WIXLIB

MAY 3, 2021

FrancoisDeschenauxVP, Pricing & Operations,AstralMichele ErskineMary VentrescaCEO,OUTFRONT MediaVP, Marketing &Business Development,PATTISON OutdoorCOMMB collaborated with industry experts from Astral,OUTFRONT Media and PATTISON Outdoor, to explore thecurrent OOH advertising landscape, including traditional,static, and DOOH. A must-read, we conclude with eachcontributor’s favourite static campaign!02

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What are some ways OOH advertisers can incorporate QR codes and contactlessinteractive elements into static OOH campaigns to engage Gen-Z and the nextgeneration of consumers with information on special pricing and targeted ads?“As we all know, the OOH industry isconverting and adding more digital facesevery year. That being said,static OOH inventory stillrepresents 90-95% of theoverall inventory in Canada,so when an advertiser is looking for aspecific area and market to target withexclusive visibility, Static is a great option!The use of QR codes in OOH is becomingmore and more popular for severalreasons, including their analyticspotential. In fact, based on severalstudies, more than 30% of adults areusing QR codes weekly, and this trend isgrowing. Adding this component to staticinventory can boost the chance of successfor advertisers, especially now, with therequirement for touch-free transactionsmixed with the deployment of the 5Gnetwork.Several ways of leveraging QR codesinclude: Pushing access to the client’swebsite with an exclusive discountor new products: this also createstraffic to the advertiser’s website Access to exclusive content(i.e., music/services): particularlyefficient in ecosystems wherepeople are waiting for extendedperiods, such as airports and transit Providing access to a map of theclosest store or even a virtual realityvisit of your storeIn the end, this goes back to basic OOH.Successful OOH campaigns usually havea few things in common: they are punchy,prompt consumer engagement andcuriosity, experiential and are strategicallylocated. QR codes or any engagementtriggers on an ad are additional tools toachieve that.”Astral is lucky to be part of Bell, which hasthe fastest 5G network, expanding thepotential and enhancing the end-userexperience.04

How can marketers gauge the frequency of their OOH messaging,and what consumer trends, behaviours etc., should they consider?“The advantage of OOH vs any other medium is that it visually capturespeople’s attention while they are moving (highway, street furniture)or waiting (airport, transit). So, we only have a few seconds to capturepeople’s attention. This is why high frequency and repeated exposure arefundamental in OOH. With the evolution of programmatic buying andgeo-location data availability, it is now possible to better target audienceswhile meeting the basic traditional Reach & Frequency measures toget as much efficiency as possible from an OOH campaign. On top ofthis, we’re now able to measure the effectiveness of specific campaigndelivery accurately.As for consumer trends, OOH is all aboutmovement. I think we will go out of this pandemicwith a few observations that might translate intopermanent changes in behaviours:we learned to buy more locally and online, lots of hyperlocal road trips,we equipped ourselves at home (gyms, home improvement, hardware),we experienced food take-out services (although we all miss meetingsin restaurants and bars) and, as per stats can 2021, 32% of the populationworked from home. Once lockdown measures are over, some of thesebehaviours might stick, although I’m pretty sure that the pleasure ofmeeting with friends, peers and travel to other countries will quicklycome back!”05

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What are the advantages of marketers and agenciesintegrating both static and digital OOH in their channel planning?“We see the decision to use static or digitalas a strategic one that should be madebased on the campaign’s objectives.Digital is an excellent option for campaignswanting to run multiple creative messageswith lots of flexibility to adjust the creativeand/or want to take advantage of an abilityto daypart their campaign.Static remains an excellentchoice for campaigns that want24/7 exposure for an entireposting period.These two needs can be blended in somecases, combining a base 24/7 messagecomplemented by a more dynamicmessaging option. And, beyond that, ashas always been the case with Outdoor –location is critical. Building a campaignthat incorporates the best locations totarget the desired target with adequatecoverage may be the driving factorthat could then trump the creativeconsiderations mentioned earlier.“What role does creative have in driving OOH’s effectiveness, and how dostatic creative opportunities differ from digital creative opportunities?“Good creative is critical, while greatcreative can amplify impact massively.Simplicity is key regardless of whethercreative is being designed for static ordigital.The key difference relates to the rotationand duration. For static, the creativeshould sustain exposure 24/7 for at least4 weeks; with digital, the message can bechanged frequently. Static locations offerthe potential to truly activateGood contrast, good legibility,creative with extensions both 2Dan engaging message that resonates and 3D creating a compellingvisual driving recall within anand sticks with the target audienceaudience/community.”is key to an effective campaign.07

