The unstoppable advance of digitalisation means that we sometimes lose perspective and fail to realise the potential of more traditional options that have been reborn stronger than ever thanks to technology.
This is the case of OoH advertising, which is experiencing a boom thanks to the inclusion of geolocalised data and Geographic Information Systems or GIS.. We analyse the facts that have made this possible and give you plenty of reasons to consider its use in the world of advertising.
What is OoH advertising?
OoH stands for Out of Home. In other words, we are talking about advertising that can be found on the street, on billboards on roads, digital screens in the city, advertising in stations and airports, on park benches, street furniture and the like.
You might think that this is a very traditional form of advertising, and it was until the emergence and application of technologies related to geolocated data and how to take advantage of it with tools such as GIS.
Why you have to go for OoH advertising combined with GIS
First of all, the figures. Such as those collected by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). In the third quarter of 2021, OOH advertising revenues grew by 38%, or by more than USD 1.75 billion.
In addition, four out of ten consumers report that they have noticed OoH ads “a lot more” since the start of the pandemic. And almost 85% say they find OoH ads useful.
Moreover, OoH advertising is not as expensive as many people think. This feeling may be due to the high value of some advertising media in exclusive areas of a city. However, great benefits can be achieved by placing advertising in areas that are not so costly, but of great potential for the advertiser.
This is an affordable alternative thanks to existing platforms for buying or renting OoH space. They show the catalogue of spaces, prices, results, etc.
Decisions on where to place your OoH advertising are based on data. Nowadays, and thanks to resources such as GIS, you can know flows of people, traffic, socio-demographic data and more information about certain areas that serve to know which public we are targeting.
Key data including value GIS for OoH actions
- Financial: this includes data on income levels in the different study areas.
- Mobility: this includes traffic densities, information on the origin and destination of people passing in front of the advertisement, pedestrian flows… all broken down by day and time.
- Demographics: ages, educational levels, family types, population density, etc.
- Presence of points of interest, such as shopping centres, workplaces, schools, hospitals, shopping streets, stadiums and event areas…
GIS applications for OoH advertising
As we have already outlined, having Geographic Information Systems or GIS for OoH provides an enormous capacity to segment with a high degree of granularity the target audience of each campaign.
This way you will know their behaviour in the real world, as well as other characteristics that will allow you to better identify them and “tag” them more accurately as potential customers or not. It will also allow you to tailor your advertising message according to these qualities And all of this with a high degree of geographical precision, even by neighbourhood, block or street.
In this way, it is also easier to know which product or service to promote in which area. For example, if you have products in different price ranges, it does not make sense to advertise the most expensive one in low-income neighbourhoods.
Moreover, these solutions open the door to a more detailed and comprehensive analysis of campaign performance in different locations. We gain a better understanding of how location affects the profitability of investments, thereby defining better strategies with geolocation as a basis.
It should be stressed that we should not think of OoH advertising as an element completely isolated from other sales channels, such as e-commerce. In fact, a person who sees an OoH ad is likely to immediately turn to their smartphone to find out more about the brand itself or a certain promotion, and even make a purchase.
Finally, with the right GIS, you will have at a glance on a map the inventory of advertising media available in the place you want to analyse (municipality, postcode, province, etc.). You can include filters according to type, size, price, proximity to points of interest and a long list of other possibilities.
OoH advertising is in the midst of its second youth, and GIS has had a lot to do with it. Do you want to go deeper into it? Do you think they are the perfect partner for your campaigns? If so, Geograma has a lot to talk about. Shall we get started? Contact our team now.
