Many of us have fond junior high school memories of coaches exhorting us to hustle our… selves … out of the locker room and onto the field for our daily sports practice. “Let’s go outside!” may have been a common coaches’ refrain.
Originally Published at MediaVillage
In that nostalgic spirit, today I’ll ask you to accompany me outside to a marketing playing field that beckons with opportunities to move the ball downfield ever more quickly.
In last month’s blog, we discussed the inexorable trend toward personalization in all forms of marketing and messaging across all platforms.
Among the newer of those platforms, perhaps counterintuitively, is digital-out-of-home (DOOH), which we touched on briefly in last month’s blog and which encompasses everything from large outdoor signage to place-based screens to point-of-purchase displays. As the “digital” in digital-out-of-home suggests, DOOH also represents the nexus of programmatic advertising with out-of-home marketing, leveraging the relative strengths of both formats.
At a time when linear TV advertising and even many forms of digital advertising are under pressure and challenged to replicate historic growth trends, DOOH boasts as much as 82% ad recall, per the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, and is poised to grow by 2030 at a CAGR of as much as 13% or more, per various sources. The reason is simple: the field is wide open for reaching consumers efficiently and productively outdoors and in out-of-home venues.
Americans are no longer hibernating; they’re traveling in record numbers and actively moving about. Marketers are wise to be there to greet them.
But greeting them with a message they’ll pause to notice is another matter.
We’re all accustomed now to receiving personalized messages in various forms on our phones, on our laptops… and even on our connected TVs.
But envision an eventual scenario out of the 1982 film “Blade Runner,” with its video-billboard-festooned cityscape … though with the woman in the billboard addressing you directly….
We won’t get there tomorrow…. But industry players and observers predict a very consequential 2024 in advancing DOOH.
Cynopsis recently surveyed several leading marketing executives and authorities on their views of where DOOH can progress this year and their answers were noteworthy. Here are just a few:
“DOOH advertising is poised for significant evolution driven by advancements in technology especially in areas such as AI, Machine Learning, and Augmented Reality, which will foster more interactive and personalized ad experiences,” said Jon Schulz, CMO of the large ad-tech firm Viant. “… more robust measurement and analytics capabilities will provide deeper insights into campaign effectiveness, allowing for continuous optimization.”
“As DOOH screens are increasingly integrated into omnichannel campaigns, they are also becoming incorporated into retail media strategies — a trend I expect will accelerate in 2024,” said Brandt Hastings, President & CEO or the electric-vehicle charging leader Volta, which has utilized place-based DOOH. “Messaging shoppers on their way into the grocery store … can be an impactful way to remind audiences about your product and can increase the efficacy of other shopper marketing and retail media tactics.”
“Whether it be on screens in hotels, in golf carts, throughout the ride-share experience or the remodeling of retail locations built around ads, there is no doubt that we’ll see new and unexpected touchpoints designed to drive awareness and connect with the modern consumer,” said Mike Wolk, Senior Director of Business Development for digital marketer Goodway Group. “With 2024 projected to be the year that cookies finally fade away, we expect even more advertiser testing and adoption in digital-out-of-home.”
“Advertisers will also benefit from the expanding availability of programmatic DOOH inventory, and the growing ad tech ecosystem that automates much of the buying process,” said Jason Kuperman, Chief Product Experience Officer of OUTFRONT Media. “Media owners also stand to benefit from these automated approaches which should drive their costs down and, if done right, help increase occupancy and yield while delivering better service with a more efficient media product to the marketplace.”
“This growth in DOOH isn't just a trend; it's a transformative movement, offering diverse revenue streams for creators across industries,” added high-profile content creator Shira Lazar, Founder of What's Trending.
Alongside the discussion of the possibilities of data-driven DOOH of course are the usual questions about data ownership and privacy, which of necessity will be part of the conversation as the sector grows. But forward-thinking marketers can only imagine the possibilities of reaching a consumer with a personalized message even when that consumer is on-foot and not looking at their phone.
And 2024 is off to a quick start. Just in recent weeks, media agency Assembly announced a planning tool, ShopConnect, that merges programmatic buying with DOOH platforms. OOH heavyweight Clear Channel Outdoor announced a partnership with Nevada-based Terrible Herbst to enable brands to activate DOOH across the street from this year’s Super Bowl at Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium.
These and other developments help underscore DOOH’s promise to be among the next frontiers in personalized marketing and messaging.
In last month’s blog, I touched on our own recent announcement of a partnership with DOOH platform Perpetual Media; we’ll be the exclusive local and regional direct advertising sales firm in all our more than 60 DMAs for Perpetual Media and in all of Perpetual Media’s locations beyond the Viamedia DMAs. Since our announcement, the flow of inquiries from other DOOH firms has only grown; you’ll see more announcements from us in the DOOH space in 2024.
So … join me outside, teammate!
I encourage readers to reach out with their questions or thoughts. Feel free to email me at info@viamediatv.com.
Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.
Click the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friends.
The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.org/MyersBizNet.
