Brands are best built in the company of others

Opinion

Dentsu’s OOH managing partner offers ways for brands to use new insights into social out-of-home behaviour and the power of shared social moments.

Many misconceptions surround brand building. Some equate it with a logo, others rely on product superiority, and some assume big budgets are the answer. In reality, brands grow through shared experiences, social validation and visibility. 

Social validation is hugely important. Despite tech’s best efforts, we remain social creatures, highly influenced by what other people think (not always in a good way), and we are hard-wired for social connection and the shared experiences that build the cultures and sub-cultures we choose to live in.

According to YouGov, around 85% of all adults in the UK use social media, rising to 98% of Gen Z. Alongside OOH, it’s the highest-reaching medium of all. Unsurprisingly, brands find social media an attractive and accountable place to advertise. Globally, almost a third of ad spend goes to social channels. OOH accounts for just 5%. 

The point of social

There are numerous reasons for this gap, but as our latest study, The Point of Social, developed with Bauermedia Outdoor, JCDecaux, Global, and Ocean Outdoor, found, in public spaces, social media behaviour fundamentally changes, and that’s something that brands need to pay attention to.  

Consumers are going from personal scrolling to collective browsing. From private consumption to social signalling. This could be a familiar activity, such as sharing a video or meme with a friend, but we are now seeing social used more in out-of-home settings to review, explore, or spark conversation.

And that shared experience is a powerful place for brands to tap into. Studies show emotional reactions are much stronger when experienced in company, and shared moments are much more memorable.

The brands and content we experience in those situations are more likely to drive conversation, be remembered, believed, and acted upon, demonstrating that this is rich territory.

We often think of social media usage as something done in downtime, a habit to pass the time or eliminate boredom. In fact, our study showed that when people were at home, 61% of social media usage was for those very reasons.

But outside the home, things are very different. Social media is no longer an individual, private, passive pursuit. Outdoors, social media behaviour is twice as likely to be in the company of others and five times more likely to be in the company of friends. It goes from being personal media to shared media happening in public. 

Using OOH and social together gives brands a stronger opportunity to build that social connection. Obviously, there is the physical presence of people and the OOH media that surrounds us, the public visibility that delivers social proof, but also the context where we might be shopping, commuting or socialising, when OOH can act as a trigger for shared social media behaviour.

So, how can brands use this new insight into social out-of-home behaviour and the power of these shared social moments?

The obvious one is to create content people will want to share and talk about, but it is also important to think about how different media work together.

Our study showed that social behaviour out of the home is closer to decision-making, so if OOH creates the spark or triggers a response, then social should be there to help further the conversation and conversion. 

In this context, OOH drives reach and context to capture attention, while social provides the space to explore, validate, and convert.

To maximise this effect, brands should maintain consistent cues between OOH and social activity so that the priming effect created in one environment can be picked up instantly in the other, creating a seamless transition from awareness to action. 

It’s time to plan around both context and need state

Brief around moments (commute, retail, leisure) and attention windows. What does the consumer’s physical journey look like, and where might they be exposed to triggers that prompt them to use social media? Feed the social algorithm with context and treat it as an input, not a constraint.

By bringing OOH, social, search and creative into the brief from the start, context, sequencing and creative treatments are intentional rather than retrofitted.

In some respects, building brands in the digital economy has never been trickier, with increasing AI adoption, increasing media fragmentation and consumer mistrust. Yet as this study has shown, the power of shared connection with consumers is still available; we just have to look at it differently.

Leia Reuter is the OOH managing partner for Dentsu