At the beginning of November, the event 'DOOH On the Move' took place. Organized by Exterion Media and VIA Nederland, this event was all about DigitalOut-of-Home (DOOH). The digital out-of-home market continues to grow every year and, also due to the growing importance of contextual targeting, DOOH in the media mix is becoming increasingly important for advertisers. Memo2 colleague Coen Kempen, Head of Strategy, was as guest speaker present at the event. He is happy to explain the value of DOOH for your media mix; the pitfalls and how to measure success effectively.
Read Coen's key observations below
It is interesting to see the presence of so many digital marketers at this out-of-home event. We would not have expected that 3 years ago. But, and that's nothing new, society is digitizing at a rapid pace, and so are our streetscapes. DOOH is the inevitable future and DOOH advertising is for most digital marketers the connection with real consumers. It’s a consumer you actually see and encounter in the street. The digital marketer can now communicate with real people, and not with online bots in dubious places.
Too much DOOH?
Despite the higher budgets for DOOH, there is a danger of saturation of this type of messages. Coen: “Of course there is a high degree of professional deformation among everyone here and you probably were very aware of the OOH advertisements on the road and in the parking garageon your way in. But on my route to 'DOOH On the Move' I counted at least 35 outdoor contacts via the THX. platform. That is more commercial messages than I would have received combined via radio and smartphone. And even I can no longer recollect which ones they were.”
With the rise of DOOH, it doesn't seem likely that the number of outdoor messages consumers will have to deal with daily will decrease. The question then is whether we don't show too many advertisements on 1 location to the passer-by with DOOH? Where we used to have 7 days of 24 hours to process one message, it is now expected that we can take in 6 different messages of 10 seconds each within a minute. No matter how fast digitization goes, consumers don't have suddenly become so much smarter that they can actively remember all these messages, let alone process them.
How do you determine the success of DOOH commercial?
DOOH is often used by digital marketers who are used to determining success based on sales and conversion targets achieved. The success of DOOH therefore seems to depend more and more on direct and short-term success. But at DOOH there are no clicks, how do you determine commercial success?
Nowadays this is often done through simple, straightforward counts in which the number of visits or purchases are compared with the period before, during and after a DOOH campaign. There are some more advanced solutions, in which the number of impressions per location per day already provides the researcher more detailed information. Another reliable way is the option where the location data of mobile phones is linked to visit and/or sales data.
It would be a shame if DOOH campaigns are only judged on short-term success. There are several reasons why short-term metrics are too short-sighted and a consumer does not take (immediate) action. For example, in the case of a soda ad, consider:
- The passer-by does not see the ad (mere exposure).
- The passer-by is not open to the message of the ad at that moment (he is not thirsty).
- The passer-by does not have time to go to a shop or has just been.
- The passer-by already had this drink and plans to buy it later – perhaps because of this ad
- By only determining the success of DOOH on conversion, you may underestimate the added value of DOOH as a channel to the entire journey.
In addition, what applies to other media also applies to DOOH: it is not the only influencer during the consumer journey. If the message in the TV or radio campaign doesn't catch on, it can significantly affect the effectiveness of a DOOH - and vice versa. Do you have a sales goal? Then the advice is to include DOOH and OOH more accurately within existing Crossmedia Attribution models. THX. as a research instrument is very suitable to do this.
Optimal possibilities with DOOH
From a research perspective, there are many challenges to properly understand the success of DOOH advertising, but above all much more detailed data is available and usable. And there are many success cases available!
- By scheduling DOOH exposure by the minute, you can be more current and relevant than ever before. DOOH can thus become one of the largest and most up-to-date advertising channels.
- More impact through longer, spread presence. In general, it's better to spread your budget over time rather than advertise with short bursts. We call this 'Spacing Effects of Multiple Exposures' as the learning effect is greater with spread exposure over time. For example, it is better to exercise for one hour a day every day for a week instead of training for seven continuous hours one day before the competition. The same principle applies to advertising: it is better to see 1 ad every day during 1 week for an optimal advertising effect instead of 7 advertisements on one weekday. By planning the DOOH campaign well, you can spread your messages well over time.
Do you want to know more?
At Kantar and MeMo2, a Kantar Company we are happy to help you optimize your DOOH campaign. Curious how we can help you? Contact us!