Out-of-Home Advertising: An Unconventional Approach
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, also known as out-of-home media or outdoor advertising, refers to any type of marketing that reaches consumers when they're outside of their homes. This includes billboards, transit advertising, and street furniture like bus shelters and kiosks. While digital platforms like social media get lots of attention, there's still something compelling about OOH ads. When done right, they can capture interest and spark curiosity.
In our age of information overload, standing out can be challenging. But the brands willing to take an unconventional approach with their OOH campaigns can create that coveted double-take. The key is to use the medium creatively that adds value, entertains or educates. Putting up a standard ad along the highway won't cut it anymore. Savvy marketers need to leverage OOH formats to deliver experiences people want to be part of.
Table of Contents
Cutting Through the Noise
The average American sees between 4,000 to 10,000 ads per day. That's a lot of noise for brands to break through. But OOH presents some unique advantages that other media can't necessarily match:
Physical Presence and Scale: OOH ads are tangible objects in the real world. A creatively executed billboard, for example, can create visual impact through scale and art direction. Brands can dominate a specific space to capture attention.
Location Targeting: OOH campaigns can be hyper-targeted by placing ads in specific venues, streets, or neighbourhoods. Brands can geo-target transit stations, sporting events, university campuses, and more.
Flexible Message Selection: Messages can be adjusted based on location, weather, time of day and current events. OOH allows for contextual communication.
Difficult to Block: No ad blockers here! OOH forces audiences to engage whether they want to or not. However, the key is giving people something they want to see or interact with.
Brand Building: OOH offers a physical presence that can reinforce branding and identity. Seeing ads in the real world can increase familiarity and brand awareness across a region.
While other media offer targeted reach, OOH's physical presence and degree of targeting make it stand out. The key for marketers is tapping into those advantages.
Fostering Interactions
OOH advertising thrives when it moves past passive awareness to active engagement. The more interaction an OOH concept fosters, the higher the likelihood of ROI.
According to neuroscience research, our brains are wired to engage with novelty. We instinctively pay more attention to things that fascinate and surprise us. By designing OOH ads that provide value, fun or intrigue, brands can earn engagement instead of interrupted awareness.
Experiential Campaigns
Experiential marketing aims to provide memorable interactions between brands and consumers. This approach can work incredibly well for OOH initiatives.
Here are some examples of experiential OOH campaigns done right:
- Spotify's Serendipitous Playlists: Spotify erected OOH displays that used cameras and facial detection to create custom playlists for people who stood in front of them. The technology matched your mood to an appropriate playlist.
- Netflix's Immersive Storefronts: To promote new shows, Netflix created themed OOH displays that mirrored the fictional worlds. A display for Stranger Things included props and elements from the show that people could interact with.
- Canadian Tire's Skating Rink: In a stunt to demonstrate its winter products, Canadian Tire built a frozen skating pond in the middle of a public square featuring its goods. People could rent skates and have an authentic winter experience.
- Disney's Magic Mirror: Disney placed an interactive mirror in a London train station that could transform people's reflections into different Disney characters. Passersby loved seeing themselves become a pirate, princess or Mickey Mouse.
The key to fabulous experiential OOH is providing people with something novel and valuable. Give them a fun reason to engage rather than just glancing at an ad.
Gamification
Gamified OOH campaigns apply gaming elements like challenges, rewards and quests to create an engaging experience. For example, interactive kiosks may provide quizzes or contests with prizes. Augmented reality might overlay a fantasy world onto the real one. Or a scavenger hunt could be orchestrated across different OOH units.
Gamification works because people love to play and compete. The rewards compel them to participate beyond just noticing.
Some examples:
- Verizon's Street Charge: Phone chargers were placed on streets and sidewalks, but people had to dance or jump to get them to power on. The harder you danced, the faster your phone charged, gamifying the experience.
- Variety: Nesquick's Bunny Trail: Large bunny prints were placed on sidewalks, leading to an interactive display. People followed the trail and shared photos of the experience.
