Traditionally, OOH has been a mass reach medium and its drive-to-store capabilities were less obvious. But this is all changing. As the urban space becomes increasingly digitalised and people’s behaviour evolves, OOH has grown into firm influencer of consumer decision-making. So what’s next?

Location, Location, Location

Thanks to its physical proximity to retailers, OOH is an obvious drive-to-store medium, but it is not as simple as that. According to OutSmart,

83% of people recall having seen OOH advertising within the last 30 minutes before shopping making OOH the dominant medium within “the last window of influence” – ie just before people shop. The efficiency of OOH in driving direct sales has been proven in many studies. For example,

Posterscope’s OCS survey

demonstrates that 11% of consumers have made a purchase in a physical shop/supermarket/restaurant or cinema in the last 7 days as a direct result of seeing an OOH advert.

Digital opportunities

Naturally, screens near urban shopping centres such as malls and supermarkets provide the perfect environment for special messaging that directs consumers into the store. But it gets even more interesting with the capabilities that digital and dynamic messaging offer today. FMCG brands in particular make the most of this offer by composing messaging based on live data such as sales performance, time of day and weather. And it works brilliantly. In the UK the average sales uplift for a digital campaign in front of Tesco is of +19% during the campaign and +10% after the campaign. (Source: JCDecaux UK)

Tesco SmartScreens incorporate live data feeds to display the best messaging at the best time.

For other brands, digital screens offer the possibility to be more playful using dynamic campaigns, which means data driven campaigns offering relevant content at the right place at the right time.  But dynamic localisation isn’t just for food and FMCG advertisers.

Posterscope’s OCS study revealed that in general, location is the most interesting piece of information in an DOOH ad. In fact, a whopping 77% want to see a message relevant to their location. That number is even higher for fashion shoppers. 90% of London fashion consumers (Londoners passionate about shopping in store for fashion) are interested in location-based DOOH content. A point to consider for OOH fashion advertisers.

The convergence of digital and the physical worlds

Although store shopping still accounts for 83% of total retail spend, online shopping is growing steadily. When we speak about drive-to-store we cannot ignore online shopping as its influence is growing.

But what role does OOH play in the online environment? The answer is OOH directly influences search. According to

JCDecaux France Smarter studies, OOH was responsible for 12% of the increase in website traffic. Furthermore, the OOH Online Activation Survey by Nielsen and OAAA in the US also showed that OOH delivers more online activity per dollar spent than any other traditional media (TV, radio and newspaper/magazine).

Drive-to-mobile and the new consumer

Mobile is an important agent that connects OOH and online shopping. According to Forrester, in 2017, mobile influenced over $1 trillion of physical sales in the USA, the leading consumer market  – that’s almost 35% of all in-store purchases.

Mobile is an increasingly important tool for modern-day shopping and as an ‘on-the-go medium’, it is the perfect partner for OOH. People searching online thanks to OOH messaging, do so immediately on their mobile. The

WallDecaux study MAX from 2016 highlights that 45% of millennials search for information on the go after having seen a poster (vs 31% for the 14-69). As young and techy consumers mature, this behaviour will shift from being a trend among a sector of the population, to be the norm among all consumers.

Mobile and OOH: the future of media planning

The relationship between mobile and OOH is multi-faceted as it creates different ways to connect the digital and the physical worlds. On the one side, OOH can drive-to-online via special mobile deals. On the other side, mobile itself can be a source of data and help create effective audience targeting in OOH campaigns.

Hugo Boss mobile voucher activation campaign in Singapore drives immediate sales uplift 

With mobile-OOH, the efficiency of drive-to-store campaigns can be measured with unprecedented accuracy and speed. The data from

recent study of a Cellular Brand OOH campaign in Chicago revealed a consistent footfall increase between 82% to 108% between those exposed to the ad and those who were not.

JCDecaux works increasingly with mobile data companies in different countries to develop new possibilities OOH programmatic planning. The OOH industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace. The future of OOH and mobile media will become ever more interdependent, and will completely overhaul the existing concept of drive-to-store brand messaging.