Saying that consumers are faced with more advertising white noise than ever before is an understatement. A 2023 blog post published by the University of Southern California estimates that the average American is exposed to up to 5,000 advertisements a day, up from an estimated average of 500 in the 1970s. It’s worth remembering that the US is a diverse market with a large rural population, and densely populated cities like Singapore could reasonably be expected to easily surpass the current US average by a wide margin.
In any case, this glut of ad content gives advertisers a problem. Humans just tend to treat attention as a finite resource which means that it’s possible that the brilliant ad you worked so hard on could be seen but not necessarily engaged with. This can be narrowed down to several reasons, including poor execution or a less-than-ideal location. However, most of the time, poor ad performance is due to a matter of relevance.
The relevance challenge has been largely addressed in online advertising thanks to technologies like cookies that allow for finely tuned contextual targeting. In outdoor scenarios, however, this kind of targeted advertising was not as easy to arrange—up until recently. Programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising is now revolutionising how brands engage with consumers by using device location data to deliver relevant ads in the real world.
As effective as DOOH ads are, maximising their potential requires advertisers to be aware of how they work and recognise the strengths and downsides of the medium. Make sure your digital out of home advertising campaigns make a strong impact by following these tried and true best practices:
Keep Things Simple
As a rule, you want your ad to deliver its message within just a couple of seconds. Outdoor audiences are generally only transiting from one place to another which means they won’t have the time to view an extended ad with a long intro. You’ll only have a few seconds at most to engage with commuters or drivers, so your message has to be clear right from the beginning. Leave the long-form ads for the situations where audiences are actually captive or have more time.
Consider the Viewing Distance and Screen Size
A DOOH ad that’s meant to appear on a sandwich board screen along a shopping mall corridor should be designed differently from one that’s meant to appear on an outdoor digital billboard overlooking a busy metro train route. The screen sizes and expected audience behaviour are going to be different in both instances, which means using just one ad for both won’t give optimum results.
Ensure that your content fits each location by adapting your asset for each screen type. Doing this will also help avoid cropping or distortion that could negatively impact your ad’s performance.
Hook Your Audience with Eye-Catching Imagery
While properly leveraged DOOH ads can provide more relevance, you still need to draw your audience in by giving them something worth looking at. Work with qualified designers who understand your audience to provide your ads with powerful visuals. Great visuals will cut through the white noise of outdoor advertising and help secure your audience’s attention long enough to fully deliver your message.
Use Motion Wisely
Creating successful video content tends to require significantly more effort than static images, which is why so many businesses are unwilling to invest in them. While they do cost more, injecting motion adds dynamism to your DOOH ad, making it even more eye-catching for outdoor audiences.
You do need a subtle touch, however, since overly complex animations can distract or confuse viewers who probably won’t have time to take it all in. Prioritise smoother, more efficient animation with a logical flow to keep your audiences engaged.
Maximise Real-Time Data
The greatest strength of DOOH is that it allows for dynamic content updates. Apart from simply delivering relevant ads to nearby audiences, you can integrate live data such as weather conditions, traffic, or current events to make things more engaging. The use of real-time data to enhance outdoor ads is still relatively new and leaning into this may even mark you as an innovator within your industry.
Test in the Real Environment
A design that looks good on a computer screen won’t necessarily work as well in the field. Try to set aside enough resources so that you can test multiple versions of your ad in its actual setting. This will not only guarantee that your ad delivers the intended impact, but it should also offer insights about which ad types work for a specific given campaign.
Always Keep Your Brand Consistent
Staying true to your brand’s identity is more important than anything else mentioned so far. Having consistent logos, fonts, and aesthetics allows your business to build recognition and brand equity, things that are ultimately more important than the engagement or conversion performance of any single ad.
Craft Your DOOH Ads with Care for High-Impact Campaigns
DOOH ads represent an exciting development in the evolution of advertising, offering a level of relevance that was once unattainable with traditional ads. However, you can’t expect great results without considering the limitations of both the medium and the behaviour of typical outdoor audiences. Adjusting for these and applying the best practices above will give you a good head start in the DOOH game, giving your next outdoor ads the consistent relevance and conversion rates more often associated with online advertising.
