The unrivalled creativity of digital out-of-home advertising (DOOH) and its ability to grab consumers’ attention has seen the channel become an important part of the advertising toolkit.
Hector Gonzalez, CRO, US & LATAM, Hivestack
Jaw-dropping DOOH campaigns, like the recent 3D Darth Vader in New York, have proven it is well positioned for the future, with reports predicting that the channel is set to be worth $54.83 billion globally by 2023.
However, with a turbulent economic outlook, ad budgets must be more effective than ever to reach audiences all over the world. At the same time, marketers will need to be aware of rapidly shifting situations within local markets and react accordingly.
This is where programmatic DOOH comes in handy as it presents marketers with the opportunity to scale and expand into new territories while offering the ability to effortlessly activate global campaigns anywhere in the world, from anywhere, at any time.
Ease of purchasing power
Out of home (OOH) and DOOH campaigns have traditionally been purchased via direct sales. For brands with long lead times looking to deliver high-impact, one-off campaigns,
this method can prove effective. Inventory can be handpicked, with rates and flights negotiated directly with inventory holders.
However, the traditional purchasing method is a lengthy process. Individual negotiations are needed with each inventory owner, with the process often taking a number of weeks before being completed via an insertion order. Upon the conclusion of these negotiations, the creative and budget are fixed and the price locked in, leaving little room for change.
In comparison, programmatic DOOH offers a number of benefits:
Flexibility
Programmatic DOOH refers to the automation of OOH and optimizes the buying process by providing flexibility. In simple terms, parameters, such as location or budget per impression, can be set and then inventory is automatically purchased once thresholds are met.
Marketers can also enjoy more flexibility, delivering campaigns on a fluid schedule. Messaging can be adjusted mid-campaign, while spend can be re-distributed to more effective areas in flight. With financial markets fluctuating rapidly, marketers can utilize this to ensure that campaign creative and messaging are aligned with audience sentiment and intent.
On a more localized level, messaging can be switched in-flight to respond to events such as a change in weather, traffic jams or sporting events.
Targeting
As it leverages multiple data touchpoints, programmatic DOOH enables granular audience targeting around campaigns, making ad spend as effective as possible. Harnessing anonymized mobile device IDs, marketers are able to set parameters to ensure messaging is triggered according to audience density, behavioral traits or movement patterns.
Campaigns can also be activated around geofenced locations, or near points of interest, such as brick-and-mortar stores or transport hubs. Messaging can be tailored to these locations, ensuring that it stays contextually relevant.
On an even more granular level, marketers can create custom audience segments by merging predefined segments with curated geo-locations, points of interest (POIs) and even first party data.
Programmatic DOOH campaigns
Measurement
Measurement in the OOH and DOOH space has traditionally been limited. However, the wealth of data that programmatic DOOH can collect and ingest allows marketers to measure the impact of their spend both post-campaign and in-flight.
Private, secure data sources such as geofencing and anonymized mobile IDs can measure metrics such as footfall, intent and audience type. Post-campaign assessments can be conducted against KPIs creating a better understanding of the effectiveness of campaigns.
During campaign activation, gathered insights give marketers the ability to pivot spend or messaging in-flight to better achieve desired outcomes.
Crossing borders
For global brands typically purchasing their DOOH inventory via direct sales, activating campaigns in multiple markets and continents brings further layers of complexity. Language differences, regulations, and practices all need to be taken into consideration and the manual nature of the direct sales method makes it all more complicated.
Programmatic capabilities simplify this process, ensuring DOOH campaigns can be activated, optimized and measured from anywhere in the world, at any time.
Using the right demand side platform (DSP), marketers can access thousands of DOOH screens from a single buying point, unlocking countless touchpoints and formats. US marketers, for example, could reach premium inventory such as Gangnam Square or the Shibuya Crossing from their office at whatever time suits them.
These ‘outside-in’ buys, where a campaign is bought or sold in an outside, non-domestic market, allow brands to reach audiences at the right place, and at the right time on a truly global scale.
‘Outside-in’ programmatic DOOH buys
Media conglomerate Warner Brothers effectively harnessed programmatic DOOH for the promotion of The Matrix 4 movie. Its US-based team was able to leverage programmatic DOOH’s capabilities to run a highly-effective campaign in Japan that also incorporated social media.
Geotemporal data identified DOOH inventory located near major movie theaters in Shibuya and Shinjuku. A custom Twitter API then enabled social media posts from fans to be integrated into the campaign creative. The campaigns gained 1.7 million targeted impressions delivered in only two days, later being rolled out to San Francisco, New York, and Miami.
This outside-in approach can also prove effective in China, allowing brands outside the region to easily access a rapidly growing market that is due to be worth $6.1 billion by 2027.
The combination of programmatic technology with trusted local partners means that brands can activate their campaigns behind ‘‘the Great Firewall’ and navigate complex local data regulations from the comfort of their office anywhere in the world.
Programmatic DOOH’s innovative data-driven approach makes it a dynamic method for global marketers to reach across borders and find their audience in multiple markets, even as budgets become more closely scrutinized. These same qualities bring DOOH into the omnichannel media mix, bridging the gap between online and offline touchpoints and enabling cohesive, effective campaigns.