Future Trends in OOH should focus on improving the audience experience.
Over the last decade, advertising has exploded from a handful of media channels. At one time, TV advertising reached nearly 80% of the population in one night. Today, the dominance of TV, radio and print has become more diluted with the advent of digital marketing platforms that extend the message delivery to a tech-savvy and interconnected audience. There is a push – pull effect that allows audiences to engage rather than simply be broadcast to.
Out of Home & Mobile, better together
Since 79% of US consumers own a smart phone (ComScore, Jan 2016) and are on their mobile devices for more than 3 hours/day, the opportunity for marketers to leverage OOH’s complementary messaging and footprint can generate better response rates than by digital alone.
OOH is perfectly poised to provide the physical connection to the digital message with its massive footprint in any market, worldwide. From billboards to street teams, cinema to airports and digital place-based networks to transit, message delivery in the real world creates an environment that breaks through the advertising avalanche a person is exposed to daily. OOH advertising is embedded in their daily space and commute, intercepting the audience on their way to work, exercise, running errands, entertainment, dining etc. The powerful combination can push calls to action, branding and promotional opportunities and pull audience attribution along with location data. As a result, both audience and marketer win.
Big Data will continue to grow and affect how Out of Home is planned and bought
It is all about the audience, whether you are a consumer or marketer. Where are they, how do they move through their day, what attracts their attention and compels them to engage? The omni-present cell phone allows mobile data to be mined and it is changing the face of advertising across many media channels, including OOH. Geolocation data along with audience profiles, consumer behaviors, store visits, brand affinities and more are all beginning to inform out of home media buying. Planned well, the connection between the recipient and the message becomes personal; in that context, the highly targeted message becomes meaningful; it resonates and can influence behavior, via social media, in-store activity, unique response mechanisms and online searches. As big data becomes a crucial guiding force, it will lead to more targeted, and therefore more effective out of home planning and placement.
Digital OOH will gain even more ground
The digital OOH space continues to grow with traditional static out of home being converted at a rapid pace and new networks popping up all the time. Digitizing OOH is about continuing to improve the return for the audience and brand marketer through:
- Interaction – unique experiences connecting the audience to the message, reinforcing the branding takeaway, weaving a web of information and access instantaneously;
- Immediacy – contextually relevant information is in hand and in real-time, via smartphone and OOH media
- Vibrancy – interconnected screens and video captivate audiences in our visually driven world that elevates the story in byte size pieces
- Accountability – posting and impression data can be quantified with speed and accuracy
- Data collection – better demographics can be captured via a mobile strategy combination and used to hone future marketing plans
As Out of Home continues to forge a stronger link with mobile, applies big data for targeted planning, and embraces the possibilities of digital media, it will continue to gain a larger share of the media planning budget. It will retain its inherent strengths of proximity and cost-effectiveness, without being skipped or turned off. OOH can deliver the audience experience so many brands seek, reinforcing the message in a context that is at eye-level.
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