Out-of-home (OOH) advertising historically has been a top-of-funnel darling, valued for its reach and brand awareness. For advertisers and agencies, this channel played a little-understood role in driving sales performance.
Things have changed. The digitization of OOH has entered the chat, and it’s playing an expanded role in the omnichannel advertising universe. A subcategory of OOH, digital out-of-home (DOOH) delivers access to more data, enhanced technology, and improved measurement.
With the ability to evaluate and optimize campaigns across the funnel, DOOH is on the rise as a performance channel.
At a recent DPAA event, we partnered with our client, advertising platform GroundTruth, for a discussion about how DOOH has changed. Together, we shared real-world examples of DOOH campaigns that prove why it’s now such a powerful channel.
DOOH Plays a Bigger Role in Omnichannel Strategies
When DOOH emerged, advertisers gained the ability to track attribution across omnichannel campaigns. Greater clarity across the funnel has translated into a better understanding of DOOH’s impact on real business outcomes.
Measurement studies are proving the value of DOOH. Advertisers and agencies now have solid proof they’re driving results when they add DOOH. Both iROAS and sales lift improve.
That’s why advertising leaders now see DOOH as a key element of their omnichannel campaigns. More than three in four (76%) say DOOH has become less siloed and is now an integrated part of cross-channel strategies, the DPAA found.
Out of Home, Consumers Take Notice – And Act
Consumer sentiment backs up the idea that DOOH is pulling double duty. More than half notice DOOH ads always or often, but consumers give the creative more than a fleeting glance.
It turns out: DOOH ads have a lasting impact. More than two-thirds (68%) of consumers remember a specific brand or product after seeing OOH ads, and 41% look it up later.
Perhaps most surprising – especially for those who still might think of OOH as a top-of-funnel activity – is that seeing DOOH ads motivates consumers to buy. Over half of consumers (58%) say they’ve purchased a product after seeing it advertised outside of their home.
Proof the DOOH Effect Is Real:
Higher Sales, Better ROI.
ABCS Insights’ benchmarks reinforce what consumers and advertisers are saying. When brands pair DOOH with other media, they amplify the channel’s impact.
It’s a combination that performs exceptionally well, as our benchmarks prove: Pairing DOOH with other media delivers a median sales lift of 7.4%.
The real effect of this approach is that it attracts new buyers to the brand. Our benchmarks show household penetration drives 80.3% of incremental sales lift. It’s the top driver, and that tells us this combination is helping brands reach and convert new buyers.
Proving the value of DOOH with measurement
Two campaigns clearly illustrate the rise of DOOH as a performance channel.
In the first, a drinkware brand working with GroundTruth combined DOOH with mobile advertising and leveraged the full funnel to achieve a spectacular sales lift.
In measuring the campaign, we showed this strategy yielded a 29.5% sales lift. The campaign’s success was attributed to a considerable lift in sales per buying occasion and household penetration. Further, combining DOOH with mobile advertising proved highly effective in engaging buyers at different stages in the funnel. As a result, the campaign achieved a ROAS of 1.74x.
Our second example demonstrates how combining DOOH with digital media drives sales lift.
Working alongside GroundTruth and their client, a snack brand, we evaluated the effectiveness and sales impact of a store campaign.
Our sales effect study showed exposed households had a 15% incremental increase in sales for the brands’ snack products.
The advertising campaign reached 2.6M households, with 78% of incremental lift attributed to household penetration. This compares to our benchmark of 74% for the overall CPG category.
These strong campaign results whet the brand’s appetite, leading it to commit to an additional $100K budget to work with GroundTruth on future campaigns.
Final Proof: DOOH is a Performance Channel
The ability to evaluate the impact of a channel like DOOH on every stage of the funnel means advertisers and agencies can compare channels and strategies, allowing them to optimize campaigns.
As we see with these examples, the lesson here is that pairing DOOH (like billboards) with other media (such as digital or mobile) improves ROI.
ABCS Insights can help you optimize your omnichannel advertising strategies. Ask us about measuring the impact of your next DOOH campaign.