Why DOOH works in the era of Attention Economics

Stephen writes:

In a world where we are relentlessly bombarded with ads every day, the majority of them online and of negligible value, the need for differentiation and cut-through is paramount. Not All Impacts are Equal Nowadays, technology, data and analytics are central to advertising, and DOOH is no different. Accountability and measurement is a hotbed of debate and obfuscation. But while the attention economy focuses on clicks, shares and instant gratification, a trend that has driven brands to prioritise short-term thinking and short-term gains, Out of Home (OOH) advertising is ploughing a very different furrow. One which is building long-term brand salience and value. A principle that advertisers are now rapidly returning to, for very good reason. And that can only be good for DOOH.

What We Already Know

OOH is a one to many broadcast medium. Its primary strengths are mass reach, visual impact and location. OOH ads are not intrusive, and they deliver on brand trust. DOOH grabs audiences’ attention in high-traffic, roadside, retail and transit environments. It’s an unskippable medium and can also reach consumers close to purchase points.

Creativity is key. Years of independent Neuroscience based studies carried out by Ocean, have established that full motion DOOH is significantly more impactful than static ads, eliciting a powerful emotional response and brand recall, correlating with real world sales impact.

These studies also establish the positive priming effect of DOOH on other media and the wider all screen media universe.

It begs the question as to why all brands wouldn’t want this from their media channel?

The Attention Dividend

Attention is the foundational part of any successful ad campaign, but in shorter supply than ever given the proliferation of digital channels and the fragmenting of media.

Earlier this year we conducted a survey of the top 25 marketers, and three in every four said attention was their biggest challenge. Ocean’s latest study, The Attention Dividend, conducted with Lumen, the experts in measuring human attention, challenges this status quo regards attention. It not only proves premium DOOH’s ability to capture real-world attention but demonstrates that there’s never been a better time to integrate DOOH into wider digital strategies.

The Attention Dividend study establishes that:

• Premium DOOH formats deliver five times more attention than online digital formats.
• Premium large format holds attention for 8.2 times longer than online display, 5.5 times longer than social media content and 1.6 times longer than online video.
• When looking at DOOH only, premium large formats hold attention for longer than six-sheets.
• When it comes to brand recall, our study finds that premium large-format DOOH delivers 2.5 times higher brand recall than online video.
• Full motion creative also drives 2.5 times more brand choice than static content.
• Meanwhile, Ocean’s 3D DeepScreen® format delivers a 32% uplift in brand desirability.

Previous research by Lumen and Ebiquity has shown a strong correlation between attention gains and long-term profit. Using the model from that study and Lumen’s attention per mille (APM) metric, Ocean’s research establishes that APM is at its highest when premium large-format DOOH is combined with standard OOH. It’s mutually beneficial to use both in the media plan. The three key payoffs for advertisers are that premium large-format DOOH drives long-term profitability; boosts brand recall (or mental availability); and increases consumer desire to choose the brand.

To Go Big, Go OOH

The abandonment of scaled broad-audience campaigns in the quest for efficiency is having negative consequences. In his latest research study with the IPA, the effectiveness expert Les Binet says while digital marketing might be cheap and measurable, marketers are kidding themselves if they think it’s truly effective. According to Binet, advertisers must generate between 30m and 60m exposures to drive statistically significant sales uplift, and at least 200m to drive “major results”. Binet warns that the relative decline of brand-building can lead to a “death spiral”, with budgets, campaigns and profits all shrinking due to worsening effectiveness. The message is simple: to drive meaningful results, advertisers need to think big.