The Power of DOOH in an Omnichannel Media Strategy

To the layperson, out-of-home advertising means nothing but billboards that litter the landscape and ads on taxi tops or elsewhere that their eyes randomly scan. Even some sectors of the marketing industry do not give much thought to DOOH advertising or digital-out-of-home advertising. But these media channels are much more strategic and powerful than many people give them credit for as far as ROI. Quotient, a promotions-marketing platform formerly known as Coupons.com, is bullish on what DOOH brings to omnichannel marketing.

The location, time-based, and personalized content-serving capabilities of DOOH provide brands with data right insights about their target audience and shopping behaviors.

Norm Chait, RVP of DOOH and Senior Director of the OOH Practice at Quotient, said consumers view OOH as a less intrusive form of advertising, even as ads are served to them at grocery stores, medical offices, gyms, and bars. The ads are part of the consumers’ environment in those locations.

Programmatic DOOH technology provides can use location-based data to precisely target specific demographics. Advertisers can analyze data such as geolocation, foot traffic, and purchase history to gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and preferences. With this valuable data at hand, advertisers can tailor their ad content to align with the interests and actions of consumers in a particular area, resulting in ads that are more tailored and relevant to their target audience, resulting in more engagement, ad recall, and incremental sales.

The channel is even consumer-privacy compliant.

“Consumer privacy is protected through data consent at the device level and through anonymization and aggregation of many data and location signals,” said Chait. “Meaning that advertisers can activate a particular DOOH screen based on how it indexes for a specific audience or demographic but not one individual person.”

Privacy alignment is important to ad personalization, which in turn, is key to effectiveness and media spend ROI.

Chait said personalization can apply to the screen, time, and location of the ad placement as well as the ad message being communicated. For example, a sunscreen brand’s DOOH campaign would be deployed on screens near pools, beaches, and retailers when category buyers are most active. The brand could also dynamically adjust the creative in those placements according to weather triggers, allowing them to serve an ad for sunscreen on sunny days and an ad for the brand’s sunless tanning lotion on cloudy days.

Brand ads on DOOH also can leverage a range of real-time data to help make their ads more relevant; an allergy-relief brand might activate a campaign focusing on geographies with high pollen counts.

Like linear TV, it can be divided into dayparts, such as morning, afternoon, and evening and then further subdivided into shorter intervals, such as morning or afternoon rush hour or fluctuating weather conditions.

“With each of these different categories, advertisers can focus on specific audiences at the times when they are most likely to engage with the ad content,” Chait said. “Companies can construct detailed consumer behavior profiles by analyzing location data, resulting in a personalized and engaging user experience based on the consumer’s current context and interests while delivering better results for advertisers.”

Chait cited research from the OAAA, showing that the average CPM for an OOH ad is $6.41, far less expensive than the all-media average of $12.20 per CPM for the same audience. A survey from the OAAA found that 88% percent of consumers notice OOH ads, and 78% of those consumers engaged with the ads in some way, such as using a mobile device to learn more about the featured product or advertiser or making an online purchase.

Again, like other media channels, OOH advertising is part of an omnichannel strategy that drives online search behavior for brands and products. As such, QR codes in ads support this behavior and provide a deeper engagement option, either taking the consumer to a landing page to experience more about the product, viewing additional media, activating a coupon, or adding a product to a basket or shopping list.

Chait cautioned that not all screens make sense for QR codes. Billboards can be distracting but also dangerous if drivers see a QR code on one and try to scan it while driving.

“Quotient has technology that measures impressions, which are linked to the amount of time consumers spend within viewing distance of the ad,” said Chait. “On top of that, we have the ability to retarget the mobile devices exposed to or in the proximity of the OOH screens. Engagement begins when a person notices the ad while driving around town, riding the bus, shopping in-store, walking on the sidewalk, etc.”

DOOH ads are more likely to be perceived positively by the audience and can be a powerful tool for advertisers to capture attention and drive brand recognition, he added.