How Out-of-Home Technology is Reaching Our Devices

The out-of-home (OOH) industry is challenging consumers to look up from their smartphones to engage with displays, then return to their mobile screens to continue the experience.

By nature, OOH forces great creative executions because the typical consumer only has a few seconds to interact with the message. An innovative billboard design can attract attention from miles around. From traditional billboards to augmented reality, these formats take that attention and generate digital buzz.

With near ubiquity, OOH is evolving from a standalone medium to an entry portal to digital and mobile programs in the form of a QR code, URL or hashtag on a poster.

OOH may take the form of augmented reality, digital imaging or other tactics to enhance an outdoor message. By working synergistically, OOH gives brands a chance to boost engagement through coupons, discounts and entertainment to more accurately measure campaign impact and ROI.

Today’s OOH platforms provide connections to a virtual marketplace where consumers have the ability to download music, video, games, coupons, tickets, etc.

We use a tool (http://creativetool.oaaa.org/) that allows us to test a variety of OOH formats in different environments — such as urban, suburban and highway — with an adjustable distance meter. In the localized world of OOH, distance and location are akin to the targeting capabilities digital marketers use to deliver relevant messaging to specific multicultural segments.

What ties these traditional and new technology formats together is the opportunity for imagination and visual storytelling to reach people where they live, work, shop and play. And when used with inventiveness, it creates ad spaces where none existed before.