Top 5 Outdoor Advertising Trends in 2021
Outdoor or Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising has been one of the oldest means of advertising. With the advanced technology available today, advertisers are catching up with new and innovative ways to utilize outdoor advertising platforms. It is not only about attracting attention anymore; it is also about optimizing the campaign reach and impact on the audience.
To jump on the bandwagon of the latest outdoor advertising strategy, here are the top 5 outdoor advertising trends in 2021.
1. DOOH
Digital Out-of-home (DOOH) is the fastest growing medium in outdoor advertising. The growth of DOOH impacts the global advertising market including Malaysia. We are seeing more and more advertisers adopts DOOH even during the pandemic and this stems from the dynamic capabilities that a DOOH billboard can offer. Other than that, the moving effects and striking colours of DOOH can provide a more immersive experience to the audience. Therefore, this is a medium that will continue to grow rapidly in the OOH scene.
2. Leveraging data with pDOOH
Programmatic Digital-Out-of-Home (pDOOH) optimizes campaign effectiveness with available data. While a common DOOH ad is scheduled to play on a fixed period, pDOOH offers to play the ads only when several conditions are met. The activation of ads with pDOOH is only possible through real-time data. This provides flexibility for advertisers to run ads more efficiently and reach a focused audience. pDOOH is especially significant during the pandemic to cut the expensive cost of running an ad all day.
3. Storytelling
Turning information into stories helps people to understand your brand message better. This is especially effective during the pandemic. Instead of throwing information out there without any meaningful context, embrace storytelling to capture people’s hearts. Many brands use storytelling because it is more compelling and captivating. Creating a story that reflects your brand’s value can uplift your brand reputation. This can eventually increase brand message retention in the audience too.
4. Hyperlocal advertising
A highly specific advertising strategy that restricts the target to a geographical area. Hyperlocal advertising is targeting a very precise area or a group of people. For example, the McDonald’s direction billboard that drives people in an area to their closest outlet.
Photo courtesy of ADWEEK
Another approach is to create an ad with relevant context to the local. For instance, another McDonald’s ad that shows the landmark of Penang – the Penang Bridge. It is clear that the brand is using local context to appeal to the locals.
Photo courtesy of Staek Photography
Hyperlocal advertising is effective because it has a focused target. This allows advertisers to curate an ad relevant to the target group and thus making it more impactful.
5. Mixed-channel integration
Image via Vecteezy.com
A mixed-channel integration is what advertisers do these days to optimize reach. This is because solely focusing on one platform may not be able to optimize the reach to your target audience. Not all of your target audience can be reached through only one platform. Some may frequently be on social media while some have to be reached through other mediums like outdoor media, television, radio and more. With the emerging capacity of digital ads nowadays, your audience on social media is likely to have ‘advertising fatigue’ on the platform. When that happens, your ad is not effective even if it reaches them. Thus, more advertisers are now adopting a mixed-channel integration that include OOH media to ensure the effectiveness of a campaign.
Will you join the trend?
Outdoor advertising will continue to grow for its creative possibility and significant presence. Keeping up with the trends of the OOH scene allows advertisers to spot useful strategies and create an enhanced campaign for their brand.
If you are ready to execute your outdoor campaign, a team of media specialists at Firstboard is also ready to assist you!
Optimize your OOH campaign with Firstboard now.
