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You know those ads that seem to pop up everywhere you look? On benches at the park, towering over highways, even plastered on the side of your bus?
That's called out-of-home (OOH) marketing.
Unlike promotions on our screens, OOH lives in the real world, blending seamlessly into our daily lives.Ā
These ads can employ some truly bold and creative tactics - think wacky billboards or artsy bus stop posters - designed to catch our eye as we're out and about.Ā
And they work!Ā
By inserting themselves into our daily routines, OOH marketing sparks conversations and engagement in a way digital media just canāt.
Amid skyrocketing digital ad costs, the OOH advertising market is projected to grow to over $40.1 billion in 2024.Ā
For direct-to-consumer brands especially, OOH marketing represents a unique opportunity to drive brand awareness and purchasing influence beyond existing digital channels.
But not any old billboard will work. You need to get creative. šØ
Thatās why weāre breaking down four killer strategies to elevate your OOH marketing campaigns.
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š Truckside AdvertisingĀ
Billboards may be the kings of out-of-home advertising, but measuring their actual impact has always been tricky.Ā
Enter Adgile.
Adgile transforms tech-enabled delivery trucks into roving billboards, emblazoning them with bold, eye-catching advertisements.
Apart from turning heads on the street, Adgile also uses geofencing technology to deliver retargeting ads to your target audience, keeping the brand front and center even after the truck has passed.
Using Adgileās technology, Ghia saw a remarkable 78% increase in their homepage visits, a 91% rise in conversion page traffic, and an 82% uptick in 'Find Us' page visits.Ā
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š¤ Billboard Advertising with a Mission
Aligning your marketing campaigns with your company's core mission can be a powerful way to both promote your product and advance your brand values.
Take Bombas, a brand that embraces a ābuy one, give oneā principle, donating a product to the homeless for every purchase.Ā
From city-wide billboards to a microsite interview with 14 people who have experienced homelessness over the course of their lives, Bombas uses a wide range of OOH marketing channels to raise awareness about homelessness.Ā
āWeāve seen a nice lift for our brand,ā co-founder Randy Goldberg said in an interview with Modern Retail. āMentions and traffic have all been up. But, itās not really the point of the campaign. We want people to remember the informationā¦ And if that makes them think about us as a trusted resource in the long term, Iām good with that for a campaign like this.ā
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š Free Samples
Giving out free samples can be an impactful way for potential customers to experience your product first-hand, making for a more memorable brand impression than any ad or website alone.Ā
Australian tea shop Kenko Matcha leans into experiential sampling with savvy pop-up shops in high-traffic areas. Letting folks taste their teas on the spot fuels word-of-mouth buzz, creating product advocates while efficiently raising brand awareness beyond paid advertising.
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šļø Street Furniture AdvertisingĀ
Street furniture advertising injects creativity into out-of-home marketing by transforming everyday urban elements into unique ad spaces. Rather than towering billboards, street furniture seamlessly blends signage into existing, high-traffic city infrastructure at eye level ā think bus shelters, benches, and kiosks.
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KitKat brought their street furniture strategy to life in the Philippines by installing 500 benches resembling their iconic chocolate bars across busy city centers. This whimsical execution boosted brand visibility through urban exposure. Similarly, Bumble got creative during the pandemic by adorning public benches with spacing to promote safe in-person meetups.Ā
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Whatās the best OOH ad youāve seen?
