The influence and potential of digital out-of-home (DOOH) are becoming more apparent and significant across all major industries. It has the power to sway purchasing decisions in CPG, engage audiences in real-time within the retail sector, create a buzz for alcohol brands at events, and build excitement in live entertainment. Join us as we reveal how top industries can make the most of DOOH, navigating through trends that redefine audience engagement in the physical and digital world.

This blog is an excerpt from the special edition report, The 2024 Advertiser’s Playbook for DOOH. 

CPG: Creating connections with your audience

CPG marketers can use DOOH to influence purchasing decisions among active shoppers at crucial moments as they move between touchpoints along the path to and at the point of purchase.

For CPG brands to capture audiences effectively, there are a number of ways to activate:

• Leveraging first-party CRM data for DOOH to reach current and previous customers in change through to using the physical world
• Tapping into data-driven audience targeting using behavioral, household and other third-party data sources
• Using POI targeting, surrounding desired points of interest by activating DOOH media within a specific radius around those retail locations where its products are being sold.

Retail: activating ads in real-time

With over a million DOOH screens available in the US alone, retail and e-commerce advertisers have endless possibilities to reach audiences at multiple touchpoints along the path to purchase. The vast network of DOOH inventory means that retailers can activate different types of screens throughout a campaign flight to effectively match audience movement patterns in the physical world, to stay top-of-mind and influence buying decisions in real-time.

Boosting the impact of retail product promotions is a key strength of DOOH and marketers are able to seamlessly run multiple variations of their creative with custom offers and creative based on store location, neighborhood, relative weather and other variables. In the lead-up to major shopping events or a new/remodeled store opening, for example, retailers can amplify their presence through targeted DOOH campaigns to increase awareness, promote special deals and gain consumers’ favorability over competitors at crucial moments.

Alcohol: Creating a buzz across the market

Alcohol brands can be secure in the knowledge that programmatic DOOH is compliant with Legal Drinking Age Compliance and has built-in safety practices to ensure this. They can then harness the strengths of the medium and a wide range of screens to generate tentpole event buzz (concerts, festivals, sports games, product promotions, in-store events and holidays) and stay relevant with seasonal campaigns.

Promoting brand partnerships, shopper marketing efforts and exclusive product offerings are perfect opportunities for alcohol brands to leverage DOOH to amplify their co-marketing initiatives. By activating targeted messaging around specific retailers and wholesalers, they can easily engage consumers in key locations in the critical moments before they make their buying decisions. To capitalize on rising online sales, alcohol marketers should also consider leveraging DOOH to encourage consumers to shop through e-commerce platforms or delivery services that sell their products.

Entertainment: Advertising with live updates

Building a sense of excitement ahead of new releases and premieres is high on the agendas of marketers in the media and entertainment sector. Advertisers can leverage DOOH to showcase new titles, talent and other visual elements of upcoming releases in an eye-catching way that captivates viewers and entices them to learn more or tune in.

DOOH also has a strong role to play when it comes to supporting both live and televisual events. The channel enables advertisers to incorporate teasers and sneak peeks into their creative to tap into the
passion and loyalty of existing fans while encouraging new audiences to tune in. What’s more, a large majority of DOOH screens can run video ads, enabling media and entertainment marketers to repurpose their existing ads and deploy captivating messaging across multiple channels, now including OOH.

Finance: Protecting the privacy of consumers

The advanced digital capabilities, privacy-safe data tactics, measurement solutions and mobile extensions of DOOH make it a powerful medium for financial services advertisers. A key attraction is the ability to reach audiences at scale in a privacy-safe way, in the physical world. This is because DOOH is a ‘one-to-many’ medium that doesn’t target specific individuals – an important point for this highly regulated industry.

Programmatic technology has enabled financial service brands to introduce a more detailed and customizable approach to their marketing strategies. For instance, retail banks can increase market
share or support new branch openings by activating media in certain locations, when and where it’s needed. Financial institutions are also able to encourage account sign-ups for checking and saving accounts, credit cards and insurance plans by activating the combination of strategic DOOH and mobile media. Mobile banking services can also leverage cross-screen campaigns to encourage consumers to download and use their apps.

Travel and tourism: Amplifying messages in key seasons

Programmatic DOOH advertising provides travel and tourism marketers with boundless opportunities to reach consumers with tailored and engaging ads that drive results – including the ability to amplify campaign messages during major travel holidays, boost destinationspecific and regional promotions, and enhance co-marketing efforts between partners such as airlines, tourism boards and local attractions.

Creating targeted DOOH campaigns centered on major travel holidays enables brands to build their presence in the lead-up. In terms of destination-specific activity, marketers can seamlessly run multiple variations of creative to deliver messaging with custom offers and creative based on destination, ad location, regional sales, relative weather and other variables. This allows advertisers to maximize the effectiveness of their creatives and therefore improve brand preference, consideration and visitation results.

QSR: Building excitement around new locations or menu items

DOOH has a range of applications for quick service restaurants (QSRs), due to its ability to give businesses total control over when and where media is activated – meaning that programmatic DOOH can help keep franchisees happy by ensuring all locations receive equal campaign exposure. In addition, the flexibility of DOOH allows marketers to run different versions of their creatives based on where the ad will appear, allowing QSR brands to tailor ad messaging to accommodate dining locations across the country.

More broadly, the potential to run limited-time offers and use DOOH to build excitement around new restaurant openings are key attractions for QSRs too. DOOH provides the perfect platform for QSR marketers to boost online sales by encouraging consumers to place orders through owned mobile apps or delivery platforms that service their restaurants.

Conclusion

From influencing the path to purchase in CPG to creating real-time engagement in the retail sector and generating buzz for alcohol brands, the impact if DOOH reaches almost every major industry. Financial services, travel and tourism, and quick service restaurants have all found DOOH a versatile ally for getting their message out to the right target audience. As the advertising landscape continues to change, DOOH provides an innovative and creative connection with audiences.

Interested in learning more about how to make the most of DOOH? Download The Advertiser’s Playbook for DOOH in 2024 for the every trend, tip and prediction you need to know to succeed.