The beginning of every year is typically a time where we reflect on the learnings from the previous months and decide what we want to take forward into the year ahead.
As someone who is firmly entrenched in digital out of home (DOOH) media, there are several key learnings that have become increasingly clear to me over the past year, which I believe will set the scene and pave the way for the 12 months that follow.
I’ve distilled these learnings and observations into five key take-outs.
Automated ad serving allows you to go to market within minutes
In 2022, nearly everything is instantaneous, and marketers are increasingly demanding this same level of fluidity and flexibility in their outdoor campaigns. Programmatic DOOH allows for the automated buying, selling, and delivery of out of home advertising, which lets marketers benefit from the having the presence (and eyeballs) of an outdoor billboard, combined with the speed and precision of digital.
This has clear advantages to advertisers; campaigns are able to be automated and updated in real-time, resulting in a far more dynamic and targeted delivery, whilst simultaneously creating avenues to access the kind of audience data that will enrich a campaign.
Small budgets can pack a punch…provided you have the right partners on board
As we enter what has been officially dubbed the ‘post-pandemic era’, marketing budgets remain lean as businesses clamour to recover the revenue lost over the past year and a bit.
However, rather than let this deter us as an industry, we’ve innovated – creating powerful campaigns on shoestring budgets that deliver real results.
However, this is not without a caveat – you need the right partners on board. A good partner will understand your objectives, deal with you transparently, and provide you with options that give you the most bang for your proverbial buck.
DOOH is growing exponentially
This one should come as a surprise to…precisely no one. The shift to all things digital – catalysed by Covid-19 – saw media owners rapidly extend their DOOH footprint, and we can expect this to continue. On the other side, clients who mainly engaged in outdoor advertising across static sites have since been exposed to the flexibility that DOOH affords, and are increasingly including digital sites in their campaign inventory plans.
If 2020 and 2021 gave us an inkling, 2022 confirmed it: DOOH is not only here to stay, but it is the future of outdoor media.
Blurred lines
The line between offline and online has become increasingly blurred, and we need ongoing education to all stakeholders on the value that a truly integrated omni-channel campaign brings. One that centres less around the medium, and more around the idea.
A stunning example of how out-of-home media can integrate seamlessly within an omni-channel strategy is a Brutal Fruit campaign that Tractor Outdoor worked on last year, which encompassed TV, social, digital and out of home media. Tractor Outdoor’s DOOHshare, a fully-customisable cross-platform that allowed users to submit personalised content through a mobi-site, broadcasted these personalised messages on digital billboards for all to see. Once creating their shout-out, users were able to select the billboard their message would appear on, and even received an in-situ image of their message on the chosen billboard, which they were able to share on social media.
DOOH enables hyper-targeting
Lastly, one final and compelling take-out for marketers to know – which should be factored into their plans for the upcoming months – is that DOOH enables hyper-targeting thanks to the overlay of mobile data, with similar levels of precision to that of online advertising.
We’re now able to observe and track devices that move in front of digital screens, making us privy to the locations that consumers frequent. This, coupled with greater tracking features, allows a brand to be very targeted in who it wants to speak to.
Remi Du Preez is commercial director at Tractor Outdoor.
