Out Of Home Advertising has always been one of the most effective methods to promote products, services, and activities. Born in the nineteenth century in order to reach a vast and heterogeneous audience of people passing in public spaces, it is still today one of the best advertising strategies thanks to its multiform and dynamic nature and for the ability it has had over the years to evolve its communicative support by implementing new technologies able to ensure its efficiency.

From Liberty posters, which involved the most influential artists of the time to create captivating promotional images, to nowadays, where Out Of Home Advertising becomes smart and digital and creates new possibilities for an increasingly interactive proximity market personalized on the needs of the Companies.

We are talking about Digital Signage, that is the possibility of creating advertisements that can interact with the vast public of passers-by and show on their smartphones web pages, augmented reality applications, notifications with personalized messages, coupons and offers.

Endless promotional opportunities, therefore, but above all the guarantee to convey their message through hybrid support, able to combine the immediacy and interactivity of a digital ad with the reliability and physicality of the posters. The Digital OOH, in fact, reduces the risks of an intangible (and often impersonal) web communication and ensures the presence of a product in the desired place and time through a dynamic and spectacular promotion.

Here’s why companies like Facebook and Google have chosen Digital Signage

Investing in new forms of OOH Advertising means entrusting your message to an efficient, versatile and constantly evolving tool. Here are virtuous data and examples that demonstrate its potential.

O-O-H Advertising absorbs roughly 13% of the total budget of successful companies. And we’re not just talking about local businesses, but also about the most famous online companies such as Facebook, Netflix and Google.

The examples that we are about to show, prove how the digitization of billboards has helped to create a fertile ground where we no longer talk about offline vs. online communication, but about a space that is able to combine the advantages of both instruments, creating awareness also towards products and services perceived as immaterial.

This is the case with Google, which launched its innovative home voice assistant Google Home, transforming dozens of bus stops into small interactive homes where, by relating to a digital billboard located inside the bus stop, passers-by could ask questions, control the temperature, listen to music, turn off or turn on the light and much more.

And it’s also the case of Facebook that, to launch its live video service on its social platform, projected dozens of live streaming on the giant road signs in Los Angeles, inviting the public to immediately test the new feature.

Also, Netflix is famous for using Digital OOH strategies to recruit new subscribers and promote the latest seasons of the most popular TV series.

Advertising through Digital Signage in external spaces gives consistency and shape to a digital product and allows any activity to realize effective campaigns through the possibility of interacting with the users and give them immediately a taste of the product or of the service you want to sell.

Implement Digital OOH campaigns: the four phases of the meeting between the users and the company through Digital Signage

From the posters located in the main areas of passage of the city to the Wallscapes, which cover buildings and fabrics, passing through the digital panels at the metro and bus stops or installed directly on the transports. Digital OOH Advertising is dynamic, intelligent and versatile. But what can be its actual applications? Here are described the four phases of the meeting between the public and digital signage, from the approach with the users to the measurement of the results.

INCEPTION

At this stage, the audience is near the billboard, which can be digital or not. Approaching the billboard, the first thing that is noticed is usually the visual.
“Augmenting” a billboard means anticipating that it is a “special” billboard.

We can do this by:
– The “present” technology brand (for Nearby / Beacon)
– Special phrases for the activation of virtual assistants such as the Google Assistant
– Images and markers (for Augmented / Mixed Reality)

ACTIVATION

The public activates the digital experience using one or more of the following contact technologies and carrying out a specific action:

– Proximity / Nearby (sending notifications on the phone that do not require the presence of an application)
– Voice Search & Interface Voice combined with personal assistants (Google Assistant and Alexa)
– GPS (geo-localized campaigns related to the territory where the billboard is located)
– Videos / Images to be scanned with the device (using social apps like Snapchat)
– Infrared technology and heat detection

EXPERIENCE

The message displayed by users takes various forms and functions, depending on the type of technology used. The public view and interact through their device with the promotional message through a combination of:


– Landing Page, a web / mobile page that can contain offers (also linked to a territory) or have the function of an online flyer
– Social Login (will then allow the advertiser to have information on the profile of users who have interacted with the message)
– Mixed Reality, use of technologies that reproduce 3D content and videos in urban contexts
Premium Content (exclusive content, the promoted movie trailer, the band’s audio track, etc.)

MEASURE

The final phase of the communication flow is related to the measurement of the engagement results obtained by the campaign. Today, substantially O-O-H is sold according to the volumes of transit. In the digital world, these are called impressions. “Increasing” the OOH or using digital signage technologies for Digital OH allows us to “sell” not only impressions but also clicks by increasing the economic value of the entire circuit.

Summing up, we are faced with one of the most innovative, flexible and promising advertising methods of the moment. And we can not wait to experience it in the first person.