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Ten DOOH predictions for 2010 (1)

 

New at Screenmedia Expo Europe next year is a separate-but-linked DOOH Expo, focusing on the advertising potential of this medium and aimed not at the guys with screwdrivers but the guys with red bow-ties.

What can they expect from the world of digital out-of-home? Here are a few words I wrote for the event’s organisers: stuff that probably will happen, and if it doesn’t, something a bit like it will. (Perhaps. That’s the way of crystal balls.)

1. Slowly but surely, metrics standards emerge, and get used.
Both the media owners within the DOOH sector, and the buyers looking at the bigger advertising picture, have long identified accurate and standardised audience metrics as the key to credibility. At last, through the efforts of organisations such as OVAB, they’re now arriving – and adoption by increasing numbers of networks will allow coherent  planning across DOOH and other media.

2. Aggregators deliver audiences – not locations.
The separation of the network from the venue owner is a critical part of DOOH’s progression into the mainstream. Aggregators – who package up multiple networks to offer a media buy based on demographics or region rather than a particular set of venues – are rapidly growing in significance in the North American market, and we expect the same to happen in other territories, including Britain and mainland Europe.

3. Media sales is increasingly done by media sales people, not by the guy who installed the screen.
The same forces driving the move toward metrics and the rise of the aggregators is also leading to the creation of bigger, better-informed and better-resourced DOOH sales teams, both within media owners and in dedicated sales houses.

4. The first truly international DOOH packages become available to media buyers.
It’s true that most campaigns are territory-based – so in DOOH, as in other media, there’s limited demand for cross-border buys. But there are special cases – event-linked promotions, for example – where they’re needed, and also some categories of audience, such as upscale air travellers, who can coherently be reached internationally. Whether owned by a single company or aggregated, DOOH media platforms will offer highly targeted and highly visible international opportunities at a fraction of the cost of buying conventional media in multiple territories.

5. Outdoor goes digital, all over the place.
While the big outdoor owners are tightening their belts on conventional billboards, capex on digital continues – even in the middle of a downturn. All now recognise that it is the inevitable future for much of outdoor and a necessary investment, not just a nice adornment. The bottom line: digital is now taking a substantial slice of outdoor revenue (almost ten percent in the UK, for example), is out-performing non-digital, and has passed the tipping point from experimental novelty to mainstream outdoor medium.

6. Sophisticated interaction increases consumer engagement – it’s not just about Bluetooth!
Interactive DOOH is finally being used for serious campaigns, and all the signs are that it further increases response to the medium – in many cases opening up a new channel for longer-term relationships with the consumer. Not only the ubiquity of the mobile phone, but also rapidly-developing technologies in areas like gesture recognition, are being harnessed as integral parts of advertising executions. We’ve come a long way since an SMS shortcode was seen as cutting-edge!

7. Creative works better.
It’s simple: the longer DOOH has been around, the more its practitioners have learned about what works (and what doesn’t). Thanks to formal research as well as seat-of-the-pants experience, a great deal is now understood about issues like spot length and the use of sound – and DOOH ads are more effective than ever. You’ll see this for yourself at the Expo.

8. Each screen is more effective too.
Again, a combination of detailed research and common-sense observation means that screens are better-sited and better-managed. Each screen now has the potential to work harder for the advertiser than ever before, reaching more consumers, for longer, with a more powerful message.

9. More advertising messages are based on external data – ranging from the age of the viewer, to the current weather, to the store’s stock levels. Call it “contextual out-of-home”.
One of DOOH’s biggest strengths – matched only by online – is the ability to change messaging according to context. And in an ever more data-driven world, it’s no surprise that networks and advertisers are working to make out-of-home screens more responsive to their changing environment. The result: spots that better match the needs of both advertiser and consumer, right here, right now.

10. Reachable audiences gain critical mass.
Perhaps this is the most significant development of all. The sheer number of out-of-home screens and people watching them now makes DOOH comparable to established media for many advertisers’ purposes . This, in turn, leads not only to more use of the medium, but also to the development of a thriving eco-system of sales, creative and production specialists...and of course the further expansion of networks. It’s a snowball effect.

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