Even the most imaginative advertisers among us need a bit of inspiration from time to time. That’s why we’ve put together this list of some of the most stand-out digital OOH examples to help you get those creative juices flowing for your next outdoor ad campaign.
You need to be on your game when it comes to digital out-of-home (digital OOH, or DOOH). The human attention span has dropped to just eight seconds, according to a recent study – meaning content marketing materials of any kind need to work their magic quickly, particularly when it comes to outdoor advertising.
The Power of Digital Out-of-Home Advertising
More and more brands are wising up to the power of digital OOH ads to reach key audiences with targeted brand messages. Recent figures from Research and Markets reveal that the Digital OOH advertising market is expected to be reach $33.37 billion in 2026, doubling its value from $16,75 billion in 2019.
Many factors are driving the continued growth of DOOH, according to the report. For one thing, since digital displays allow for moving images and interactivity, they are able to capture the fleeting attention of passers-by much more easily than traditional printed advertising – meaning a digital OOH campaign has far more potential to make an impact.
In addition, digital outdoor advertising doesn’t incur printing and installation costs like traditional billboards do, resulting in a greater ROI for advertisers. With modern programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) platforms, purchasing ad space and displaying fresh content on digital billboards and other signage is automated and executed in mere seconds. And whereas with regular billboards the same static image will typically stay up for weeks, digital ads can change every few seconds, keeping viewers interested and more receptive to messages.
“DOOH is even more impressive when applied in tandem with other modern technologies,” the report continues. “Pair a display and facial recognition technology and you can match content to the demographics of onlookers. Integrate weather data and you can create campaigns that change content depending on whether it’s sunny or raining. There’s endless opportunity for creativity, context and relevance when DOOH is paired with other sensors and software, much of which could not be possible with static displays, which is further expected to boost the DOOH market growth.”
Examples of Digital OOH
Digital OOH, indeed, is fast becoming a key element of marketing strategies for businesses big and small. A truly versatile medium, there are lots of ways to get creative with digital out-of-home. Let’s take a look at some of the best examples of clever digital OOH to help you get inspired.
1. eBay’s Weather-Based DOOH Ads
As the Research and Markets report highlights, one of the greatest advantages of digital OOH is that ad campaigns can be dynamic and reactive to real-world conditions, such as the weather.
(Image source: marcommnews.com)
eBay took advantage of this capability with a weather-driven advertising campaign featuring messages that changed according to weather conditions. Sunny days, for example, prompted visual ads for gardening products to be displayed. Ads for rain gear displayed when it was raining and cloudy conditions resulted in ads for indoor DIY products and projects.
(Image source: marcommnews.com)
Commenting on the campaign, Gareth Jones, former Senior Marketing Director at eBay, said: “This campaign shows eBay’s vibrant and colorful wears in a way that is responsive and useful and aligned with consumers mindset and surroundings in that moment. It’s great to be able to promote our marketplace in a way that is agile and tactical throughout the duration of the campaign.”
2. National Geographic’s #SaveTogether Campaign
National Geographic created a user-generated content marketing campaign using DOOH, aimed at saving species at risk in wild.
During the #SaveTogether campaign, members of the public could take a selfie with an image of an endangered animal (which displayed as photos at street level) and then post it to Twitter and Instagram using the campaign’s hashtag. Event organizers then selected 175 selfies for projection on billboards in NYC’s Times Square.
(Image source: martech.org)
3. GMC’s Personalized Interactive Content with Facial Recognition
Today, OOH advertising messages can be personalized just like they can online. GMC demonstrated this with its interactive campaign for the Acadia SUV.
Cameras placed in digital displays used AI-powered facial analytics technology to detect audience demographics (such as gender and age) and were able to recognize whether people were alone or part of group, couple, or family. It could even detect if a viewer was smiling or frowning. The display then served one of 30 possible video ads, which also featured interactive games like Simon Says or staring competitions.
(Image source: google.com)
A fantastic campaign that serves as a brilliant example of the true potential of digital OOH to target individuals with personalized and engaging content.
(Image source: google.com)
4. Skoda’s COVID-Safe Touchless Interactivity
From stay-at-home orders to social distancing mandates, 2020 was indeed a strange and, frankly, unpleasant year in lots of ways. However, as lockdown restrictions eased, we saw lots of creativity from the outdoor advertising industry and many digital OOH examples that, hopefully, left people feeling like we could make it through these tough times together.
One innovative example comes from Skoda, which ran a DOOH campaign promoting its new range of SUVs. Displayed on digital interactive screens at shopping malls, crucially, the campaign was touchless, so people could engage with the content while still adhering to essential health and safety regulations.
(Image source: ultraleap.com)
Instead of touching the screen, people could enjoy an interactive user experience by making hand gestures, which enabled them to explore inside the vehicles and even book a test drive.
(Image source: ultraleap.com)
5. Emily Crisps Turns Marketing Misfortune into a Golden Opportunity
What do you do when you when a government-enforced lockdown means no one’s going to see your first ever digital outdoor advertising campaign? Embrace it, make fun of the situation and turn it to your advantage.
That’s exactly what Emily Crisps did when it bought outdoor media space in December 2019, thinking the following April would see the streets filled with busy shoppers out and about, enjoying the spring sunshine and eating crisps in the park.
(Image source: marketingweek.com)
Instead, COVID happened – and there was barely a soul to be seen on any street, anywhere. So, instead of pulling the planned campaign entirely, the creative team at Emily Crisps came up with a series of tongue-in-cheek advertisements poking fun at the situation in which its ads were running for nobody to see.
(Image source: marketingweek.com)
The brand then went out and took photographs of the ads and shared them on social media, ensuring that they would indeed be seen and, by injecting some endearing, self-deprecating humor, cleverly managed to resonate and connect with audiences – turning what might have been a disaster into a successful campaign for the brand. Genius.
(Image source: marketingweek.com)
Looking for a Reliable Programmatic DOOH Platform?
Hopefully these great digital OOH examples have given you some inspiration to create your own. If so, you’ll need a reliable programmatic DOOH platform to ensure your ads get seen by the right people in the right place at the right time. At The Neuron, our state-of-the-art pDOOH platform connects media buyers directly with sellers and provides ahead-of-the-curve behavioral analytics tools to ensure you get the most out of your DOOH campaigns. Get in touch today to find out more.
