Marketing mix modelling ‘undervalues’ OOH

Current marketing mix modelling (MMM) misses out on OOH’s true return on investment (ROI) because it does not include granular enough location data, new research has found.

JCDecaux UK and Nielsen’s study, Location Matters for MMM, found that OOH’s contribution is being “undervalued in current econometric models” and that adding location-based impressions and sales data increased OOH’s ROI by 42%.

The research builds on a study by OOH trade body Outsmart and Entropy that isolated three limitations of MMM holding back understanding of OOH’s full impact on campaigns.

These were the use of national aggregated figures that do not capture impact on sales in specific areas, the inability to separate the effects of channels running concurrently and the size of the campaign.

Chris Felton, director of data and insight at JCDecaux UK, said: “From an OOH perspective, it’s critical that our true sales effect is captured by MMM. We are calling for marketers, agencies and researchers to ensure their MMM uses the most accurate data possible both in terms of the granularity of location and time.

“This will help identify what’s really driving their sales — as a location-based medium, our impact will also vary by geography and should be measured accordingly.”