Since the rise of digital out-of-home (DOOH) in the early 2000s, there has been massive growth in the market. Photos courtesy Vistar Media
On the station walls and platform edges of Toronto subways, riders are told to “mind the gap.”
The gap is the space between the boarding platform and the train, which can be quite dangerous. Once passengers are made aware of the gap, it is easy to step over, but those who do not pay proper attention might pay the price.
In the world of digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising, a similar gap exists between advertising creatives and media buyers. These two disciplines complement each other, but often operate independently.
Creative teams produce designs that inspire consumers to take action, yet they are often unaware of the full capabilities of the DOOH medium, resulting in a lack of true creative freedom. Alternatively, media buyers are extremely talented at knowing precisely how and where to reach an audience, but they often do not bring creative teams into the conversation until the end of the planning cycle, thereby sacrificing creativity in the name of speed. This gap in the DOOH world can result in lackluster creative executions and campaigns that fail to maximize their true potential.
However, hope for the future of the industry lies in exploring the knowledge gap between creative and media planning, what it means for brands, and how it can be closed by optimizing the creative, planning, and collaboration of teams to drive more effective DOOH campaigns.
The transformation of digital out-of-home
Out-of-home (OOH) is one of the oldest forms of advertising—dating back to ancient Egypt, where ads were written on stone tablets. Throughout the years, stone tablets evolved into billboards, wallscapes, and other more recognizable OOH formats we know today.
Today, an ever-growing percentage of DOOH media is bought and sold programmatically.
The early 2000s saw the rise of DOOH, and since then, there has been massive growth in the market. However, while the move from OOH to DOOH was an enormous leap forward for the outdoor advertising industry in general, the process of buying and selling DOOH campaigns remained unchanged. Buyers still had to make one-off deals with individual media owners, and media owners still had to work hard to sell their inventory.
The addition of programmatic technology brought the centuries-old OOH industry into the modern age of digital advertising. It has created a marketplace where media owners make their inventory available, and advertisers purchase those spots at auction. Today, an ever-growing percentage of DOOH media is bought and sold programmatically, which streamlines the process and vastly expands the audience reach for advertisers, as well as reduces the work media owners have to do to sell their supply.
Why creative is so critical
Creative executions are a cornerstone of effective advertising. Without a well-founded creative concept, a campaign will fall flat, no matter how much of the budget is thrown at it. However, history has shown the opposite is also true. Brands that invest in building high-quality creative are often rewarded with campaigns that drive recognition, build emotional connections between a brand and consumers, and create tremendous returns on investment (ROI).
