We have reached a point in history where watching a TV show is as good as reading a book. We cry and laugh watching our favourite sitcoms that give us characters of loving relationships and happy endings. However, the entertainment industry is continuously changing. Whether it is the American version of The Office, which ran for nine series on the US channel NBC, or the archetypal 90’s sitcom Friends, there is substantial demand for content, especially with Netflix and Amazon Prime entering the over-the-top (OTT) market.
According to the studies, due to the pandemic taking over the world and people locking themselves up in their homes, people have turned to the readily available modes of entertainment within their homes. According to published reports, television and internet viewership have both increased globally in recent years. In the time of the lockdown, 53% of people worked from home and their TV consumption has risen considerably. As a result, the intense competition for the entertainment industry, selling and marketing their products and brand isn’t that easy. It requires the same amount of effort, time, and creativity as producing the actual content.
Marketers reach out to outdoor advertisers because of the broad reach they hope to achieve through giant billboards as they come in various shapes and sizes and are getting more creative and effective each day. Thanks to advances in technology! A study has shown that OOH positively impacts customers’ purchasing decisions because it gets their attention more quickly. A person who has seen an OOH advertisement is 17% more likely to interact with the brand or campaign.
Outdoor advertisement is, without a doubt, a ‘rising value’ in advertising in the 21st century and is creating a difference due to the increase in demand as it is the most effective way to reach modern society. In spite of the global pandemic, OOH has experienced over 40 consecutive quarters of revenue growth since 2020 and remains a promising medium for brand advertisements.
Since everyone is glued to screens these days, and there are numerous options available for marketing and advertising a product on the market, marketers may wonder, “Is the OOH market worth investing in?”. The answer is: yes!
F.R.I.E.N.D.S
The iconic sitcom Friends TV show ran from 1994 to 2004 and was one of the most popular shows of all time. A reunion episode was finally a reality, after months of rumours of its return after 14 years since it last aired. The cast members of the 90s sitcom Friends gathered to celebrate the classic sitcom’s 25th anniversary on HBO’s streaming service, including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer.
Several days before the dream became a reality, the 50-year-old actor, who portrayed Chandler Bing on the NBC show, posted a picture of a billboard in LA advertising a forthcoming HBO Max revival. “The show that thanks to all of you doesn’t go away,” said the Williamstown, Massachusetts-born actor, who was a part of the ensemble cast of the smash-hit series.
This is how OOH’s effectiveness lies in capturing attention instantly and creating buzz across all social media platforms, if executed well. By leveraging OOH, brands are able to build brand value, execute creative concepts, and reach its target audience. Therefore, the television and streaming industries have heavily invested in outdoor advertising and do not appear to be backing down.
Blindspot
Another interesting example is the NBC TV show Blindspot.
This creative advertisement campaign is for NBC’s market for the hot show of the Fall, Blindspot– in which a mysterious woman covered in elaborate tattoos wakes up in Times Square with no memory and grabs the interest of the F.B.I.
Before the show premiered on September 21, NBC created a website called Blindspot Tattoo Yourself, which enabled visitors to take a picture that placed their head on a tattooed body similar to that of the show’s lead character.
Rob Drury, LeadDog’s West Coast managing director of entertainment, said NBC wanted to immerse people in the shows in both a physical and digital way. “As a result of both [activities], you became one of the characters from the show.“
The activations included a giant electronic billboard at the location that continuously updated photos. Social media hashtags were used to share pictures of the shows, which were also printed for participants.
The benefit of outdoor advertising is that it can build your brand and promote your products; on the other hand, if people are outdoors, OOH will reach them no matter what! Canadian Out-of-Home Marketing and Measurement Bureau data shows consumers are 33% more attentive when they’re outside, which leads to lasting brand impressions. OAAA research shows that 28% of OOH viewers have seen movies in theaters, and 26% of OOH viewers have watched movies on Television. As you can see from the data, streaming has taken over OOH and is extremely successful in marketing and brand awareness.
Clarice and The Equalizer
Corus Entertainment and Movia partnered to launch a truck-side movable billboard ad campaign for the two tv shows Clarice and The Equalizer, that involved 22 trucks, 12 residential delivery trucks in Toronto and 10 residential trucks in Calgary, with the ads sample size being 782.
With the assistance of Caddle, a data-driven research company, Movia discovered that in Toronto, where there are close to six million people, 1/3rd of people remember seeing the truck-side ads even without a visual aid. This means about 2 million people of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) could recall the truck-side ads for The Equalizer and Clarice. Bypassers were also engaged in this truck campaign by handing out flyers, which added a little value to the campaign and made it as effective as possible. It is impressive to see how much data was gathered after the Toronto campaign, indicating just how effective truck-side advertising can be.
Wrap Up
Outdoor advertising may conjure up images of static billboards, however, ooh is soaring to the skies and evolving. In 2020, Statista estimated that there were 9.600 digital billboards in the United States, whereas the Out-of-home revenue amounted to a total of 8.56 billion US dollars in 2019.
The stuff people are doing is fascinating and is talked about a lot. Because the OOH advertising market is so wide and reachable, each sector, from food to gaming to television, invests in it. Viewing a TV show or movie banner makes a great impression on your customers, and it makes them want to find out more about it. Furthermore, the ads we see on the internet and television are quite annoying for a consumer, and then blocking ads with ad-blockers is a huge undertaking. OOH, on the other hand, does not draw attention from the audience, and you cannot install an ad blocker extension either, as it isn’t frustrating at all. As you know, OOH can’t be skipped!
The growth of outdoor advertising is stronger than ever, and the capabilities of OOH advertising are expanding every day. The advertising industry is constantly coming up with new creative ideas for increasing the effectiveness of its ads. OOH, advertising has proven itself a powerful and relevant medium in the market that focuses on consumers and will continue to do so.
