How To... Nail Outdoor Advertising in 2017

Targeting is an important part of life. People rely on it. It’s essential, for example, when you send a letter. Or when you’re at the fairground with that girl you really fancy trying to remember how to use an air rifle so you win the giant cuddly tiger. Or when you’re Diana Ross… 

…but in advertising? There’s such a thing as targeting too much and therefore losing out on brand fame. 

It’s what inspired us to become the first Out-of-Home (OOH) media owner to present at the IAB Digital Upfronts last year. Outdoor advertising has played a large part in the urban landscape for most nations for many, many years now. Some locations have become iconic, a vital part of human geography without which the area would be unrecognisable. Times Square and Piccadilly Circus are paeans to the neon tube. The Hollywood sign is not some great big sign marking the entrance to Tinsel Town. It’s a billboard from 1923 advertising, a housing development and is as much a part of LA geography as Beverly Hills and Malibu’s beaches. 

Unfortunately, as of late, there’s been a tendency amongst advertisers not to use the show-stopping power of outdoor to create something memorable or iconic; it almost feels like an afterthought, simply repurposing print ads into a larger format. These ads haven’t been created to edify and engage, they were bolt-on attempts to grab the consumer’s attention while on their way to do something far more interesting. One might assume that with the ubiquity of attention-grabbing, flashing, beeping, all-singing, all-dancing digital smartphones, the OOH doldrums are assured. 

The tide, however, is on the turn. 

The OOH space in 2016 saw some phenomenal technological advances. The creative potential is more potent than it has ever been. From the captive audiences of transportation hubs to the impactful scale of a big high res screen that dominates a dramatic space, OOH advertising offers almost limitless connections. 

After all, a four-inch screen is nothing compared to one 20 feet across. Who says a poster site has to host just a poster when 3D models can literally break out of the landscape. Anyone, from young to old, will fail to be wowed by a literally ground-breaking Stay-Puft Marshmallow man in London Waterloo Station (at top) and those fans of the original movie aren’t going to forget such a dose of nostalgia either. An experiential campaign of such magnitude will connect with bored commuters more than any mobile display ad can. It’s what we like to call ‘personalisation at scale’, allowing you to hit a massive audience with relevant ads. It’s also pretty difficult to adblock a huge marshmallow man too, as it turns out. 

Before we get carried away with big ideas, however, let’s not lose focus. One of the problems that the digital revolution throws out is that advertisers caught up with wowing consumers with clever tech and gizmos at the expense of emotional impact. As quoted in Chaplin’s classic The Great Dictator, “We think too much and feel too little”. This doesn’t mean that tech should be avoided, it means that a digital OOH campaign should start with a really simple, moving concept and the tech can help make it come to life. Apotec’s campaign (below) in Sweden is a perfect example of this. 

Nick Eagleton of the D&AD claimed that advertisers have a duty to ‘simplify, beautify and magnify’. Outdoor does all of this and more. It’s not about screen grabbing a TV ad and sticking it on an OOH screen. For me, ‘simplify’ means distilling a single brand truth that can shout from its 1200ftsq platform, resonating with customers in a matter of seconds. 

‘Beautify’ is about creating something relevant that utilises the context of the environment the ad sits in (think back to the Apotec ad). It doesn’t have to be about the latest technology or a record-beating stack of neon tubes. It’s the kind of creative that stops people in their tracks and makes them go back to the office and tell everyone what they just saw. 

And ‘magnify’ isn’t about size, although it’s hard to argue that OOH has this in spades. It’s always important for creatives to think about what this medium brings to the message. How can this unique medium work in the digital age and what can outdoor bring that no screen or magazine page can manage? 

What it can bring is a message to hundreds, thousands even, in a matter of seconds. More importantly, it can send them away talking about it for the rest of the day. That’s your broadcast medium. Who knew outdoor was a word of mouth generation engine? 

So, when it comes to precision targeting, let’s save it for The Post Office or the fairground or the penalty area. We have the network for brands to reach a significant number of consumers in a big way. Let’s raise the bar and create outdoor campaigns that provoke conversation, changes people’s perceptions, promote the different and champion the exceptional.