The media landscape has become highly competitive and
fragmented, and the need to differentiate your company from the rest requires a
bold integrated branding strategy.
Advertisers are always seeking new ways to reach their
audience, and they're currently using out-of-home (OOH) marketing more,
generally because of its impactful executions. It's the only media format that
can't be ignored, turned off or skipped in today's world.
Due to the fragmentation of traditional media, advertisers
are finding it increasingly challenging to reach their targeted demo. Only a
decade ago, media planners needed to make phone calls to only a few traditional
media vendors in order to develop a plan that could efficiently reach whom they
needed.
That, of course, is no longer the case. Today, there is a
strong need for more finite specialization. Top out-of-home media planners are
experts in the category and proficient with the latest research and measurement
techniques. The measurement data available for OOH has improved to the point
where data in many cases exceeds what is available for traditional and online
media formats. And the OOH industry as a whole has made a tremendous investment
in technology to improve the targetability of OOH media.
Many businesses are looking to reach a highly prized but
elusive demographic, and OOH media allows advertisers to reach that target audience
where they live, eat, shop and play every day. Using relevant research data, we
can map out a typical day in your key consumers' life and determine how we can
best reach them across multiple touch points over the course of a single
campaign.
For example, if you are an online travel agency looking to
reach an affluent audience, our research has shown that elevator advertising is
a prime opportunity, as it provides a call-to-action to this audience, with
high frequency and little waste, near a prime point of purchase: the consumer's
computer.
Next, many people ask, why would we consider out-of-home ads
when Internet advertising is such a "hot" option? Internet advertising
certainly plays an important role in an integrated media campaign. However, it
is a highly fragmented channel, where people are looking to consume their
information and move on.
At the same time, with the accessibility of on-demand
television (i.e., Netflix, Hulu, DVR), competing for a consumer's exposure to
traditional media, OOH can be considered something of a "last bastion" on the
mass media landscape. Just think of 18-year-olds who are watching their
favorite television shows through Netflix or Hulu. Think of the constantly
traveling executive who is reading The
New York Times online on his iPhone.
Digital, out-of-home, place-based media provides advertisers
with a channel through which you can reach a broad but specifically targeted
audience, through a media format that cannot be ignored, turned off or skipped
over.
For example, we recently executed a campaign for a financial
institution that wanted to reach its target audience exactly at the point-of-purchase.
Through digital, place-based media in places such as
airports, grocery stores, gas stations and taxis, we were able to deliver a
targeted, impactful message.
The industry has evolved by leaps and bounds over the last
several years, and we are starting to see the convergence of out-of-home media,
mobile and digital. Digital OOH becomes most compelling when we are able to
utilize the media in conjunction with mobile devices, turning OOH into a hyper-targeted,
direct response media format.
This convergence brings together impactful OOH media with
mobile devices and digital technologies, allowing direct response, performance
tracking and continued interaction with the target consumer well past the
initial media placement.
Imagine for a moment trying to reach a busy mother with a
great vacation deal. Let's assume the mother rarely has time for newspapers and
no longer subscribes. While driving, she is either talking to her children or
talking on her phone via Bluetooth. At night, she catches up on her TV shows
through DVR and Netflix. This is a typical consumer who, due to our wonderful
technological innovations, is difficult to reach through traditional mass media
-- and she's also among the industry's most important decision-making
consumers.
Let's now consider that same mother's daily activities. She
may work out at a gym, which offers digital screens. These screens could
feature Caribbean vacation travel deals. Next, at the grocery store,
point-of-purchase screens could highlight the same vacation packages. Driving
home, the mother would see digital billboards that could reinforce some of the
vacation messaging that she encountered throughout the day. Through a variety
of digital, place-based media, we have been able to reach this consumer at a
highly targeted level with an impactful media format.
The independent OOH media specialist allows the advertising
client to receive the benefit of a team of OOH experts while encouraging its
staff to focus on overall brand/client strategy and traditional media
execution.
OOH media generally represents 5% of an overall media buy.
However, perfect execution of an OOH media campaign requires a level of
investment in time that is disproportionate to that same five-percent budget
allocation. For less investment, the client is often amply rewarded with a
major level of success in the spots where it counts most.
Out
of Home America Wilkins Media is the largest independently owned OOH media
buying agency in the U.S. It recently acquired Outdoor First Inc. in Milwaukee
and acquired Wilkins Media in Atlanta last fall.
