‘OOH with a purpose will come to the fore in 2022’

I. Compelling content will see an emergence

Claude Debussy, the French composer, also referred to as possible the first Impressionist composer and among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, famously said, “Music is the space between the notes”. Yes music is not just in the notes, it is in the silence within the spaces between the notes that makes music what it is.

In a similar fashion, the year ahead will see OOH and DOOH media owners clamour for content that can be used between two advertisements or between two bookings, and this I believe will be the most compelling addition to the ecosystem going forward as it will elevate site significance in ways that have not been witnessed yet.

II. Location narrative will take precedence

In a digital world facilitated by apps, just as the business of food is not necessarily only about the food but also about the time, so too the business of OOH will move from being just about the sites to more about the location. While we have begun to witness this change in parts, 2022 will see this take precedence and come to the fore. The context is always as important or even more so than the content and location resume’s will step ahead and dislodge the site resume for real in the coming year.

III. Citizen engaged OOH

Yes OOH with a purpose will come to the fore in 2022. As cities vie for prominence within an enlightened citizenry, we will see location pockets being re-imagined as public spaces, enabling more conducive environs for citizens at large to explore new connections, extend new services and enable new conversations. Which in turn brings a world of opportunities for brands and advertisers to build on creating contextual relevance among these audiences 

IV. Software will be the booster that drives OOH solution market

As the advertiser gets younger the conversations around out of home will get smarter. This pressing need for the commonality of this language will become more pronounced in the year ahead. We will see a new surge in OOH solution providers that chooses a language that this new breed of advertisers understand and that is software, which will be used as a solution for all OOH needs going forward.  This new brand of OOH solution providers has come knocking and they have already got a foot in the proverbial out-door.

V. The call for Compliance

Ralph Lauren once said…“I know who my consumer is because I am the consumer”. In 2022 we will see the manifestation of this thought when forward thinking media owners will begin to think like and for the advertiser, who is primed to focus on the two Cs, his consumer and compliance. We will see more structure, more transparency and more positivity in the space as a host of next generation media owners begin reinforcing this as the ONLY way forward for the industry.

Fabian Trevor Cowan has recently joined as CEO of Sapio Parthiv Heritech; he was earlier country head of Posterscope India