Evolving Consumer Experiences

Since the advent of widespread access to broadband Internet and mobile data roaming, there has been a widely-held view that physical advertising is redundant, costly, and has a high carbon footprint. However, as Nicole Lonsdale, chief client officer at Kinetic Worldwide explains, this medium has been going through somewhat of a transformation, with a lot of money going back into local councils, which helps with public infrastructure. Additionally, the majority of digital OOH screens in the UK use renewable energy, with new infrastructure investment and inventory uses recycled materials. Which is something that needs to be better-explained to clients and advertising agencies.

Regardless of whether or not digital billboards use clean energy, activations using this medium currently tend to be driven by brand “activism”, such as Quorn’s “No More Porkies” campaign or Heineken’s solar-powered beer cooler. It shows that this medium is becoming the preferred vector for brands to show-off their “splashier” social-themed side, irrespective of their actual ‘green’ or ‘social’ credentials.

A similar theme lies behind more ‘flashy’ campaigns such as KFC’s London pub and the Spotify Cafe, which both take a real-world approach to advertising by creating meaningful experiences for the consumer. It is these real-world experiences that create more of a buzz in social circles, as these act like a “social hub” for people and friends to gather to have a collective experience. Almost as if consumers are seeking the social status of belonging to a particular moment and associated with the brand creating that moment. 

All of this speaks of OOH advertising now finding more mature and innovative ways to captivate audiences. Rather than focussing solely on the ‘transaction’, it is as if brands are now starting to create experiences beyond the base transaction, making it far easier for audiences to become a part of the brand/advertising experience instead of being separate from it. Instead of having a simple poster with a product and price, brands are increasingly utilising OOH advertising for these creative and immersive experiences where the product and price are almost an afterthought of the main attraction. 

Can OOH Become the Leading Channel?

This question can be quite difficult to answer in the context of brand’s overall marketing budgets, especially when one considers that the majority of advertising funds these days are channeled into social media and other electronic mediums. However, even if brands were to invest just 5% of their media budget into captivating OOH campaigns, that small amount can achieve something much more far-reaching than standard programmatic advertising but without any of the concerns of online data privacy and regulation. It just requires brands to think of smart ways to personalise the content in OOH and somehow manage to track its performance. With 3D, AR, and VR continually developing and becoming more prevalent, OOH content can lead the way once again over digital advertising channels.

Agencies across the globe are seeing that OOH is increasingly being listed as the lead channel in various marketing briefs, but with downstream social amplification built around it. These cultural, technological, and industry shifts are helping to create a small renaissance for what has for too long been deemed an outdated medium. It will be interesting to see what new and creative campaigns agencies and marketers create in the future.