile. OOH is the best primer for mobile engagement, as consumers are 48% more likely to click on a mobile ad after being exposed to the same ad on OOH first.** This makes mobile a natural extension of DOOH, reinforcing messaging and providing a point of action. A local entertainment park used a combination of DOOH and mobile to drive website traffic and sign-ups. The secondary action rate (SAR) of the campaign was 307% higher than the mobile alone benchmark and it drove the strongest month of registration. View here.
Similarly, a leading web service provider used DOOH and mobile to drive registration for an upcoming summit. The combination drove a 40% lift in clicks to the website, where consumers could register. Focusing on audience segments, in addition to location, ensures your media impressions are being delivered – and acted upon. View here.
Here’s something else to keep in mind: 68% of shoppers were exposed to outdoor ads in the same half hour of purchase – higher than any other media*. Integrate digital out-of-home into your next campaign and watch your other media work harder and drive consumer action.
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