Work that Works: IAB Releases 19 New Digital OOH Case Studies

As Seen in Media Village

So far, 2019 has been a stellar year for the out-of-home (OOH) industry. With headlines such as, "Why Billboards and Outdoor Ads Are Booming in the Smartphone Age," "Facebook Pushes Online Ads, Then Spends Its Cash on Billboards,""People Love Instagramming Billboards and It's Great for Advertisers," and "Billboards — Yes Billboards — Are Having a HeyDay in a Digital World," it is clear that OOH is on the rise and closely intertwined with both digital engagement and natively digital advertisers. OOH's success within the digital space and its investment in new technology and digital deployment have also led to increased industry growth. OOH's power to drive massive digital engagement is often a core indicator of a campaign's success.

Aiming to prove OOH's ability to build brands and drive online engagement, OUTFRONT Media chose to run a test, focusing on Michigan's Motor City. Back in April, the outdoor advertising and media company brought a single red vehicle to Detroit — a Kruter Motors' car that existed only in the imaginations of OUTFRONT creatives and billboards. The goal was to see how much interest OUTFRONT could drive for the fictitious car. The results were unreal: In just two weeks, the campaign led to more than 2,000 website hits and a 38 percent ad recall, with 84 percent of those polled reporting taking either an offline or online action.

Within two weeks, the OUTFRONT team was able to build a brand for a nonexistent product, with zero legacy awareness, using only 30 digital billboards in one city. The implications for OOH ad campaigns — especially when paired with other types of media — are overwhelmingly positive.

The digital OOH committee at the IAB collected 19 case studies that show how OOH can drive myriad KPIs across seven categories: automotive, business, entertainment, finance, food and beverage, retail, and social responsibility. Click here to access the full stories. Highlights are below.

Automotive:
The Kruter Motors' Story: Proved the efficacy of OOH by driving actions taken, brand awareness, and website traffic.

Business:
Athena Health: Drove awareness among healthcare professionals. Saw 53 percent recall among its target audience, with 56 percent taking an action.

Cloud Computing Services Advertiser: Generated awareness among senior decision-makers. Saw 63 percent recall among the target audience, with 46 percent taking an action.

Segment: Increased awareness of a data company, while also achieving a 100 percent lift in brand favorability.

Entertainment
BTS: Promoted a pop group's new single. The billboard drove a unique, user-generated hashtag, reaching more than 50.2 million consumers on Twitter alone.

DraftKings: Drove user registration for the fantasy sports app. Saw a 51 percent lift in-app registrations, compared to consumers who were not exposed to the OOH ads.

Finance
Large Bank: Raised awareness of new ATM locations. Saw a 24 percent lift in awareness of ATM availability in a major convenience store chain.

Current Bank: Gained a 40 percent lift in brand awareness with a 42 percent lift in brand recall.

BREX: Increased web traffic for BREX by 90 percent. Those exposed to the OOH advertisement were 90 percent more likely to visit the website than the unexposed group.

Food & Beverage
Pepsi MAX: Created awareness and excitement for Pepsi MAX. A hyper-targeted programmatic campaign triggered instantly when a taste-test participant entered the mall, driving surprise and delight.

Fanta (Coca-Cola Company): Engaged a teen audience with gamified DOOH. Saw more than 2.9 million minutes of gameplay.

FreshDirect: Drove website traffic visits. Generated an attractive cost-per-visit and yielded data for in-flight optimization.

Foodora: Drove awareness of food delivery app features. Saw three times the lift in pick-up sales for key locations.

Retail
Leading Wireless Carrier: Drove seasonal retail traffic, gaining a 153 percent uplift in visit rates.

Rideshare Vehicles: Drove web traffic to mobile stores. Those exposed were 2.75 times more likely to visit a mobile store compared to those who were not.

Starlite: Drove a 14.5 percent increase in sales, directly attributed to the digital screens.

Leading Beauty Store: Increased awareness of a new store location. Saw that, of those exposed, 51 percent recalled the ad, with 46 percent likely to purchase products.

PUMA: Increased foot traffic by 148 percent at the target flagship store.

Social Responsibility
OUTFRONT PRIDE:

Built awareness of LGBTQIA+ around the World Pride closing ceremony. More than 140 pride messages featured on the billboard reached over 85.2 million people digitally.

OOH continues to leverage new technology to make campaigns more relevant, responsive, and effective across any brand KPI. Above all, it's helping to connect brands with audiences in meaningful and effective ways.