Out of Home, also known as OOH, marketing has been largely unaffected by the massive overall that digital has caused to the marketing landscape in the last few years. Billboards have adapted and grown with times by adding digital boards but the interactivity has yet to be incorporated in a meaningful way. That is until recently.
Weeks leading up to New York’s Fashion Week the marketing team at New Balance was researching outfits of people on the streets of New York on a daily basis. This contributed to a database, which powered their Soho interactive billboard. The billboard analyzed what outfits people would wear and, if it fell outside the “normal” based on New Balance’s research, their image would populate with the copy “Exception Spotted”. With the huge innovations brought on by New Balance’s campaign, let’s take a look at what other changes have happened in the OOH industry.
Data Driven – one of the first trends incorporated into Out of Home is the ability to collect data from it. Old billboards can have sensors put in to bring them up to date with the technology that new billboards are coming with standard. Clear Channel is leading this innovation with their RADAR technology, which reads a nearby consumer’s mobile data to give a more accurate demographic picture of the people your brand is reaching.
Facial Recognition – Clear Channel is also in the beginning stages of implementing facial recognition technologies. An example of this is an ad for Women’s Aid in the UK where a woman’s bruises healed once the billboard recognized she was being looked at. These are possible since most newer billboards are already outfitted with computers allowing for quick shifting creative, versus older painted or vinyl boards.
Experiential – Every marketing trend shows that experiences are the number one thing that Millennials are looking for. More immersive experiences but OOH is one of the least personal forms of marketing. Its broad reach has been its appeal but since consumers value the personal connection more than ever now, how does OOH keep its identity while keeping up with the times? VR. UK’s Ribena fruit drink created an app where you can doodle on an AR map of wherever you are and other people also using the app can see the artwork as well. Additionally, companies like Ikea are incorporating AR into their consumer practices so anticipate seeing ads with this in the future.
Excited about where Out of Home is headed? Let’s talk about how it can help your brand!
