Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) Advertising: What is it and how to use it?

Vero Wiedemann19 September

How to include Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) advertising in your marketing plan?

Advertising forms the core of any effective marketing strategy. For advertising to have the desired effect, it is key for marketers to be constantly aware of the latest trends in media consumption and advertising technologies in order to generate a message that makes an impact and achieves conversions.

In this sense, we wanted to introduce you to Digital Out Of Home advertising, also known as DOOH. It is a technology that has been gaining ground in the ever-changing digital marketing ecosystem, even more so since the incorporation of virtual reality and 360 videos, as well as the emergence of skyvertising (advertising with drones).

What is Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) advertising?

Let’s start from the beginning, what do we mean when we talk about Digital Out Of Home advertising? The name may sound like something extremely complex, but the truth is that these are simply advertisements that are seen outside the home. They are those advertisements that populate the cities and involve the display on a screen. We see them every day, whether on digital billboards, screens in shopping malls, trains, subways and so on.

DOOH is the new OOH. When we say OOH we refer to Out Of Home advertising in its most traditional version, that which has existed for decades and shows static images. What’s new about DOOH is the combination of creativity and creativity
with the use of digital screens to achieve more persuasive ads, showing more dynamic and attractive content.

It is key for any outdoor advertising ad to be disruptive, dynamic and to attract the attention of passers-by. We must not forget that the main objective is to capture the attention of people circulating in cities, mainly in those neuralgic points where there are usually many stimuli occurring at the same time.

Types and examples of Digital Out Of Home advertising

First of all, it is important to clarify that Digital Out Of Home advertising is a more than interesting option to achieve greater diversification in your advertising communication strategy, especially if it is a strategy strongly anchored in digital.

This is partly due to the great versatility of this type of advertisement. DOOH covers a wide variety of ad types and formats. Some of the most recurring examples include:

• Digital billboard displays: These digital billboards allow displaying advertisements in strategic locations, attracting the attention of people passing by. They tend to abound at intersections of busy avenues, especially in large cities. A clear example of this is Times Square in New York.
• Displays at airports, train stations and bus stops: Digital screens in airports and train stations offer opportunities to reach a diverse audience with idle time until their transportation arrives, which can make them more likely to pay attention to an ad. Have you ever had the experience of scanning the advertisements around you while waiting for the bus to take you home?
• Display advertising on public transportation: Digital ads on buses, trains and subways can be highly effective in reaching people on the move. Similar to the previous example, the great advantage of this location is that you have a captive audience, which has a fairly long period of time to notice your ad.
• Screens in shopping malls: Shopping malls are crowded places where digital screens can attract the attention of people who may be more willing to buy certain goods or services. In addition, it is easier to segment by certain demographic characteristics at these sites than at other public street locations.
• Screen advertising in stadiums and sporting events: Sporting events provide a unique opportunity for DOOH due to the large congregated audience. Similarly to the above, the possibility of segmentation in stadiums and sporting events is quite high, which has its positive side (we know quite precisely which audience we are reaching) and its negative side (not all audiences can be found in these places).

Why incorporate it into your digital marketing strategy?

DOOH advertising has become an essential component of digital marketing strategies for several key reasons:

Simplified programmatic advertising: DOOH has benefited from programmatic advertising technology, which means you can access DOOH inventory from a single point of access. This simplifies the media buying and selling process, allowing even small teams to run impactful campaigns.

Advanced targeting options: Programmatic DOOH advertising allows ads to be shown at the most favorable time for the target audience to see them. You can use geographic, proximity and other factors to effectively target specific audiences.

Creative content generation: DOOH advertising provides the freedom to create highly engaging and innovative content. Advertisers can use high-impact creative that would not be possible in other channels.

Accurate metrics and measurements: Technological advances have made DOOH one of the most advanced and measurable means. You can measure the impact of your campaigns using full-funnel metrics, allowing you to evaluate performance more accurately.

What is it suitable for?

A valid question to ask would be “Which industries can benefit from this type of advertising format?”. Indeed, the versatility of DOOH makes it suitable for a wide range of industries. Some of the industries that can especially benefit from DOOH include:

• Retail: Stores can use DOOH screens at their points of sale to promote products and offers in real time.
• Fintechs: The Fintechs can take advantage of this opportunity to publicize their services and propose to the user to create an account or download their application.
• Travel and tourism: Travel companies can use DOOH at airports and train stations to reach travelers on the move.
• Food and beverage: Restaurants and bars can use DOOH to display menus, special promotions and attract customers to their locations.
• Entertainment: DOOH is perfect for promoting movies, concerts and events in public places and theaters.

• Health and wellness: Clinics and hospitals can use DOOH to share relevant information with patients and visitors.

Advantages and disadvantages of DOOH

Like any advertising format, digital or analog, DOOH has its strengths and weaknesses. Below, you can see a table that summarizes them and, below it, we will explain them one by one so that there are no doubts.

Advantages:

• Greater reach: DOOH can reach a large audience in high-traffic public places.
• Unlimited creativity: It allows to create highly creative and attractive ads, to play with interactivity and to create viralizable content.
• Precise segmentation: Allows targeting specific audiences at strategic moments. In this sense, you can determine days, times and specific places where you want to appear.

• Brand recall: People tend to remember what they see often, if every day they see an ad in the train station with your brand, they are more likely to remember you.
• Improves RoAS: In general terms, having a good communication mix makes communication more effective. For that reason, adding DOOH often has a positive impact on advertising ROI.
• Unintrusive: Unlike other advertising formats that we see on our electronic devices, DOOH is often perceived as unobtrusive and is better received.

Disadvantages:

• High costs: The initial investment in hardware and digital displays can be high.
• Increased competition: Given its growth, DOOH is becoming increasingly saturated, which can make it difficult to stand out.
• Technology dependency: Requires reliable software to function properly.
• Privacy: Care must be taken to ensure the privacy of consumer data.
• Condition of the screens: It is necessary to monitor the proper functioning of the screens so that the desired message can be conveyed.

• Difficulty in measurement: When reaching a more massive audience it is a little more complex to calculate its impact. However, this can be corrected by using VAC (Visibility Adjusted Contact) criteria.

Need help with your DOOH advertising campaign?

If you are considering implementing a DOOH advertising campaign, having a strategic partner can make all the difference. At Boomit – Growth Marketing we can help you design and execute effective DOOH campaigns that fit your business objectives.

Contact us today to explore how DOOH can boost your marketing strategy.