Kijiji’s transit advertising campaign in Montreal motivated commuters to visit the site on their smartphones.
Creating connections with social media
Beyond the intended action of making a purchase, OOH advertising can also play a role in triggering online and offline ‘conversations’ with consumers through the involvement of social media.
One recent example was a campaign for Dove body wash that challenged how women in sports are typically portrayed. Digital billboards in Toronto, New York, N.Y., and Los Angeles, Calif., were used to stream live commentary about female athletes’ appearance, to showcase how often mainstream discussion focus on their looks instead of their performance and accomplishments. As negative and sexist comments appeared on the screens, the photos of the athletes began to disappear, symbolizing how easily the public loses sight of the whole person when they focus solely on her looks.
Another buzzworthy OOH campaign was for Toronto rapper Drake’s newest album, Views. Drake created initial interest by running a single, cryptic billboard ad next to a busy Toronto highway for one month, starting in early February 2016. Its simplicity and vagueness piqued the interest of passersby, which got them to talk about it on social media, sharing the image of the billboard and increasing the hype surrounding the forthcoming release.
In fact, the billboard generated approximately 87 million earned media impressions in one week, including more than 67 million on Twitter, 45,000 on Instagram and nearly 19 million on Facebook.
The Drake billboard was a perfect example of how OOH advertising garners high attention levels among social media users, making it well-suited for increasing brand awareness, familiarity and loyalty.
Synergy with mobile
OOH can be thought of as the world’s oldest and largest ‘screen,’ but it is also the ideal partner for mobile media, as it provides brand exposure to active consumers who are performing an increasing number of searches using their mobile devices.
As Google reports, one out of every seven search queries from a mobile device is location-based. And another study showed one in four people will use their mobile device to look up something they have seen on an OOH sign.
Kijiji, a website for classified ads, took advantage of this opportunity with a recent campaign on public transit networks and billboards in several Canadian cities. The locally tailored ads asked commuters if they had what they needed and informed them of the site’s million-plus postings. In this OOH context, commuters could immediately respond by searching for their desired items on Kijiji.
OOH has provided the perfect opportunity for Starbucks to urge customers to order ahead via mobile app.
Starbucks, meanwhile, is using OOH ads to promote its new mobile app that allows customers to order and pay for food and drinks in advance, then pick them up at their preferred location. Not only is OOH the perfect opportunity to get this message across, but the idea of saving time by avoiding lineups in the store is very compelling.
Several member companies of the Out-of-Home Marketing Association of Canada (OMAC) ran the ‘Name Our Cubs’ campaign in 2016 for the Toronto Zoo. Multiple OOH formats—including digital signage, transit shelter posters, billboards and transit vehicle ads—invited Torontonians to visit a website where they could vote on names for the zoo’s two new baby pandas. Over the course of the 21-day campaign, a total of 18,805 votes were cast. And while the vast majority of these votes (18,160) came through typical online channels, 645 were entered through interactive touch screens in bus shelters, i.e. through the OOH ads themselves.
During the campaign, the zoo saw a 98 per cent increase in website sessions and 100 per cent increase in unique visitors compared to the same period from the previous years. Zoo attendance also increased, along with the average amount of money spent there by each visitor.
As these examples show, with mobile devices at people’s side throughout the day, OOH provides a unique opportunity for advertisers to connect and interact with consumers and, in turn, those consumers are able to take immediate actions they couldn’t in the past.
The growing importance of data
With the growth of digital OOH (DOOH) advertising, many types of data—from weather and temperature reports to sports scores and even pollution levels—have been used to trigger ad copy. Tapping into such data will only become increasingly common as marketers realize the benefits of being able to deliver timely, contextual and personalized messages.
Another reason data is expected to play a greater role in planning OOH campaigns in the future is the need, on planners’ and marketers’ part, for more ‘granular’ audience data to help justify investments in the medium and compete on a more level playing field with online advertising.
With this in mind, the Canadian-Out- of-Home Measurement Bureau (COMB) is exploring how it can enhance the current OOH audience circulation data it provides to its member companies. In the future, COMB hopes to combine locational data with other related information, such as travel routes, to provide better resources to help advertisers plan and measure the impact of their OOH campaigns more effectively.
Several OMAC member companies joined forces to support the Toronto Zoo’s 21-day ‘Name Our Cubs’ campaign.
Improving OOH knowledge
Another recent initiative of OMAC and COMB was the launch in June 2016 of a new OOH certification program. Reflecting the changing landscape of the medium, the course comprises five modules covering various OOH products, networks, campaign planning resources, audience measurement, effective strategies and creative guidelines. Each module involves a web-based testing platform and/or hands-on exercises via software.
The course, which takes about 10 hours to complete, can either be taken online or be scheduled as on-site training. The goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of OOH advertising to participants in the media buying and planning field.
Recognizing and inspiring creativity
DOOH networks and other technological developments have allowed creative agencies and advertisers to stretch the boundaries of OOH media and to provide more interactive, dynamic and immersive interactions between brands and consumers.
With that in mind, in 2017, OMAC will collaborate with the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) in the U.S., Australia’s aforementioned OMA and the Fédération European de la Publicité Extérieur (FEPE) to produce a new book celebrating creativity in OOH around the world. As a continuation of a series of projects started by OMA, the Open 3 book will provide a forum for acknowledging and discussing strong creative design work across the OOH industry. It will provide both a retrospective and ‘prospective’ look at OOH advertising, reflecting on the past, present and future of the medium.
Open 3’s foreword is being written by Terry Savage, chair of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the world’s largest annual gathering of designers, marketers, innovators and other professionals in advertising, creative communications and related fields. The book will also feature essays written by creative directors from around the world, including two Canadians: Zak Mroueh, founder and chief creative officer of Toronto-based Zulu Alpha Kilo, and Philippe Meunier, co-founder and chief creative officer of Sid Lee, which has offices in Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles, Calif., New York, N.Y., and Paris, France. The book is scheduled to be launched in May 2017.
Rosanne Caron is president of OMAC and COMB and a member of Sign Media Canada’s editorial advisory board (EAB). For more information, visit www.omaccanada.ca and www.comb.org or contact her via e-mail at rcaron@omac.comb.org.
