Posterscope publishes 2021 Predictions for OOH planning in a post-pandemic world

On the basis of actionable futures and predictions for Out of Home building since March 2020, Posterscope launches 2021 Predictions, with a focus on how to navigate the OOH landscape during and post the Covid-19 pandemic, including what this means for brands and clients.

They are based on bending to match changing consumer behavior and movements, on innovating solutions that address new client needs, on applying clarity to the abstract, on using creativity to navigate uncertainty, and on applying frontier thinking to a new world.

The Local Know-How

“A rapid transformation in the way we shop is changing the fortunes and reviving the culture of local commerce.” Anoosh Chakelian and Michael Goodier in The New Statesman

The report says the physical shape of society has shifted. For many, where they live is now where they work, shop, exercise and play. And for most, the entire worlds have become smaller and decidedly local. This of course brings with it a shift in movement patterns and behaviour – the agency built the Mobility Index to monitor these regional fluctuations and ensure follow audiences on these new journeys.

Whilst it is difficult to predict ongoing regional tiering and restrictions, it can predict with absolute certainty that the need for brands to ensure localised tonality and activity is vital. Those brands that don’t ‘go dark’ but instead go ‘hyper-relevant’ will reap the benefits of adaption in favour of reduction.

OOH outcomes: A robust data and insight-lead approach to planning will continue bringing confidence and certainty to regionally nuanced planning and creativity.

 The Enhanced Reality

“Augmented Reality has matured so rapidly that it is no longer considered an ‘emerging technology’ anymore.” Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies 2020

Augmented Reality. It’s not new. But that’s kind of the point. The agency has been layering mobile digital realities over a physical spaces/objects for some time (even longer in sci-fi but that’s a different story). Indeed, it has become ubiquitous and no longer an emerging technology.

And Apple have just made it even more so. With the launch of the iPhone 12, they have heralded in a new era of AR (the phone is loaded up with lidar sensors, meaning AR experiences can have much-improved quality). Couple that with the rollout of 5G (which allows for huge volumes of data to transfer which in turn means no lag, massively improved animation quality, and superior geo-location applications), and the agency has a technology that is not simply a fad or gimmick; its consumer familiarity means this is now a rational business–critical expectation that offers safe and touchless interaction, is shoppable, can educate and entertain and brings consumers into a brand universe in a seamless and natural way (especially via the QR code renaissance).

OOH outcomes: All OOH has the potential to be a networked portal system, whereby AR experiences are triggered at the physical format site.

The Bridge Between Worlds

80% of UK adults have made more contactless payments and 24% have made more mobile wallet payments since the beginning of the nationwide lockdown in response to Covid-19, YouGov, August 2020

OOH is not just posters and screens; it is a TV, a gaming console, a content portal, a path to purchase, and much more in-between – and it is the marriage between mobile and OOH that forms the critical heartbeat of that versatility. The computers carried around enable in-the-moment responses… if the value exchange proposition and prompt is compelling enough.

By tethering handsets to the OOH activity, the OOH industry will see a continued acceleration of technologies that enable our advertising to be shoppable and Covid-safe. Just as shoppable AR has become a reality for Snapchat, Adidas, Gucci, and Coty we expect further enhancements in computer vision, image recognition, contactless payments, image search, social shopping, and QR code familiarity to continue the explosion of response sub-channels within advertising.

OOH outcomes: Shop-what-you-see! OOH brand performance will continue to grow using a suite of technologies that drive online behaviours from offline stimulus (e-commerce/interaction/search).

The New Canvas

Two-thirds of people feel more connected and appreciative of their outdoor space and local community since lockdown, The Mobility Mindset- Posterscope, 2020

There is an almost infinite palette with which to paint all over our communities. Since OOH is the business of attention; and so, OOH must adopt new ways of achieving this whilst also embracing older ways that have perhaps fallen out of fashion in favour of shiny and new.

Creative techniques, unusual formats, and surprising avenues to attention will be explored and deployed to bring brands to local streets in exciting and fun ways; look up, look down, look all around!

OOH outcomes: Reappraising creativity and local/ambient formats as a means of enhancing traditional reach and frequency formats against a localised audience.

The On/Off Switch

“… the focus is more on brands being agile and using live data as it’s coming in to help make decisions on where to increase activity”, Kevin O’Farrell, associate vice-president, Analytic Partners, May 2020

More than ever, there is a need to provide clients with a new level of agility and flexibility for the DOOH medium. DOOH can be turned on and off like a light switch to ensure our clients are live when it’s the most important time for them.

The agility of agencies proprietary platform ECOS NOW also allows us to set up campaigns in advance, set the data trigger(s) in place, along with aspects like maximum budget to spend in a day or over a period of days so our clients can take advantage of upcoming key periods of sales.

This approach allows current and new clients to experience how DOOH can be a valuable medium to build fast awareness, to drive consumer response, and to be agile and reactive in market.

OOH outcomes: a continued acceleration of data-driven and efficient automated buying models, developing at pace in line with market, societal, and behavioural fluctuations.

The Green Revolution

“Post-lockdown over two-thirds of Brits plan to lead a more sustainable life”, Targus’ Eco Trends Report, Sept 2020.

And pandemic has brought lives at a pivotal moment where the world has seen the positive environmental impact of pausing. And with that, consumer mindsets and values have changed. According to a YouGov poll taken during lockdown, a massive 71% of people in the UK were concerned about the possibility of air pollution returning to the levels we had before the lockdown.

And of course, great leaps in technology, societal transformation, and innovation are always borne out of crisis so, finding new ways to heal our cities and communities is needed now more than ever.

As a media channel with a tangible physical presence in public spaces, the OOH industry has a significant role to play in this and we should expect the development and prototyping of multiple green technologies over the coming months, to include infrastructure technologies that clean the air, biotechnologies that push the agenda on green, alternative inks and production processes, and recycled paper and alternative biodegradable materials.

OOH outcomes: The construction and integration of industry-defining innovations and processes to become commonplace, not a nice-to-have.