The world of Out Of Home (OOH) advertising is one of wonder, you have the ability to play in a way you just can’t with digital and print media brands. Great OOH disrupts our everyday lives and captures attention with unique and entertaining executions, activating where no other channel can - the world around us. This has been a unique selling point for OOH with print and digital media being shackled to what we consumers pick up and view, whether a paper or a screen. That was until recently. Tech innovation has begun to transform how we consider OOH media and advertising. Developments in AR and CGI have created a new opportunity for brands to unleash creativity. Creating what can’t be achieved in reality and shifting the landscape of creative advertising. This is AR OOH, a challenger to traditional OOH and what I believe opens the door for digital media brands to go beyond the screen and come closer to our world.
What is AR OOH? It’s a newly evolving format that enables brands to play with OOH activations they would otherwise be restricted from. To avoid a double of acronyms I’ll call it Virtual OOH and I believe it is transforming how digital publishers and brands show up in our everyday world. Where traditional OOH is restricted by investment and the rules of the location you want to activate within, virtual OOH operates in a space of pure creativity and wonder. We’ve now witnessed Big Ben sporting a North Face puffer jacket from JD Sports, trains with enviable eyelashes and Maybelline mascara tubes at the station to reapply, and a personal favourite of mine buses transforming into Jacquemus Le Bambino handbags in the streets of Paris. The catch? These were all fake virtual OOH videos capturing attention and delighting onlookers from their personal screens.
Traditional OOH excels in creating a physical representation of a campaign idea, however it is the power of digital media brands that truly embeds the activation within cultural conversation. Digital media brands have the authority and trust to curate a conversation around such activations, shaping the campaign themselves where traditional OOH relies on PR and external media coverage to carry the message. Consider Jacquemus, the brand shared the vertical video of their bus bags to social media which made a stir online but imagine if they had partnered with a brand like Vogue. Being able to activate media and editorial coverage across multiple channels and building the influence and social currency of the campaign. It is the scale and impact that media brands have within the cultural landscape of communities, countries and the world that builds an opportunity for brands to create broader and lasting impact.
As we move further into a digitised world brands are focused on connecting with the right customers at the right time with the right creative. OOH builds understanding based on location demographics and time of day context however it will always be limited to who is in the area and how you can then create broader reach through other channels. With virtual OOH campaigns brands can go beyond these limitations, creating relevance with local viewers through the chosen location whilst also leveraging the targeting power of digital publishers to create broader reach. Because it’s not about witnessing a creative campaign like this in reality but engaging in the broader social conversations around it that makes it fun. Digital media publishers offer brands smarter targeting capabilities than what traditional OOH can offer. If Jacquemus had partnered with a brand like Vogue for this activation they could connect with readers across their target audience, not just who is in the area. Being able to recognise readers who would fit the brands fashion forward positioning based on content consumption, engagement and even shopping habits from second party data partners. Virtual video activations built, developed, and shared from media publishers means supercharging the creative impact that traditional OOH can create with the power of digital connection.
Every brand wants our attention and its becoming increasingly scarce as our attention spans shorten and our brains learn to filter out advertising. The beauty of these larger than life activations is the ability to create cut through and build active attention from viewers. However, once brands have invested in capturing your attention they need to capitalise on that attention and drive a desired outcome. Traditional OOH has been able to build new formats for interactivity or utilise digital screens to drive audience engagement with the advertising but it can only go so far. Digital media publishers on the other hand have been focused on building new formats that capitalise on attention to create action. Because unlike OOH that's how media brands have always been measured and they are held to a higher standard than traditional OOH with click through rates, dwell times and engagement all key KPI’s for campaigns. What this has led to is innovation within formats, with new interactive assets and shoppable media focused on sparking interest and pushing readers down the purchase funnel. Where Jacquemus would have been limited to search if it were traditional OOH the digital space has enabled more direct interest and action to take place. Digital media brands and channels offer a more immediate opportunity for viewers to follow their interest to site and potential purchase in a way that is more streamlined and vast than the OOH category can currently provide.
A final consideration for virtual OOH and the opportunity it poses for both brands and publishers is measurement. It is imperative to measure the impact of advertising and investment for marketing campaigns, it’s how we evaluate channels, forecast growth and influence budgets. When we talk about building a cross channel campaign it is imperative for brands to be able to measure the impact of their advertising and investment. Advancements in data and technology have enabled easier measurement of traditional OOH advertising however digital media publishers deliver more in-depth reporting and audience knowledge. Where a brand might not have traditionally been able to understand the impact of their OOH activation, virtual OOH means brands can have access to the reach and scale of their campaign, alongside information on the audience and follow on actions as a result. Reports can span across multiple channels and formats, showcasing a holistic campaign result. Not only this but reporting can be accessed in real time meaning that the opportunity to test, learn and adapt is more dynamic. What virtual OOH offers is the ability for brands to gain more immediate access and understanding on the impact and success of large scale OOH activations, with the opportunity to adapt as you learn and create greater success in creative campaigns.
Virtual OOH is a fast evolving format for brands and has shown to build positive impact amongst fan communities. Not only is this medium reflecting more real representations of a brands tone of voice and enabling them to showcase their creative flair but its creating a sense of ‘in the know’. Maybelline, JD Sports and Jacquemus aren’t selling these activations as reality, they are inviting viewers into their world and imagination. Being authentic in the comments section by letting engaged fans ‘in on the secret’ whilst delighting peripheral viewers with the idea of the campaign. Comments on Jacquemus’ video are responding to the “magic” of the activation with commenters saying it’s “the best campaign in the world”. Using artificial tools and intelligence doesn’t need to be a secret, people are embracing these campaigns and accepting AI and CGI as part of their everyday world. Why limit yourself to the restrictions of traditional OOH and instead build the impossible with virtual OOH and create broader impact with digital media publishers. As long as brands are true to their voice, put creativity at the forefront of these executions and don’t deny the use of the tools then the medium can only grow to create bigger and better creative executions that bring audiences closer to the world of a brand, and brands closer to our everyday.
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