OOH Advertising – the oldest form of advertising, which remains consistently attractive
In the era of digitalization, can we still talk about the existence of OOH advertising? In times when we are constantly online, is there still a place for outdoor advertising? There is! And there’s quite a lot of it. And that’s what we want to assure you of in this article.
What is OOH advertising?
OOH advertising, or out-of-home advertising, encompasses all forms of advertising that you see outside of your home. These include billboards, advertising pillars, ads hung on buildings, posters in stores, at bus shelters, as well as murals and now electronic displays. OOH advertising is everywhere people are.
Although billboards were once heavily criticized, they remain one of the most frequently viewed types of advertisements. Supposedly, people spend 70% of their time outside their homes. To reach potential customers, companies must follow them. Of course, you can advertise on the internet, social media, buy ads in advertising browsers. However, more and more people are familiar with ad blocking functions (especially pop-ups), which significantly weakens the chance of reaching potential interested parties. And despite the advertised product fitting perfectly into the user’s needs, they won’t see the ad due to ad blockers. Then you have a chance to reach them outdoors.
DOOH – The Electronic Version of Classic Billboards
From our many years of experience in the advertising industry, we’ve noticed an increasing popularity of DOOH, or digital out of home advertising. Why? Mainly for reasons we’ve mentioned on the blog before. Firstly, ecology (extremely important for Generation Z). Digital screens save on the use of materials for billboard production, and environmental protection is very important to conscious consumers. A single digital medium takes up less space than a billboard. So, one might think it would be less visible, but nothing could be further from the truth. In the age of digitization, it’s the moving images that catch our attention – after all, that’s also why we love social media. Therefore, a short advertising message in the form of changing pictures catches the eye and makes it, for example, while waiting at a bus stop, easy to familiarize oneself with the content of the advertisement. Additionally, it offers a chance to increase revenue for the owners of DOOH advertising media.
Digital ads can be easily adapted to outdoor conditions. Programming the advertisement, for example, to light up in the evenings to be more visible is a display of creativity, and this is something that audiences appreciate in advertising. They are bored by standard images that they have seen many times before. But they also like to follow changes and are more likely to look at the same advertisement if its image changes throughout the day. AI is increasingly used to analyze who is standing in front of the display and to tailor the type of ads shown accordingly.
Digital media take up less space and are easier to set up in areas where there is not much room. An example of this are screens in urban public buses. We are sure that while riding buses, you have more than once seen a campaign carried out by our advertising agency for Muszynianka. Displayed on monitors suspended from the ceiling, they are watched more often than those on TV, because they provide ‘entertainment’ when one cannot read a book or use a phone during peak hours when public transport has the most users.
Screens are also increasingly appearing in medical service facilities. This is an ideal solution because, as a representative of the medical or pharmaceutical industry, you can be sure that you are directly reaching your target group – patients and people who care about their health and are interested in new developments in the industry.
Moreover, DOOH advertising facilitates interaction between the consumer and the company. Just a QR code on the carrier allows the customer to be transferred to our page in a few seconds and encourages them to shop with us. A good solution is to combine different forms of advertising. Thus, the aforementioned Muszynianka campaign was carried out by us both inside public transport and outside. In addition to displaying advertising messages inside the vehicles, we also decided to use external bus and tram wraps. This automatically entrenched the brand in the passengers’ minds.
Moreover, using advertising on trams and buses is also an ideal solution when a cityscape law is enacted, as in Krakow. There, many billboards and banners had to disappear, which for advertisers meant the loss of advertising space. So how to reach customers who are outside their homes? Precisely through advertising on public transport. On our account, you will find many such campaigns carried out in this city. Such advertising has a very wide reach because it moves throughout Krakow and reaches a larger audience. Even when stuck in traffic, drivers can spend their time looking at ads on buses. Additionally, it meets the requirements of the cityscape law, as it does not threaten the appearance of urban architecture and ensures cleanliness in the city.
As you can see, OOH advertising adapts to changes and expands its form. It also remains in traditional form (billboards) and according to all market analyses, there is no indication that such a form of advertising will disappear soon. On the contrary – the market is developing and offering more and more possibilities.
At Be Media, we carry out many OOH, DOOH, and City Transport advertising campaigns every year. Each time we discover new possibilities, and our list of ideas grows with our experience. In addition to standard forms of advertising, we also offer you unusual campaigns that remain in the customers’ memory for a long time.