When you think of OOH advertising, big and bold displays in metropolitan cities are often what first comes to mind. But did you know, there are equally effective methods to advertise out-of-home in residential areas? Grocery stores, apartment buildings, and gas station kiosks are just a few areas brands can choose to advertise their messages. Residential areas offer a sense of community, something both small local businesses and global brands want consumers to feel a part of.
OOH Today
Transit hubs, airports and highways have experienced traffic reduced from 65% to 95% across Canada during this pandemic. It is evident that people aren’t spending as much time in public areas, leaving advertisers to find alternative areas to spread their message. Grocery stores and gas stations have experienced an increase in traffic and these areas are where brands can make a memorable impact on a consumer.
During this pandemic, residential areas have become the new hotspot for OOH advertising. As summer approaches, many people are leaving their homes to visit local parks or go on short walks. Park benches and car-top displays are methods of OOH advertising that remain low-cost and effective.
Debbie Drutz, CEO of the OOH agency, Novus, says there is a potential for certain brands to tap into multiunit residential screens. From their research, they found that residential placed-based media is one of the categories that has seen a spike in impressions since the start of the pandemic.
Why Choose Residential Areas?
Beyond the pandemic, why should brands invest in OOH in residential areas? First of all, OOH helps make an atmosphere more dynamic. These areas offer high visibility and engagement, as there are often very few ads in these places. For example, apartment buildings have a ton of space to display ads – in elevators, lobbies and other facilities.
For example, Pattison Outdoor, an OOH giant, expanded in Quebec as they partnered with La Presse to introduce 68 new digital elevator screens in 20 residential properties. This is an effective move as it will attract many local consumers. More and more brands are utilizing the residential space to target their audiences. Afterall, the residential OOH area isn’t going anywhere, there will still be high traffic in these areas, even after the pandemic.
Types of Residential OOH
Now that you know why you should invest in residential OOH advertising, here are a few different methods of residential OOH that can be used to engage an audience in these areas.
Vehicle Side-Advertising
Truck-side advertising is a powerful OOH method to capture the attention of consumers. Truck-sides ads are eye-level and can target specific audiences by travelling on specific routes. Movia, a truck-side advertising company incorporates the use of technology to further reach audiences in this space. Many brands are also using car-top displays to present a message. These moving billboards allow brands to go into residential areas, where static billboards aren’t constructed due to city bylaws.
Transit Shelters
Transit shelters are one of the only places to advertise in front of a commuting audience in suburban areas. This location is perfect to reach traffic on the road and also by foot. Transit advertising is large and can also be visible at night. They offer frequency, as majority of those viewing the ad will be recurrent commuters seeing the ad daily.
Grocery Stores/Gas Stations
As essential services, grocery stores and gas stations will continue to see traffic as these are essential services. Because of their steady traffic, they present themselves as excellent places to target a wide range of audiences.
Grocery stores provide various outlets to advertise. For example, companies can use shopping cart advertisements. Ads on carts are generally placed on the child seat, inside the front and outside the front of the cart. Along with that, there are posters, self-displays and check-out dividers – which can all promote a brand’s message.
Gas stations experience high-frequency and long wait times – perfect to reach a local audience. Gas pump displays are often in areas that do not have much OOH advertising. While customers pump their gas, they are bound to look at the attractive, eye-level displays. The average customer spends 3 to 5 minutes pumping gas, which is more than enough time to retain an ad’s message.
Final Thoughts
Suburban areas offer a different approach to OOH advertising. With outlets such as vehicle-side advertising, transit shelters and displays at local grocery stores and gas stations, these impressionable ads help deliver big messages. Often overlooked, residential areas are incredibly important target areas for OOH advertising.
