How OOH advertising leverages ad tech advancements to capitalize on timely events across diverse locations
By Marika Gabriel
Revitalizing the creative in out-of-home (OOH) advertising is leading to more engaging ads. Photos courtesy Media Resources
Amid the ever-evolving marketing landscape, out-of-home (OOH) advertising aims to assert itself as a dynamic force in the industry. In an era dominated by screens and virtual immersion, OOH advertising endeavours to capture attention with impactful messages and engaging displays in the fleeting moments when people look up from their digital devices to interact with the world around them. Recent advancements in technology have propelled OOH campaigns into a new age, where dynamic content delivery and data-driven targeting enhance their efficacy. This evolution enables brands to connect with consumers in real-world settings, seizing opportunities presented by timely events or tentpole marketing moments to engage them during key social and cultural happenings through targeted messaging.
Scott Mitchell, managing director for Canada at Vistar Media, spoke with Sign Media Canada about how OOH advertising leverages ad tech advancements to capitalize on timely events—from sports playoffs to weather triggers, and more—for maximum impact. He highlights the flexibility of digital out-of-home (DOOH), allowing for real-time messaging updates and dynamic content delivery. Mitchell also emphasizes the importance of data-driven targeting, audience reach, and measurement in optimizing these campaigns and explores emerging trends shaping the future of OOH advertising amid evolving consumer behaviours.
Sign Media Canada (SMC): How can OOH advertising capitalize on timely events and tentpole marketing moments to optimize advertising impact?
Scott Mitchell (SM): The exciting thing about OOH advertising brought on by a new era of ad tech is its focus on flexibility. Traditionally, purchasing a DOOH space involved getting in touch with numerous media owners and running through several tactics, leading to delays in getting the campaign live. This was because, at the time, there was no consolidation or alignment in this space. With the rise of ad tech, marketers, agencies, and all partners are provided with the opportunity to create a campaign in minutes with the sophistication of an online digital campaign, adding specific tactics such as data utilization, geo-targeting, time-of-day messaging, and customization. This flexibility allows for alignment with in-the-moment events. This first phase of flexibility enables marketers to continue to bring DOOH into the same context they use for online digital campaigns, bridging the gap between the two. Additionally, ad tech enables enhanced data targeting and automation.
Further, speaking more to the ability to consolidate is measurement—and understanding how the investments you’re making, coupled with flexibility you have, impacts your bottom line. Another exciting aspect is the customization of putting your creative at the forefront, allowing you to change the message in real-time. For instance, we are running campaigns to promote the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs through live scoring. When you walk by a restaurant, transit shelter, or even billboard, and you see an OOH advertisement with a Toronto Raptors game displaying the live score, this type of messaging aligned to a specific event is exciting.
The focus is shifting to creative endeavours, from leveraging tentpole events like the Olympics to incorporating weather- and season-based messaging.
Other examples include weather triggers, which also enable messaging adjustments. This theme of flexibility, along with the umbrella points enabled by DOOH software, has afforded marketers with the opportunity to continue to invest more in OOH advertising. This is not only because of its impactful audience reach, but also because it promotes brand-safe environments while being the original non-cookie channel.
SMC: What are some projects you are currently working on?
SM: Last year, we launched a solution called Dynamic Creative, which embodies the flexible messaging I just discussed. While we’re currently supporting the NBA initiative, I’d like to highlight a local example involving a tire company. We’ve been dynamically updating their messaging based on weather conditions, aligning the creative with the product and the location where the ad is being placed, and it engages the right audience through a data methodology. Another example involves one of the world’s largest retailers, where we supported a countdown to a specific event day on billboards. These examples showcase fun, engaging, and flexible approaches to DOOH.
Discussions are also ongoing about leveraging tentpole events like the Olympics for dynamic messaging, such as medal count updates, brand messaging for companies associated with the Olympics, countdown clocks, and store locators. These creative endeavours are what we’re beginning to sink our teeth into. Essentially, we’re revitalizing the creative in OOH advertising—which was on the backburner for a while. Now, we’ve got the specialization back into it, and because of that, we’re starting to see engaging ads, which align not just with the audience, but the message as well.
SMC: What are the factors you consider when making an OOH advertising plan?
SM: Clients often drive the direction, each with specialized approaches which best serve their brand. The flexibility of software today allows them to dive into specifics such as, say, proximity targeting—whether it’s being within 500 m (0.31 mi.) of a retail store, a gas station, or a specific quick service restaurant (QSR)—giving them the opportunity to have the specifics of the tactics they can plan around. We have had advertisers provide lists of postal codes, directing us to target OOH advertising within a kilometre of those locations. We can upload these codes, generate a map, and buy the defined OOH venue types they are aligned with, based on that tactic.
