What the hell is Digital Out Of Home (DOOH)?
Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) refers to any type of digital billboards used for advertising — be it indoor or outdoor. This is the really short answer. Why you should care and why Digital Out Of Home can be perfect for your business, that’s another story. We’ll tell you all about it, no worries.
First things first:
Fun fact: the word “billboard” originally meant “any sort of board where bills were meant to be posted,” 1845, American English, from bill (n.1) “written public notice”.
Before DOOH, it was OOH, you might be more familiar with this term. It means Out Of Home. In advertising, this refers to all the billboards and panels that you can see outside your home. They can be any size, and their location can also vary: from interstates, airports, city streets, malls, or bus stations, but also advertising panels on taxies, buses, trains, in pubs, restaurants or other establishments.
Digital Out Of Home, DOOH, is OOH but all digital, of course, and it’s the hottest trend on the market. The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Digital Out of Home Buyer’s Guide defined DOOH from a single image electronic displays to full motion videos in a variety of formats, that can (but do not always) allow interaction via touchscreen, NFC, iBeacon, mobile phone, or other digital channels.
As you probably noticed, DOOH is everywhere, is fun, dynamic, catches the eye, and if done smart, catches the heart as well. In this day and age, there is a tendency to think that the online stole the show and all good adverting is made exclusively on the small screens (tablets and smartphones). The good news is that this is not true. OOH made a huge comeback with the help of Digital Out of Home, and the most prominent companies around the world are readjusting their budgets with an extra focus on it.
Why? The numbers speak better than words in this case.
In a research made by Nielsen, the graphics show us that about 60% of Americans see a digital billboard each month. According to PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2017–2021, the DOOH market is projected to reach $5.1 billion by 2021 and will constitute nearly half of all OOH revenue in the US. In other markets, DOOH has already surpassed traditional outdoor advertising.
How to use DOOH properly for your business
First, let us give you some context on who we are and how we’re making DOOH a success for our clients.
TPS Engage is a multi-tool solution for Digital Out of Home that consists of 3 key features:
DOOH is so attractive nowadays due to the infinite possibilities that it offers to the companies that choose to use it. But this only happens if you consider these three things correctly: content, context, and screen type. Here is why:
Content
In the UK, an IPA’s TouchPoints research reveals that about 92% of adults consume two or more different types of media in the same half-hour. So multi-screening is happening all the time. That means that content cannot be categorised according to the channel used to promote it, and the creative value is significant. Think about the story you are telling with your ad, how the consumer sees it on the phone screen in a social media post, and how it appears on a billboard.
Context
Match the content with the correct context as well. The story is continuing from one screen to another. DOOH is observed on the go, the moment of the day, season, weather, and other factors are essential to trigger an emotional response in the consumer.
Screen
The choice of the screen with the proper content in an appropriate context is another thing. Business owners need to see an adequate investment in displays that bring value to their product and brand. A video about a beer in a big square might not be extremely memorable, but an animated ad on multiple smaller screens in a pub, after work hours may just do the trick.
How to buy media with DOOH if you are a small business
Microbuying and programmatic advertising are the answers. Media buying changed its ways as well, and all you need to do now is to upload your campaign on a platform that provides a vast number of screens available for your business worldwide, at a fraction of the usual cost. It only takes a minute to set-up a campaign, and you can do it yourself, no need for an expert here. You have different screens and timeslots available, so you can have your campaign up and running within your budget, no matter how big or small your company is. It’s an ideal way to experiment with this channel for your business!
How do you measure your success?
In online advertising, you have cookies to find out how your ad campaign did, and that is wonderful. DOOH is not that easy. While the advantage of not being ad-blocked is enormous, the measurements still rely on traffic or the success of past campaigns. The ideal solution for tracking your DOOH campaign performance is using video sensors and correlating sales with content triggers — like we did with Samsung. We recommend considering 3 key aspects to make the most out of your Digital Out of Home campaign:
1. Custom creatives for various contexts (day, night, weather)
2. Adaptive message for each screen location (transit, interstate billboard, mall totems etc.)
3. Complimentary online campaign with clear CTA (discount or other benefit) to capitalise on the interest generated by digital screens
To recap, make your first DOOH campaign a success considering these aspects:
- Consistency — This is again about the story that we were telling you before. Make sure is the same story, adapted to the context and screen
- Display — There are other displays out there, not only billboards. See the list when you sign up and choose wisely
- Info — Make sure that you communicate real information about your business, that is representative and makes you stand out in the crowd.
The future of DOOH is bright, so make the most of it and use it for your business. TPS Engage is a platform that already connects screens in Europe, MENA and US.
Register for free to see how the platform can work for you!
