OOH ads reach people when most alert and ready to buy

by all | 14 May 2014 8:30 am

[1]New, comprehensive research into people’s daily activities shows they are 33 per cent more alert to advertising outside than inside their homes, according to the Out-of-Home Marketing Association of Canada (OMAC).

OMAC reports Cog Research, a consumer insight company, and Amanda Ellison, a doctor of psychology at Durham University in England, ran a ‘mindset’ experiment. They analyzed 140 continuous hours of monitored skin conductance readings from 20 subjects, who also wore eye-tracking glasses throughout their day. By matching the skin conductance highs and lows—which can measure emotional responses to external stimuli—to the subjects’ various actions and locations in their daily lives, Ellison and Cog were able to ascertain the subjects showed 33 per cent heightened alertness when outside their homes.

“This research puts numbers to what we all sense; namely, that we move around out of home in a sharper and more focused frame of mind,” says Mike Baker, CEO of the Outdoor Media Centre, an out-of-home (OOH) advertising trade organization that recently announced the findings. “Advertisers can use the ‘active’ space to target consumers at different points of their day.”

Meanwhile, another market research agency, Dipsticks Research, studied consumers’ purpose throughout the day. It found seven in 10 people on the street are in ‘active purchase mode,’ with six in 10 ending up buying items they did not plan to and eight in 10 always carrying money with them for impulse purchases.

Finally, Cog teamed up with On Device Research—which specializes in mobile market data—to measure the moods of 3,563 individuals via their mobile devices at various times of day and in different places. This study, too, found a consistently higher percentage of subjects reporting they felt energetic and active when outside the home. Indeed, they responded to OOH ads at a higher rate than to media at home, with 23 per cent searching for pertinent information on their devices after seeing an OOH ad, compared to 16 per cent with other forms of advertising.

“Contextual planning is already a benefit of the outdoor medium, but now we know our audience is more attentive,” says Baker.

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/ooh-ads-reach-people-when-most-alert-and-ready-to-buy/

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