8 trends that are about to change outdoor advertising

The number of digital screens will increase significantly - due to a variety of factors, including changes in city government legislation and the significantly lower cost of production of LED large screens.

As two major suppliers of outdoor advertising, Outfront and Intersection have announced plans to steadily roll out digital screens in major cities across the country. Intersection’s “Link” project will change the visual identity of New York City’s inner-city neighborhoods: widely implemented Wi-Fi hotspots are replacing street corner phone booths, all supported by advertising revenue on large digital screens.

link NYC

There will be new developments that exceed the goals. The outdoor advertising planning system will combine data sources, including mobile operator data, online browsing behavior and consumer purchase records.

Marketers will be able to use outdoor advertising to target micro-specific groups on the move. In an election year, presidential campaigns will leverage location data from first-party voting and customer relationship management to target voters.

Real-time outdoor advertising transactions will steadily increase, and more outdoor supplier inventories will be integrated into demand-side platforms. The format has the ability to serve targeted consumers in real-time based on historical locations that have previously led to automotive, travel and retail advertising testing. Expect more marketers to expand their real-time initiatives to include out-of-home advertising in 2016.

Out-of-home advertising will get smarter – as forward-thinking brands take advantage of developments in internet-connected screens, facial/object recognition and external data sources. The fusion of art and science will lead to self-optimization of outdoor advertising creatives based on how people respond.

Dynamic content triggered by data sources has enabled advertisers to change creative based on real-time external creative conditions, including customer relationship management data, weather, sports results, traffic and social media sentiment.

General Motors regularly incorporates dynamic creative into outdoor advertising based on extensive data sources; for example, a heated steering wheel creative is displayed when temperatures drop below 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

Adoption of Beacons focused on analytics will grow. Smart marketers will utilize Bluetooth low energy devices (beacons) to collect data to add a better understanding of consumer behavior in stores.

Large retailers including Macy's have launched beacons through their store networks, which provide a wealth of valuable data, such as popular products and channels, the ability to track store promotion registration rights, etc.

Outdoor advertising will become a core part of the strategy that combines social and mobile, and we will see more advertising campaigns with outdoor as the core content.

Share a Coke

As an extension of its hugely successful "Share a Coke" campaign, Coca-Cola has launched an integrated digital advertising campaign in Times Square that combines large-scale digital billboards, Google search data, mobile and social media to activate a call to action.

Outdoor advertising will begin to be viewed as a direct response medium. As card-not-present payments, including Twitter Pay and mobile payments, increase traction with merchants, consumer usage increases significantly beyond early adopters.

"Cardless" contactless mobile payments are developing rapidly. Forrester predicts that this year will more than double, and in the next five years, mobile payments in the United States alone are expected to increase from US$52 billion in 2014 to US$142 billion in 2019.

Outdoor advertising will increase its relevance along the consumer journey, and as a major brand awareness driver, form can now be a tool to harness real-time purchasing.

The advertising industry will be responding to pressure as marketers become increasingly sensitive to digital ad viewability and ad blocking.

The Outdoor Advertising Association of America’s recent “#Feel The Real” campaign demonstrates the effectiveness of outdoor advertising as a 100% viewable medium. Expect an increase in startups specializing in media monitoring as all media channels become more scrutinized.

Conclusion

The above predictions for outdoor advertising are based on technological advancements that continue to shape this industry. As outdoor media evolves, we expect more intelligent, highly targeted and measurably measured advertising campaigns.