Creative OOH: 2018 Trends on the Radar

OOH Empowers Data

2017 had been a year when advertisers en masse began to truly capitalise on OOH placement technologies, and it has largely been possible thanks to the expansion and education around DOOH capabilities.
With the rise of live streaming and the democratisation of contextual messaging, brands have been ever more successful in creating unique, flexible and responsive campaigns. Campaigns that react to the market in real time, provide consumers with useful content and thus help brands build genuine connections and two-way conversations with their audience. The growing implementation of these technologies has emphasised OOH’s impact, its continued overperformance and the medium’s competitiveness in the age of data.
In 2018, we see advertisers further pushing the boundaries of data integration, not just in planning but also in creative executions that deliver contextual content. We look forward to seeing advertisers stepping outside weather and location data and integrating ever more dynamic, custom and propriety data feeds, whether it’s responsive product availability, smart proximity placement or integrated mobile strategies. This brings is onto our next trend…
 

Mobile OOH and Cross-channel Optimisation

With a growing urban population who spend more and more time out and about, advertisers continued to raise the bar for mobile and OOH integration in 2017

• Depending on the market, the proliferation of NFC, Beacons, Augmented Reality and QR codes in OOH allow marketers to strategically meet on-the-go consumers who seek instant gratification and drive them to point of sale (whether in store or mobile), boost traffic and deliver short term sales uplift.
• Secondly, integrating mobile and OOH marketing strategies delivers more than just commercial advantages. These campaigns offer personalised interactivity and a more memorable and useful brand experience in the Interest stage of the sales funnel.
• Finally, integrated OOH and mobile campaigns allow brands to better measure the effectiveness of campaigns and use the data to understand audience behaviour and therefore deliver even better brand experiences in the fututre. 

In 2018, we see ever more advanced usage of data both in mobile and OOH marketing, and tighter integration of the two media. Instead of compartmentalising their campaign planning between different channels, advertisers will focus more on consumer needs at different stages of their daily journeys. By defining clearer goals for each of the two media they will customise content to each channel to deliver truly contextual, responsive and useful messaging for consumers.
 

Diverse product categories

Thanks to new data application, growing digitisation and versatility of OOH, the medium will continue to grow a healthy 4% - 5% pace in 2018. In fact, next to digital, OOH is the only medium with a growing market share.
In 2017, it was great to see more product categories delving into interactive, dynamic and Creative Solutions OOH campaigns including tech, tourism and restaurants. We are optimistic about 2018 and expect to see an even more diverse range of product categories embracing DOOH and dynamic messaging opportunities, from food retail harnessing their sales data to luxury brands offering more personalised content and experiences over traditionally image-focused messaging

We are sure that 2018 will be a year when more brands will push the boundaries of their OOH strategies and make data work harder within the medium, and in turn help evolve the communication channel overall.​