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How can marketers and agencies harness location data capabilitiesto optimize their OOH messaging & measure relevance for traditionalOOH assets such as static and transit?“ Location data propels traditional OOH assetsto another level.Advertisers can use it to understand their target audience better whilethey’re in motion and on their consumer journey. These insights allowfor more thoughtful and efficient OOH campaigns from a geo-locationand creative messaging standpoint.What used to be informed intuition about who a static billboardwas reaching is now validated and often enhanced by location data.I’ve seen location data turn static billboards or transit stations thatweren’t feeling advertiser love due to misperceptions or even biasesinto golden opportunities because of audience analytics.Taking things a few steps forward, the same mobile location datathat gives such rich audience insights can be used to measureoffline to online or in-store (FTA) attribution and understanding byOOH location, which creative message is driving more conversions.Location data has been the key to proving OOH’s relevance,something we always instinctively knew but can now finally validate.”09

In your opinion, what trends will advance OOH advertising in 2021 and beyondand what is the impact on traditional OOH assets?“The excitement and giant steps forwardthe industry experienced when locationdata and attribution metrics came tostatic outdoor is now happening withmoving transit advertising.And it’s relatively new, sopassed through. We’re really on theverge of exploding in innovation andopportunity and are by far the mostexciting development to happen to transitadvertising in years.Another notabledevelopment in 2021 andleading into 2022 will bethe opportunity that theend of 3rd party cookiesand heightened consumerprivacy measures willopen up for the OOH industry. Becauseour location data is aggregated andanonymized, and use for audienceprofiling, that will still be available. Butmarketers will need to rethink theirmedia mix given the limitations andcomplexities they’ll now face with onlineadvertising and reporting. Discussions ofthe role of OOH in this new era are alreadyhappening, as is the re-appreciation ofwhat the medium can do for brands fromawareness, prompting consumer actions,elevating brand affinity and deliveringstrong creative resonance. Marryingthese strengths with the capabilities thataggregated and anonymized locationdata provides for audience insights doescatapult OOH to a seat at the omnichannel table.”we’re at the forefront of bringing thisfusion of mobile location data,real-time GPS vehicle data and dynamicplanning tools.We’re at the stage now with various pilotprojects happening with transit systemsglobally, including here in Canada, whereit’s possible to plan a bus, streetcar orsubway campaign using data that capturesthe viewshed of exterior transit ads tiedback to census and affinity data. Clients willbe able to see the variances in impressiondelivery that was never available before.For example, with this new fusion of data,we can see the difference in impressionsfor a transit ad that passed through apart of the city when an NBA game wasbeing played, and there was an influx ofaudiences in the area.With these new tools, we can extrapolatethat increase in audience back topersons exposed to the transit ads that10

Let’s hear from all 3OOH operators:What is your favourite static OOH campaignand why?11

Francois Deschenaux,Astral:“There are a lot, but I find this experiential execution is one of myfavourites.SEPAQ wanted to take advantage of the summer’s tourist influx toattract people to Québec City’s Aquarium, which hosts more than 10,000marine animals on 16 hectares. lg2 and Astral’s Special Projects Teamcame up with the idea of bringing a sensory experience to the users ofthe RTC to encourage public transit users to visit the Aquarium.Bus shelters in Québec City were transformedinto a jellyfish aquarium!Ambient lighting with UV LEDs – a black-light type of lighting commonlyused in aquariums of this type of marine animal – was installed in thebus shelters, giving users the impression of literally being immersed inan aquarium with these phosphorescent and hypnotic creatures!”12

Michele Erskine,OUTFRONT Media:“This is tough. I’m in this business because I love Outdoor. I love thechallenge of an impactful, simple message and I love the impactthat an Outdoor campaign can have. So – on that basis – I’m going topull out a couple of older campaigns that I still remember and love:Kraft Peanut Butter and Kraft Miracle Whip.I think they’re both clever, humorous andcampaigns that I enjoyed seeing throughouttheir posting. They also both did several creativeexecutions that kept them fresh.”13

Mary Ventresca,PATTISON Outdoor:“I’ve been planning, selling and marketing OOH for almost 30 years,so there’s no shortage of favourites that come to mind. Early on in mysales career with Pattison, there was a horizontal billboard campaignfor Shreddies.It’s become legendary for the fact thatan agency intern came up with the idea to coin it“New Diamond Shreddies” by simply tiltingthe Shreddie on its side.Some executions showed the old square Shreddie with the word “boring”underneath and opposite of the new “Diamond” and hence the excitingshape. It was cheeky and visually memorable – a great combination.”14

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inventory can boost the chance of success for advertisers, especially now, with the requirement for touch-free transactions mixed with the deployment of the 5G network. Astral is lucky to be part of Bell, which has the fastest 5G network, expanding the potential and enhancing the end-user experience. Several ways of leveraging QR codes include: