​​​Posted November 27, 2019
Elizabeth Rave, Senior Director, Marketing
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: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.