How The Ordinary reached beauty shoppers at the point of purchase

The challenge

Standing out in the DOOH space typically requires loud colours and busy messaging, but The Ordinary needed to stay true to its refined, clear and disruptive DNA. As The Ordinary continued to expand its retail presence across Europe, the brand sought to increase visibility among consumers already engaged in the beauty shopping journey.

Rather than adopting a broad awareness strategy, the objective was to connect with shoppers at key moments close to purchase. In Spain, this meant targeting shopping centres featuring Primor locations, while in Germany the campaign focused on malls hosting Douglas stores.

The challenge was to combine scale and efficiency with highly contextual targeting, ensuring media investment was concentrated around environments most likely to influence beauty purchase decisions.

The solution

Partnering with Vistar Media & Biggie, The Ordinary deployed a highly strategic Point of Interest (POI) targeting approach designed to reach consumers when they were already in a shopping mindset.

Rather than a blanket broadcast, the campaign was hyper-localised:

-> In Spain (26 March – 11 April):

The brand activated 205 screens across JCDecaux and Clear Channel networks, strictly targeting malls that featured a Primor store delivering a total of 2.57M impressions. To reinforce the path to purchase, the creative prominently featured a "Disponible en PRIMOR" call-to-action. 

-> In Germany (30 March – 11 April):

Utilising 17 screens of Ströer’s high-impact inventory, the campaign targeted retail destinations housing Douglas locations, pairing the brand's iconic visuals with clear directives like "Jetzt bei Douglas entdecken" (Discover now at Douglas).This activation only delivered a total of 3.47M impressions.


The activation was managed centrally from France, allowing The Ordinary to execute a consistent cross-market strategy while adapting placements to local retail ecosystems.

By aligning media exposure with physical retail presence, the campaign ensured consumers encountered the brand while actively shopping, maximizing both relevance and purchase consideration.

The results

The campaign successfully demonstrated the power of combining programmatic DOOH with retailer proximity targeting, proving that context-driven creative can do far more than just generate visibility. In fact, independent brand lift research conducted by Happydemics revealed that the strategic approach delivered remarkable uplifts across key funnel metrics.

Strong retail-driven consideration

The standout result came from Germany, where the campaign generated a massive +37% uplift in brand consideration. This performance landed +11% above the market average, placing The Ordinary in the top 5% of the industry benchmark and demonstrating the unique ability of DOOH to influence future purchase intent.  

Clear brand association

In Spain, the campaign delivered a +3% uplift above the benchmark in brand attribution. This confirms that audiences clearly associated the minimalist creative with The Ordinary, despite the fast-paced nature of the DOOH environment. Furthermore, the Spanish campaign drove a +28% uplift in brand image, proving the premium feel of the brand resonated strongly with consumers.  

Effective retail messaging

The retailer-led approach played a pivotal role in this cross-border performance. The strategic inclusion of clear retailer references, such as Primor in Spain and Douglas in Germany, helped bridge the gap between brand communication and shopping intent. By connecting media placements directly to points of sale, The Ordinary successfully transformed passive awareness into actionable consideration.  

Scalable impact

Across both European markets, the campaign delivered significant visibility among beauty shoppers in premium retail environments, generating:

-> 6M+ impressions
-> 229K+ playouts
-> 222 screens activated

Ultimately, this campaign illustrates how programmatic DOOH can help beauty brands go beyond standard reach metrics, delivering measurable business outcomes by engaging consumers at the exact moment purchase decisions are being made.

Conclusion

This campaign demonstrates how programmatic DOOH can help beauty brands move beyond simple awareness to drive measurable business outcomes. By combining premium inventory, retailer proximity targeting, and a unified cross-market strategy, The Ordinary successfully connected with consumers at critical decision-making moments.

Staying true to its transparent and scientific approach while leveraging smart POI data near key retail partners, they proved that a brand doesn't need to shout to stand out in the physical world. The result was a campaign that not only delivered scale but successfully bridged the gap between premium brand building and active retail consideration.

Ultimately, this approach proves that when media is perfectly aligned with shopping intent, DOOH becomes a powerful engine for future purchase behavior, setting a new standard for beauty advertising.