The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge influence on out-of-home advertising (OOH) because of curfews, quarantines, and lockdowns in many countries worldwide.
Lockdowns across the world led to an immediate drop in advertising spend as people are confined to the indoors and are requested to stay away from public places. This will continue to have an effect in 2021 but with vaccines being rolled out worldwide it is expected that consumer behaviour and advertising spend will gradually begin changing.
OOH Post Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in people thinking about everyday things they miss and took for granted. These are the things people cannot wait to have back after the coronavirus and includes getting outside as much as possible. COVID-19-related restrictions have led to less interaction with others and people are eager to regain these experiences and to get back outside.
This means OOH will almost be more relevant than ever before. New studies have shown that when people have the opportunity to be outside, they are noticing billboards and other OOH media more than before the pandemic as there is an increased appreciation for outdoor surroundings and people are also more aware of their surroundings.
OOH’s Changing Role
With OOH being more relevant than ever before, it can also do so much more for brands and advertisers. OOH is becoming smarter with new technological advances and more adaptable. this is fuelled by creativity and innovation and by delivering purpose-driven content.
OOH advertising is integrating more and more with mobile, digital channels, social media, radio, and television and helping to fuel the growth of these mediums. There has been an increase in omnichannel campaigns to reach multiple audiences for greater synergies but also to target the same audience across different channels for improved customer awareness and experience.
Adapting to A New Reality
Covid-19 has fundamentally changed both business and consumer behaviour which means advertisers will need to make changes to their products and services as well as their messaging. This new insight into audiences’ wants and needs means more personalisation than ever before.
Consumer behaviour will become more complex and more difficult to analyse and advertisers will have to carefully re-evaluate their media strategies and messaging. Brands need to stay relevant by adapting and earning their audience’s trust. Storytelling will remain one of the biggest trends for 2021 where creative and dynamic content is used to improve engagement and connect with audiences.
