Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising took a big hit this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns across the world.
Out-of-home advertising (OOH) has for the past few years been the only form of traditional advertising that has maintained steady growth. It is expected that the OOH industry will fully recover and return to growth mode in 2021 with new trends already emerging.
Increase in Digital Outdoor Advertising
Digital billboards and digital outdoor units are here to stay and will continue to increase in the coming year. DOOH advertising makes it so much easier for advertisers to get campaigns up and running and have made it possible for them to change and update their advertisements much quicker and easier with just a few clicks.
Digital billboards have also made advertisers more creative due to the use of videos, moving images or live streams in their campaigns. DOOH advertising also includes screens in hotels, airports, and shopping malls. It also includes street furniture and transit ads.
Storytelling
DOOH requires more than a great location and a budget. It also needs impactful storytelling that is creative for brands to stand out from the competition by making their brand more memorable.
Storytelling is even more important in the COVID-19 era as advertisers will now need to think even more about the copy they use as it needs to relevant and speak to the mindset of people. It needs to recognise what the world has gone through and how this has changed people’s perception of what is important.
With DOOH a story needs to be told in only a few seconds, so it needs to be memorable to lead the consumer to act quicker. Creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, and ideas are key in storytelling.
Audio Out-Of-Home (AOOH)
AOOH is a new way for advertisers to target audiences by making use of audio. Advertisers are then able to broadcast their message to consumers at a specific location. A lot of studies have been done regarding how sound influences consumer behaviour. Amongst other things it was found that audio such as background music, can influence how much time is spent in a store and purchasing decisions.
AOOH can for example be combined with a music playlist in a store with ads playing at specific times reminding consumers about promotions or special offers making them more likely to act. AOOH also gives advertisers the ability to target specific audiences at specific places and at specific times.
