Creativity in DOOH: Media owners reimagine urban canvas | Part 1

Creativity in Digital Out-of-Home is no longer being measured by screen size or location dominance alone. Instead, the medium is moving toward a more intelligent, context-responsive and design-led approach, where engagement is shaped by environment, audience behaviour and storytelling depth. 

Roshan Rawat, General Manager- Marketing, Times OOH, believes the true creative power of DOOH lies in its ability to be intelligent, adaptive and alive. By leveraging real-time data, behavioural insights and contextual triggers, campaigns can evolve dynamically rather than remain static. This shift is transforming DOOH from a visibility medium into an engagement platform, where relevance, timing and experiential storytelling drive impact. He notes that brands today expect integrated narratives, moment-led communication and formats that extend beyond the screen into wider cultural conversations. 

Building on the importance of physical integration, Junaid Shaikh, Managing Director, RoshanSpace Brandcom, frames media design as a form of urban leadership. He emphasises that while scale may capture attention, relevance is what creates memorability. Effective DOOH assets are those designed in sync with sightlines, traffic flow and city rhythm, allowing communication to belong naturally within the environment. For Junaid, the future of creativity lies in treating media as an extension of urban infrastructure,   enabling contextual storytelling, adaptive messaging and ecosystem-led brand narratives across connected city spaces. 

Echoing the role of contextual belonging, Payal Patel, Co-Founder, Devangi Outdoor, highlights that in dense urban landscapes, creative effectiveness depends on cultural fluency and behavioural understanding. DOOH, she explains, must move beyond being infrastructure to becoming part of the city’s lived experience. Thoughtful placement, format sensitivity and environmental alignment allow communication to feel immersive rather than intrusive. As brand expectations evolve, Patel observes a growing demand for localisation, responsiveness and storytelling that mirrors the pulse of the city, positioning DOOH as a dynamic narrative system rather than a static display network. 

Collectively, these perspectives underscore a defining shift, where creativity in DOOH is no longer about dominating space, but about designing relevance within it.