by Akama Davies, Global Practice Lead, Xaxis
Out-of-home is at the media apex when it comes to captivating audiences through the fusion of data and creativity. It is driving utility, relevance, and more reward for consumers, enabling creative executions that deliver more ROI and leverage layers of technology to inspire genuine innovation.
As a result, out-of-home to leads the way in creativity that is both effective and delivers cut-through for brands. The channel’s inherent unique nature determines this compared with others. An advantage that is only set to extend due to the wave of change on the horizon driven by consumers’ expectations of the application of data to media.
Combining data and creative driving contextual relevance also determines how our brains remember brand messaging. Last year a neuroscience study from Australian outdoor media owner QMS found that DOOH creative that evolves delivers 38% higher memory encoding. One of the strongest performing campaigns in the study featured a simple creative change that displayed the day of the week, matched with the live temperature at the time, to deliver an 18% stronger result. We can now scientifically prove that campaigns can start to establish or build new memories to enhance a campaign’s performance with evolving creative. These changes can be as simple as a colour change or copy updating each day.
From the consumer lens, we live in a world where people expect personalisation.
91% of consumers are more likely to shop if the brand provides relevant recommendations, 90% find marking personalization appealing, and 66% won’t purchase if the content isn’t personalized. Put simply, the more relevant a creative message is to a consumer’s current mindset and need state. The more they will engage with it. Think of it like your local bartender or barrister remembering your favourite order, so you keep going back again and again.
Marketers have also picked up this shift in consumer expectation. Over half now say personalization is their top priority, and 80% have seen an uplift since implementing personalization in their marketing. Therefore, dynamic creative relevance answers marketers’ and consumers’ expectations.
However, some marketing channels have become ‘data dependent rather than data enabled. This isn’t sustainable given the wave of changes to data privacy (such as Google’s Changes for 3PD cookies and Apple’s advertising IDs) will affect both the method and means of collecting and applying data. In addition, consumers are becoming savvier about the value exchange for any data shared.
The ever-present risk of over-personalisation can lead to a swing and miss if you have multiple users of the same device or over-familiarity without providing consumer utility. The application of data and creativity for DOOH is immune to this. Data is aggregated by method, and execution is broadcast by design, offering a wealth of creative levers powered by data ranging from time and location to trending behaviour and live events to realise communal experiences safe from overreaching personalisation.
With DOOH’s focus on ‘what’ consumers are doing and needs vs. them ‘who’ they are, the channel stands apart from other’s pitfalls and can be considered a leader in how brands approach the cookieless future.
As new technologies enhance the channel. DOOH provides a creative canvas in the real world that can improve relevance and impact on the fly. Across multiple verticals, we see data in DOOH tell more compelling stories to consumers. For example, British Airways saw an 8% rise in sales due to dynamically served Digital out-of-home ads based on a live search feed leading to the best sale on britishairways.com. IBM saw a 12% lift in brand preference after dynamic DOOH exposure. And Burger King saw in-store traffic increase by 7% due to proximity-centric dynamic DOOH.
If we want a medium to have creativity recognised and celebrated while supporting our audiences’ expectations of data and relevancy, DOOH presents the solution. Unleashing and normalizing data-driven creative via DOOH is now easier than ever with the advent of new technologies. Data is making OOH more powerful and measurable, ultimately fuelling creativity, further driven by being integrated into omnichannel strategies. Provides an unmissable opportunity to stitch creative storytelling effectively and intelligently on the most public and trusted canvas, something which both brands and consumers will welcome.
