OOH: Leading the privacy-first, digital revolution

Once viewed as merely a brand awareness tool, investment into OOH advertising has transformed it into an incredibly important touchpoint across each stage of the marketing funnel.  

As the digital marketing landscape continues to saturate, it is arguably more difficult than ever to cut through the noise. Here at i-media we believe that OOH is the answer for businesses trying to navigate an increasingly fragmented, complex system in a post-cookie world.  

We’re not alone in thinking this; recent studies have shown that OOH media is now being ranked in the top two ad types for ad recall rate. Moreover, as consumers grow increasingly tired of being ‘tracked’ across all digital platforms, OOH has been described as less intrusive than other forms of ads, offering a refreshing ‘authentic brand experience.’ Our friends at Talon have also recently discussed the opportunity for AR, VR, 3D, and AI to build on the positive sentiment of consumers. 

While all of these factors indicate that we are on the right track, we know what truly matters is the ability to demonstrate and prove that OOH gets the right message to the right people, at the right time. Marketing teams of all sizes have got used to a level of granularity and purported precision that OOH has historically struggled to offer. Previously, this was viewed as a drawback of the MSA environment, however, we – and the wider OOH environment - are investing in innovative technologies that are completely changing the game. 

Our MSA environment gives us a huge advantage; it’s incredibly self-contained and largely predictable. This enables us to utilise real-time data tools to understand exactly what our audiences look like, and what factors and variables are responsible for this.  

Our brand-new portal is the culmination of a huge amount of work and highlights yet another stride we have taken. Imperatively, we can now offer an unprecedented level of granularity in OOH advertising.  

By putting incredibly relevant, real-time data into the hands of OOH planners, this is a unique opportunity for campaign planning. The i-media portal allows for detailed analysis of audience trends and changing consumer behaviour through the day, week, and seasons at the MSAs. Additionally, Electronic Point of Sales data helps consumer product brands understand how their ads affect consumer buying patterns. And it doesn’t stop there - it’s also the data that fuels our trigger campaigns; we’re now automatically and dynamically running content for when specific audiences are on site, when a certain temperature is reached, or even when a specific colour vehicle arrives onsite. While we use vehicle data to drive value, consumer privacy is paramount at all stages of the audience’s journey. 

As we head into H2 of 2024, we’ll be continuing to maximise the relevance of every single ad that plays on our screens across our 136 MSA locations. We’re ensuring the most relevant audiences are enjoying the benefits of higher ad recall and authentic brand experiences, whether as an OOH campaign or as a vital element of an omnichannel strategy.