- Pedigree's Adoption Drive: Pedigree placed OOH kiosks that showed dogs up for adoption. People could print flyers with QR codes to get more info and potentially adopt the dogs.
Interactive Content
OOH campaigns can also provide interactive content that audiences want to engage with. This could include:
- Helpful information like weather reports, news and local maps.
- Hyperlocal recommendations like nearby restaurants, events and deals.
- Crowd-sourced user-generated content like local photos and social posts.
- Polls, surveys and voting opportunities.
- Product demos and virtual sampling.
- Curated entertainment like games, quizzes and music stations.
The content itself should connect back to the brand in a logical way. However, the focus should be on providing real value to capture attention and foster sharing.
Innovative Tech Integrations
Some brands are taking OOH engagement to the next level by integrating emerging tech into out-of-home units:
- Augmented Reality: AR overlays digital elements onto natural world settings via smartphones. OOH campaigns can activate AR experiences.
- QR Codes: By scanning a QR code on an OOH ad, people can digitally engage with a brand. QR's bridge the offline and online.
- Beacons: Proximity beacons detect nearby smartphones to send contextually relevant content. They enable hyper-localized mobile interactions.
- RFID/NFC: Touchpoints allow contactless interactions with OOH units via smartphones. “Tap to learn more” offers seamless transitions.
- Sensors: OOH displays with integrated sensors can modify messages based on traffic, weather and audience demographics.
- Wi-Fi Integration: OOH ad hotspots can provide free public Wi-Fi. In exchange, brands can gain data, offer content or redirect to sites.
- Connected TV: DOOH displays can synch with people's home devices to continue engagement. Marketers can retarget OOH audiences across screens.
Rethinking the Formats
While standard billboards, transit ads and posters still have their place, introducing novel OOH formats is another way for brands to capture attention in public spaces.
Unconventional physical structures and eclectic media placements spark curiosity and raise brand awareness by design. Pushing the boundaries of outdoor advertising leads to inventive concepts that stand out.
Here are some examples of OOH formats that go against the grain:
| Format | Example |
| Wild postings | Performance tea brand Clipper attached large tags to lamp posts resembling tea bags. It created a “found object” effect. |
| Stunts | To introduce a smaller mobile phone, Tap Strap erected a 7-foot-tall smartphone in the middle of a town square. It towered over people to dramatise the small size. |
| Wraps | For the movie Godzilla, a train station was fully wrapped in graphics, making it look like a giant lizard was bursting out of it. The visual drama matched the movie's tone. |
| 3D installations | BMW placed full-sized car cutouts with headlights on the sides of buildings to make them look like they were protruding from the architecture. |
| Ambient | For a museum exhibit on fire, the National History Museum projected flames and smoke onto ceilings and pillars to immerse visitors in the theme. |
| Guerilla | Lyft placed outlines of their cars around parking spots to highlight unused space. Each had a QR code to download the app. |
| Utility | Charmin installed bathrooms featuring toilet paper in Times Square to provide value to tourists. |
| Tactical | For March Madness, Pepsi erected temporary basketball courts featuring their logo in public parks. People played on the functional courts. |
Pushing format boundaries allows OOH campaigns to stand out through physical presence and originality. But it must fit the context. Touches like ambient projections or 3D cars work for location-specific events or launches. The goal is novelty that aligns with the brand.
Optimising for Digital Extensions
While OOH provides physical impact, many campaigns also connect to digital channels for extended reach online. This integrated approach allows for enhanced engagement before and after the outdoor exposure.
Common digital elements in OOH campaigns include:
- Landing Pages: Custom sites with info related to the OOH concept. Builds awareness and moves audiences to action.
- Social Extensions: Promoting hashtag challenges or user-generated content on social related to the OOH campaign.
- Retargeting Ads: Serving digital ads to people exposed to OOH units for additional frequency
- Geolocation Extensions: Triggering GPS-based notifications, special offers or mobile content at OOH locations.
- Paid Search: Buying related search terms to drive traffic from OOH to online destinations.
- Online Video: Promoting viral content that expands on the OOH campaign theme or message.
- Influencers: Having relevant influencers on social media plug the OOH activations to their followers.
