Reaching consumers when they are away from their TVs and computers is becoming big business for marketers. See how Coke, Visa and others are taking their digital strategies into the outside world.
Today's consumers seem to be wearing an impenetrable protective coating, which advertisers must work harder and harder to penetrate. What makes this even tougher for advertisers is the tendency for consumers to spend more time away from home and on the go, combined with their "canceling out" the ever-increasing number of media impressions they are inundated with daily.
One recent study conducted by Veronis Suhler Stevenson revealed that Americans spend twice as much time outside their homes as they did 30 years ago. When they're home and in front of their TVs -- the one medium that has long been the cornerstone of the advertising industry -- consumers are increasingly circumventing commercials by channel surfing, watching on-demand programming, streaming video or using devices such as DVRs. Accordingly, McKinsey and Co. has predicted that by 2010 TV advertising will have lost two-thirds of its effectiveness as compared to 1990.
The dwindling efficacy of traditional advertising channels coupled with the fragmentation of audiences into niche categories and changes in the way they consume media, underscore the considerable challenge for marketers who want to reach increasingly jaded consumers. The solution? The digitization of one of those "old" advertising channels.
Digital out-of-home (OOH) advertising provides the means to reach consumers with engaging and contextually relevant messages while they're out and away from other forms of traditional advertising. The recent launch of CBS Outernet and NBC Everywhere is evidence that many brands are already latching onto this growing trend, recognizing that they can maximize their ad dollars by synchronizing Digital OOH efforts with their current media campaigns. This integrated effort ultimately builds brand awareness by targeting consumers in a variety of ways and in a variety of locations, including the places where they travel, shop, eat and socialize.
Adding interactivity to a digital OOH advertising campaign engages the consumer further by creating a more personal, action-oriented brand experience, which can improve message recall rates and build brand awareness and favorability. Interactive out-of-home (IOOH, to coin an acronym -- not to be confused with "I’m Out of Here!") can also more effectively appeal to the elusive 18-34 year-old demographic group, which can relate to an experience more like what they'd see online, only in an actual, social environment rather than a virtual one.
Perhaps most importantly, inspiring consumers to interact with a brand's message through a compelling call-to-action or a survey provides results that are also highly measurable. This feedback can be invaluable for advertisers when planning and implementing future campaigns. It also allows advertisers to run tests of creative techniques and adjust their approach accordingly. Finally, some interactive OOH advertising even provides the "pull" by providing content consumers want to access in an environment that makes the "push" (namely advertising) not just acceptable, but part of the positive experience. Interactive OOH capitalizes on the best aspects of digital media, and even allows for changes to be made on an ongoing basis, thus providing brands the opportunity to deliver time-sensitive and localized messages.
Interactive OOH advertising continues to grow at a rapid pace and is available in a variety of forms.