Audience data from The Outdoor Measurement Council’s ROAD survey – reliable research based on international gold standards – proves out-of-home reach is deep and long – yet OOH is still an agency afterthought, writes TRISH GUILFORD.
An array of OOH opportunities in various environments are available for advertisers to take a brand’s message to the audience in new, unexpected and new places – from padel courts and indoor soccer venues to airports, taxi ranks and golf courses.
OOH is always ON. Consumers can’t turn it off at any point in time. There are no distractions, and consumers can’t skip the messaging.
Unfortunately, OOH continues, in many media strategies, to remain the last media type to be considered or included.
The industry at large is taking a considerable amount of time to embrace the rich audience measurement that the OMC offers – but this should be turned into an opportunity for the brave advertisers who are bound by ROI measurements.
Benefits abound
- The use of programmatic companies for digital planning results in an unnecessary loss of revenue for media owners who could be doing their own scheduling and reaping the rewards.
- OOH formats allow advertisers to align messages with real-world context, such as location, time of day, weather or even nearby events.
- OOH provides a long lasting and ever-present impression as the audience cannot skip, scroll past, flip channels, forget or go make tea.
- Quick turnaround times to getting advertising messages out thanks to the digital formats.
- The measurement allows for more strategic OOH planning by utilising points of interest when selecting static and digital billboards.
Advertisers question the impact of OOH, especially digital billboards, even though international research shows that ads on OOH are remembered nearly six times against ads flighted on digital channels.
Media type selection should be planned around the client’s objective, yet agency teams are often siloed so budgets and objectives are often not shared or discussed with the entire team – therefore budget allocation for OOH is usually an afterthought.
Trish Guilford is General Manager of the Out of Home Measurement Council, a non-profit Joint Industry Committee that aims to market and grow the OOH advertising industry within South Africa.