- AR Enhancements: Using AR to bridge the OOH and online worlds via interactive smartphone experiences.
OOH gives brands physical presence and attention, while digital provides an opportunity for dialogue and conversion. Blending both channels amplifies the impact of the investment.
Critical Considerations for Breakthrough OOH
Based on the techniques above, here are some recommendations for developing compelling OOH campaigns:
Match the Medium: Tailor the campaign to OOH formats and locations. Play up physical presence with scale, art direction and contextual relevance.
Foster Interactions: Move from passive ad to active experience. Give people incentives to engage with value, entertainment or technology voluntarily.
Build Around Events: Tie into cultural events, holidays or timely trends for immediacy. Promote occasions happening locally.
Kinetic Creativity: Use motion and interaction to capture eyeballs. Augmented reality, ambient projections, multi-dimensional formats, dynamic messages and digital screens create a sense of energy and vitality.
Integrate Tech: Enable consumer connections to digital channels or mobile content for deeper engagement. Connect offline to online.
Hyper Target: Geo-target venues and sites frequented by a specific demographic during their daily journeys for maximum relevance. Go granular.
Be Clever: Offer something fresh and against the grain—surprise passersby with wit, paradox, interactivity and novelty. Don't just rely on the standard billboard.
Expand Reach: Extend the campaign's message and creativity through digital channels and social media for greater exposure. Amplify OOH.
OOH Goes Beyond the Billboard
Out-of-home advertising is in the midst of an evolution. With so many competing options for consumer attention, brands can rely on more than static signage and expect results. To stand out and provide ROI, OOH requires compelling experiences with creativity and strategy baked in.
The brands willing to take some risks and reconceive their OOH efforts around engagement will reap rewards. By using the medium more dynamically, campaigns can become destinations and events that people want to enjoy instead of passively seeing actively. The next generation of OOH pushes the boundaries of imagination, interaction and innovation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Out-of-Home Advertising (OOH)
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising provides a unique opportunity to connect with audiences, but it does come with some key considerations. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about OOH:
What are the main OOH formats?
The most common OOH formats include billboards, street furniture (transit shelters, kiosks), street-level storefronts, wrapped vehicles, subway/rail ads, airport ads, shopping mall displays, posters, murals and digital signage.
How is OOH measured and tracked?
OOH uses estimated impressions based on the location and foot/vehicle traffic. Some digital OOH can track plays and interactions. Measuring awareness lift is common through surveys. Attribution remains a challenge, but geolocation and digital extensions help.
What role does creativity play in OOH?
Creativity and art direction are crucial. The ad needs to capture attention within a couple of seconds. Successful OOH relies on bold visuals, clever copy and dynamic formats tailored to the environment.
How is OOH priced?
Pricing varies based on market, location, format, audience traffic and ad length/time. Digital OOH is often priced by day, while traditional is priced monthly. Longer campaigns offer lower effective rates.
Why is location important for OOH?
OOH allows for precision targeting because placement is paramount. Brands should analyse sites based on fit with the target audience, appropriate environment and amount of visibility for optimal results.
How can you make an emotional connection in OOH?
While challenging, OOH ads can forge emotional relationships through creative execution, evocative photography/imagery, intriguing questions/headlines and leveraging contextual relevance.
What makes OOH work well with mobile?
Mobile technology like QR codes and geofencing allow OOH ads to direct consumers to online destinations, video content, activations, coupons/offers and more. The physical ad drives the digital action.
How important is creativity in OOH?
Creativity and originality are incredibly important for OOH's success. The ad needs to instantly grab attention by standing out within the surrounding environment. Without tremendous and memorable creative, the ad will be ignored.
Should you go big in OOH?
Scale and making a visual impact are strengths of OOH. While every campaign is different, most brands should not be afraid of “going big” to maximise presence and breakthrough. Think ambitiously in the medium.
Can you target in OOH?
While more precise than digital, OOH allows more targeting than traditional media like TV. Sites can be selected based on location, audience traffic patterns, demographics, behaviours and optimal viewing distances.
