Perhaps we should remind those publically declaring the soon demise of the offline marketing that deadly asbestos industry is still alive and kicking. Yes, you read that right, not even irrefutable scientific evidence calling out the dangers of asbestos were able to put an end to the madness that is asbestos industry. So, let’s all just take it easy with the “the end of the offline” talks and start by stating the obvious: with a $75 billion projected growth by the end of the 2022 for the TV ad spending alone one might conclude that those kinds of statements are, to say the least, are “fundamentally at odds with reality”. Furthermore, the latest PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook report shows that overall online advertising is projected to hit 127 billion USD by 2020 and the offline is projected to hit more than 132 billion USD. That being said, maybe we can file all of the misinformation under “alternative facts” and call it a day.
Moving forward, we would love to a) state that offline is still important, still relevant and still matters, and b) acknowledge the very successful classic offline media like TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, cinema and OOH, but today turn our attention to the new and exciting DOOH or the digital out-of-home. So, let’s state some DOOH related facts and score a few points for the offline team with the awesome digital out-of-home.
Point one: the ad perception
While the Internet has a tremendous impact on marketing as an industry, with all of the recently published statistics on the use of ad blocking one might wonder if the impact is being a tad exaggerated. For example, this year Digital Information World reported that globally adblockers are used by 47% of internet users and a few years ago HubSpot has stated that 41% of ad blocker users found out about ad blockers by word of mouth. People find ads annoying more often than not describing them as completely irrelevant and obnoxious. Moreover, with 79%, stating that they believe they are being tracked by retargeted ads, calling them creepy and intrusive we fell the online success claims are overrated. Honestly, with these kinds of stats, it’s a miracle online marketing “still matters”.
Surprisingly enough, DOOH advertising shows the exact opposite results. People don’t mind DOOH advertising at all, they don’t find it annoying or intrusive. Consumers love the advance DOOH tech. They willingly integrate with interactive DOOH, express excitement, and love for those brands upgrading their digital out-of-home with the newest tech like augmented reality. Plus, somehow, people don’t mind sharing information about themselves with a promise of personalization of their shopping experience. A survey showed that 64% of consumers do not mind retailers saving purchase history and personal preferences if more personalization is offered. People love the creativity and the entertainment element of digital out-of-home and are willing to engage, click, buy, share.
Point two: nothing comes close to the viewability and the stopping power of DOOH
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our OOH campaigns it is that: unless physically blocked, OOH is seen. And with technology constantly evolving we now have the power to literally stop people in their tracks with awesome creative AR, 4D, or dynamic DOOH marketing campaigns. We have seen numerous remarkable examples that have brought brands recognition, helped boost brand awareness and increased sales. Furthermore with digital signage software companies now heavily investing in the beautification of their product and offering professionally designed eye-catching designs every offline campaign can be highly effective. Check out some amazing DS soft products from the young players on the market, like Kitcast TV (https://kitcast.tv/), they know exactly how to reach customers and grab their attention in those 8 seconds of the overall attention span we have available to us.
Point three: DOOH is winning retail marketing
One of the most important variables that everyone should be taking into account while trying to decide the future of offline DOOH is that our newly emerged biggest population group – the Gen Zers are all for the offline shopping and retail DOOH might just be the reason. Thanks to high-tech retail DOOH efforts digital natives hat have never seen a world without the internet or mobile phones, don’t really have to go without with the online and mobile. DOOH retail marketing is easily integrated with any tech. Retail has dramatically changed since the emergence of the digital out-of-home, it brought us smart shelves, personalized shopping with facial recognition, in-store navigation screens, virtual search, or the highly demanded augmented reality shopping experience, that is a non-negotiable staple for the tech-savvy.
Research proves that those fully on board with the innovative DOOH are punching well about everyone else: a study from Condé Nast and Goldman Sachs shows that among the top 10 Gen Z preferred stores are the DOOH pioneers like Sephora, Nike, Ulta, Nordstrom, Adidas, Coach or Gucci that loudly announced their huge spring 2018 digital out-of-home campaign with scanning ads, virtual and augmented reality. To sum up: with billboard armed with beacons and integrated mobile tech driving the foot traffic, stores fully packed with the cutting-edge DOOH and a study by IBM and the National Retail Federation stating that a whopping 98% of Gen Z crowd said they prefer to shop in bricks-and-mortar stores we are well on our way to greatness.
Point four: Precise targeting with programmatic DOOH
The new programmatic approach to DOOH has quickly evolved into an unstoppable machine for reaching new markets and audiences, advertising based on real-time data, and providing in-depth marketing campaigns analysis. Now brands base their campaigns on real-time data, geolocation, customer interests, demographics, behavior patterns, real-time traffic data, ads can be customized based on third-party data, etc. Ad-run times are based on the location, and can even include the public transport schedules to avoid unnecessary spending. There are countless ways you can target your customers with DOOH, though it’s a separate topic for a whole new series of blogs.