Alternatively, clients may opt for a data-driven approach. This brings more accountability to how their dollars are being spent. We can target audiences based on how they are moving throughout the day. This is a time-and-space approach—a movement approach—analyzing audience movement patterns to optimize outreach. This is because, when you buy OOH, you buy a spot in a loop. This contrasts with traditional OOH advertising, where placements are static. Similar to online cookies or signals, audience behaviour is categorized in the physical realm to strategically position ads. For example, say a person goes online to look up sports scores—from tracking hockey scores to checking to see the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Boston Bruins, to even summer triathlons—they can be categorized as a sports enthusiast. When you think of the OOH space, it is the physical habits we exhibit that are used to better understand how best to reach audiences. We essentially create synergies between the datasets in the online digital space and bring those into the physical outdoor space to create a more integrated approach to targeting.
SMC: What key metrics do you prioritize and how do you assess their importance?
SM: Retention is the big story. Understanding metrics and measurement is a big factor in both re-engaging clients with OOH advertising and advocating for increased investment in the medium. Various metrics inform our approach, including brand lift studies, foot traffic studies, and gauging purchase intents and considerations. Moreover, we can retarget individuals exposed to DOOH boards on their mobile devices, providing a comprehensive view of campaign effectiveness.
By integrating these metrics, we allow marketers to know a tiny piece of information to justify one aspect—OOH—of their overall omnichannel marketing budgets. When clients use measurement and data together, we typically have an 85 per cent retention rate. It’s a powerful story, and we know it works.
OOH stands out as the original cookie-less medium, offering marketers a tested and proven environment to know how best to utilize it with the flexibility it offers today. Photos by Marika Gabriel
SMC: What are the challenges, especially when it comes to timely events?
SM: Continued education is vital to understand these capabilities. If we look at a timeline, we’ve surpassed programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) 1.0, which focused on automation, data, and measurement. The next phase includes the dynamic creative, leveraging signals—like weather triggers and social amplification—to change creative messaging. We need to further educate people in the industry on how OOH integrates into their omnichannel marketing strategy.
Currently, OOH advertising represents only about six per cent of the total marketing efforts globally. So, there’s a larger discussion needed within the ecosystem to highlight the value it brings. Education is the primary challenge here, spanning across benefits, the rationale behind DOOH, and up-skilling.
Another crucial aspect is establishing its value proposition. While Connected TV (CTV) and traditional TV remain dominant, there are opportunities for OOH to compete by emphasizing its unique strengths. Unlike online advertising, we’re not plagued by issues like ad fraud or privacy concerns at this time. We also operate in a cookie-less environment, offering contextually relevant, large format, high-impact advertising in various settings—from checkouts to points-of-purchase.
Importantly, OOH is not an invasive media; it engages consumers during everyday activities. If you take a moment to look up while you’re walking to get a coffee, OOH can engage you at various intersections, it’s almost woven into your life. This narrative needs better storytelling and re-evaluation to underscore how OOH fits into modern advertising strategies. Education and refining our narrative are key priorities moving forward.
SMC: What emerging trends do you see influencing the future of OOH advertising?
SM: There are some ongoing trends offering insights into the future of OOH advertising. While the systems in place may not be cutting-edge, there is a lot on the backend to bring everybody up to speed. There’s been significant progress, but there’s no Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can come in and change that. However, there is a growing trend to put the creative at the forefront and dusting off what people think of OOH advertising’s engagement factor to redefine it to captivate audiences through various venue types. Features such as live updates, social amplification, weather triggers, and countdown clocks are increasingly becoming focal points, bridging the gap between traditional marketing efforts and OOH strategies.
The second trend is the shift away from cookies. We don’t need cookies to be effective in advertising. OOH stands out as the original cookie-less medium, offering marketers a tested and proven environment to know how best to utilize it with the flexibility it offers today. As the importance of effective spending becomes more pronounced, OOH advertising’s ability to align with marketing strategies and provide measurable impact is gaining traction.
There’s also an emphasis on connectivity and leveraging various data signals to enhance advertising. Educating stakeholders about the potential of OOH advertising remains crucial for continued growth and adoption. While adoption rates are already quite high, ongoing education will be key as the industry evolves in the coming months and years.
