Technology is redefining the advertising landscape – but don’t let the digital dazzle overshadow the opportunities of established out of home, argues Martyn Stokes, chief strategy officer, Kinetic UK.
Onlookers could be forgiven for thinking that out of home (OOH) advertising has broken free from its static roots and is now a fully-fledged digital medium. New digital out of home (DOOH) formats are launching weekly, offering targeted ads, real-time capabilities and interaction in spades – rapidly moving the sector into the 21st century. But is the digital dazzle blinding marketers to the established value of OOH?
In reality, it is the established static sites which are ensuring that OOH advertising will top the £1 billion mark in 2014. Digital is still only responsible for just over 22% of the total OOH revenue but only around 4% of the plant, and doesn’t look set to overtake the static sector any time soon.
Essentially, 96% of OOH sites are static and Kinetic’s Future of OOH Report 2014 predicts that DOOH will still only account for 35% of all OOH spend by 2020.
Consumers are becoming tired of being bombarded with ads at every turn.”
Digital growth is exceeding expectations; but in the ever-evolving ad world we mustn’t forget what OOH has done so well for decades and will continue to do for the foreseeable future. People are getting so carried away by what time of day their ads are displaying and interactivity that they are forgetting what OOH is actually good at – scale, ubiquity, frequency, and stature.
I get excited by outdoor because of its physical scale. As an industry, we should be reminding people what we’re good at and there really is no other ad medium that provides the same offering as established OOH. At Kinetic, we fully support technological advances and are excited about the upcoming crop of DOOH formats, but it’s important not to be blinded by the technical wizardry when the core of the sector is still exceeding expectations.
If you believe what you read, you’d expect every OOH site to become digital in the future, but that’s simply not the case. At Kinetic, we know that not all sites are suited to digital and we celebrate the traditional formats as they continue to deliver the results that clients are asking for.
So why is static OOH thriving in an increasingly digital landscape?
Static posters give brands 100% exposure and share of voice in locations during campaigns in contrast to a percentage share of voice on digital screens depending on the number of ads on DOOH loops. For a two-week span your poster is going to enjoy a frequency not matched by any other medium.
We know the power of our medium and the more we can remind people of it, the better.”
From a consumer perspective, we’re hearing more and more about digital fatigue. Consumers are becoming tired of being bombarded with ads at every turn. OOH media actually acts as a counterpoint to the relentless push of digital marketing messages and email, text messaging and social; it remains a neutral medium that is present and highly visible but not intrusive into personal space. It allows consumers a sense of discovery.
Contrary to what other ad sectors may have to say, advertising doesn’t need proof of instant interaction to measure success. People are obviously interacting with static OOH sites, even though it may not be directly or physically. You might see a poster for The Lego Movie then go online and book tickets from that exposure but technically it’s not a direct interaction with that poster.
Value exchange is a hot topic of discussion but the reality is that most people want to consume things passively.
You could argue that the low uptake of QR codes and, more recently, NFC, shows that people just don’t want to physically interact to get this so-called value exchange. The real value exchange here is that we are presenting the consumer with a message that is compelling.
Ultimately, we take a pragmatic view on emerging technology. Just because you have the new and shiny tech doesn’t mean that you should jump in with both feet. We know the power of our medium and the more we can remind people of it, the better.
In the real world, media planners and media owners will continue to use analogue media that reaches massive audiences because of its simple capability to deliver a single powerful and digestible message.
