As you read that right, out-of-home advertising isn’t going away anytime soon, and as a matter of fact it’s going to be utilized by even more business owners in the near future.
Even though out-of-home advertising is one of the oldest means of advertising, it’s still a valuable tool for business owners to have in their marketing arsenal. Especially nowadays where millions of users have several ad blockers installed on their devices to protect them from the plethora of ads.
Unlike online advertising, Out-of-home media (OOH) advertising such as billboards, street signs etc. can’t be blocked, filtered or be skipped due to their physical presence. As a result it’s able to reach thousands of eyes in a matter of hours.
That’s why many prestigious brands from various industries worldwide such as Facebook, Google, Reddit, Netflix etc. are still investing heavily in OOH advertisement since it’s the ideal vehicle that enables them to spread out the big and colorful messages that are trying to promote.
A recent example is Apples clever “Shot on an iPhone” billboard campaign that invited their consumers to send them photos that they have shot from their iPhones. The finest photos were then turned into billboards across 25 countries, showcasing the amazing photos that real people managed to shoot from their iPhones.
According to business insider, the campaign was seen at least 6.5 billion times and it was mentioned by 24,000 “opinion leaders” and 95% of those mentions were positive.
The campaign has been described as a “Game Changer”
Another MAJOR advantage of out-of-home advertising is the fact that it’s going digital. This transformation will provide the means for marketers to create more eye catching ads that will be better tailored to their target audience. And as the world of OOH advertisement starts to leverage more and more of this digitalization era, we will soon see advertisements transition into a more versatile and interactive format for its users.
This transition to interactive format will provide the opportunity to create a dynamic and personal long-lasting relationship with the consumers since they will have the ability to alter the outcome of the screen by interacting via touchscreen, mobile applications, social media etc. What’s even more impressive is its ability to measure consumer engagement as well as collect data that will identify how the consumer reciprocates on this type of advertisement.
A great example of an interactive campaign is Clarins, a French multinational cosmetic company that wanted to showcase their skincare products by celebrating woman’s beauty, in Hong Kong international airport. With the help of JCDecaux an advertising agency, they set up an eye-catching display that had a digital touch screen on the side, which encouraged people to interact with their product by gaining access to the products visual gallery and information.
In addition to that, people who entered their email address or scanned the QR Code on mobiles, obtained a coupon code that enabled them to receive free Clarins samples from their duty free shop.
Throughout this fun campaign, not only Clarins managed to raise its brand awareness and exposure, but also it boosted foot traffic in their duty free shops instantly.
To close up, in Cyprus we may not see the integration of QR codes in OOH media formats, but the leverage of billboard advertising is well done by some major businesses. Digital media have not seen an increase in any city and still traditional media are dominating the streets. Although the shift from traditional media to digital was made over the decade, still traditional billboard advertising is one of the safest option to attract consumers.
