How OOH Is Reclaiming Its Seat in Advertising
Learn from Marc S. Strachan why OOH is not on its way out and how it has become a power player in today’s advertising ecosystem.Meta
OOH was once a favorite media channel among advertisers till it took a hit due to the rise in popularity of a few other digital media. But OOH has become more powerful now. Here, Marc S. Strachan, chief marketing officer, Adgile Media Group, explains in detail why OOH is not on its way out and how it has become a power player in the advertising ecosystem.
Once a marketer’s go-to method of advertising, out-of-home (OOH) has had a fall from grace over the past decades, becoming an overlooked medium in the kingdom of media. With the rise of social media and influencer marketing over the past ten years, most ad campaigns rely on the near-constant screen time consumers have with their devices to get their advertising messages across. When digital advertising came on the scene, OOH quickly lost its status as the top dog in the advertiser’s sled and was replaced by faster, more accurately measurable solutions.
The time has come for a revolution in the advertising industry, with data and creativity serving as the fairy godmothers in this OOH Cinderella story. Now, in 2022, OOH has the ability to integrate data measurement tools similar to digital advertising and at a lower cost. It is time to rewrite the narrative, tackle the common misconceptions and assumptions surrounding OOH, and see it for what it is now — a modern take on a classic method that can drive a brand’s advertising efforts to success through original ideas and data and analytics.
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OOH Is Not on Its Way Out
Though OOH is an older method and contrary to many companies’ beliefs, OOH still claims a significant stake in many powerful brands’ advertising stock. However, despite its proven worth in the industry, even leaders at Fortune 500 companies shockingly show disdain and general disregard for OOH because they tend to believe the OOH approach is “on its way out.”
If it were true that OOH was a deadbeat technique, then 2022 would not have seen the substantial revenue growth it did in the OOH industry. The Out of Home Advertising Association of America reported that in 2022’s first quarter, OOH advertising revenue increased by 40.5% ($1.8 billion) compared to Q1 2021. The OOH advertising spending is expected to reach $28.48 billion by the end of 2022.
But even with huge bursts of ad spend funneling into traditional OOH efforts — a charge being led by large players such as Apple, Capital One, McDonald’s, and Netflix — many brand marketers still overlook the seemingly “antiquated” channel. Instead, brands seem to blindly accept skyrocketing digital advertising costs and mainstream strategies that no longer yield the same results these methods once did.
OOH Uses Actionable Data To Deliver Results
A common misconception surrounding OOH is that there are not many options for data and analytics to measure the cost efficiency of the traditional medium, which is the main reason many brand marketers and advertisers turned away from OOH and toward digital avenues. In the past, OOH was somewhat of a question mark in the data and analytics departments — until now, that is.
OOH is able to be hyper-localized and strategically integrated with new tech that measures locally across multiple markets. With nearly 370,000 large-format billboards across the country, many of which are in the service of multinational megabrands, OOH has a significant chance to prove its worth in ad spend as a performance and awareness driver that reinforces a brand’s positioning, wherever an ad is located. OOH’s newly enhanced hyper-localization abilities can capture priceless consumer data.
For example, assume that a Hard Seltzer Brand X has data stating women aged 35-40 in Atlanta, Georgia, are drinking hard seltzers more than other beverages and that this audience prefers the strawberry, tangerine, and mango flavors to the rest. Further, they frequent the gym on 72nd street. In that case, all that information is actionable data that OOH can help monetize. The hyper-localization of the campaign becomes OOH’s biggest asset as billboards, truck-side and other outdoor ads target this population. All the while, Hard Seltzer Brand X can run a completely different campaign for men aged 25-35 who prefer lime, black cherry and watermelon and who hang out at Top Golf.
The hyper localization of OOH campaigns allows the brand to act on two very different demographics simultaneously, resulting in cost-efficient and impactful dynamics of technology and data that make OOH an insightful and actionable solution for brand marketers.
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OOH Is an Advertising Creative’s Dream Come True
In the world of media buying, the colorful and creative vision of advertising is often clouded by black-and-white plans that lack innovation and originality. The level of creativity has diminished as media buyers often turn to the “easier” digital options, despite the increases in the cost of digital advertising. It is now a lost art to look at a blank canvas and create something remarkable from an ordinary object.
OOH offers advertisers a chance to dive creatively into campaigns once again. The chance to showcase advertisers’ creativity is not only limited to billboards, as there is a variety of OOH methods for a creative to sink their artistry into. Take truck-side advertising — a simple fleet of trucks can be transformed into a marching marketing army promoting your favorite vegan ice cream. Wallscapes and street furniture become public works of art that display the latest streamable series. There is no end to the available blank surfaces that creatives can design and capitalize on.
OOH might have taken a dip in popularity over the past couple of decades. But now, with the actionable data and creative space it occupies, it has been transformed into a power player in advertising once again.
Have you been using OOH as an advertising channel? What benefits have you seen? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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