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The Changing Face of Outdoor: Digital Out of Home

Written by SPI Collective on .

Billboards … outdoor … out of home … as the name evolved so did most other things about this traditional media category. Today, Digital Out of Home (DOOH) is the name of this quickly growing and changing channel.

Expanded DOOH Creative Capabilities …
No longer “set it and forget it” for a month or more like conventional outdoor, DOOH screens are flexible and feature dynamic graphics, animationand messages that can change based on parameters such as time of day, weather conditions, traffic flow—even sports results or current events.

And soon dynamic creative will be the norm—creative customized and optimized based on the demographics of the audience likely to be driving by at a specific time.

Young Millennials will see an ad for an entry-level vehicle while high-income GenX moms could be served a luxury model. Now pair this demographic info with something like current weather conditions and the creative options are astounding. When it’s snowing, that Millennial audience might see a SUV loaded with snowboards while the GenX mom will get a message touting the safety of a new all-wheel-drive vehicle.

DOOH Media Matters …
How DOOH is planned and bought is changing as well. There are more than 7,000 digital billboards, and over 1.25 million digital, place-based screens. The Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report says that DOOH accounted for a 40% share of total OOH spending in 2017 and by 2020 DOOH will account for half.

As mentioned above, new tools are becoming available that combine geolocation and behavioral data—provided by mobile phones—to create a new model for consumer behavior in the physical world. Rather than buying a board for a 30-day period, programmatic media plans will be created based on the probability of a specific audience segment being in a certain area at a particular time, and purchases will be based on impressions.

DOOH can be updated to respond quickly, allowing marketers to build responsive, real-time plans that change the placement of ads—in addition to the creative—as market conditions change. The only limits on targeted DOOH plans will be budget and the finite number of physical displays.

Clearly this traditional channel is experiencing a renaissance and offering exciting new opportunities for marketers. Feel free to contact SPI for help navigating this big new outdoor world.