The Future of OOH Ads

Doing business is never easy. Especially without advertisements. Ads have become an integral part of any business since social media has taken its turns even SMEs have up their game.

The ad industry is evolving and is becoming relevant to create engagement, making it work offline to online with hashtags, links and hyperlocal activities.

Out of various segments of the Ad industry, OOH is still the undisputed ad format for companies to gain sales and awareness for their product range. Still today OOH is highly unorganized and holds immense potential to be disrupted.

One such idea stuck my mind yesterday when having a look at the hoarding with big lamps.

The only ROI that can be measured is in terms of awareness and in some cases conversions like sales, or app installs.

The present business model works between 3 parties the owner of the space, the leaseholder of that space and the companies or advertisers.

The owner sets up the hoarding structures to place ads and grants a lease to some third party person who has several other similar locations known as inventory. The inventory is showcased to companies who rent that space for a specified period of time for advertisements. The lessor generated revenue from the companies who in turn pay a lease amount to the owners.

The disruption here can be made is making it digital. Setting up long broad boards LED screens like one in the Times Square which are powered through programming the same way on the likes of Facebook, Google Ads where it self-serve and based on location geography.

Although it doesn't seem to be as cool it's written. The LED boards require a huge investment to make it and its maintenance cost is high too, as it's exposed to adverse climatic conditions rainfall, sunlight, and winds. A proper protection mechanism has to be built to make the most of the investment.

Another huge investment would be required in creating the platform and connecting each and every inventory available so that it is controlled at a click of a button. It'd even require high-speed internet connectivity too.

The creation of this type of ecosystem requires a solid easy to use platform, strong engineering, affordable pricing and the potential to offer a much more diverse set of services than the present offerings.

Each billboard in Times Square costs $3000 per day to advertise. In India, it costs for a minimum of 7 days with a cost of Rs 1akh where the ad remains to be the same, and no action based ads. This task is highly mechanical and just based on assumptions and often end up for the sake of awareness.

But with digital boards, it's gonna be up and running with minimal self-service efforts.

Imagine from an advertiser's perspective to have access to a large set of inventory billboards to decide on the location, screen size, and also budget at the click of a button.

Various uses of

• Public information – news, weather, traffic and local (location specific) information, such as building directory with a map, fire exits and traveler information.

• Product information – pricing, photos, raw materials or ingredients, suggested applications and other product information - especially useful in food marketing where signage may include nutritional facts or suggested uses or recipes.

• Advertising and Promotion – promoting products or services, may be related to the location of the sign or using the screen's audience reach for general advertising.

• Brand building – in-store digital sign to promote the brand and build a brand identity.

• Influencing customer behavior – navigation, directing customers to different areas, increasing the "dwell time" on the store premises and a wide range of other uses in service of such influence.

• Influencing product or brand decision-making - Signage at the point of sale designed to influence choice e.g. Signage to help shoppers to choose dresses inside a fashion store^[4] or devices that on a computerized shopping trolley helping the customer locate products, check prices, access product information and manage shopping lists.

• Enhancing customer experience – applications include the reduction of perceived wait time in the waiting areas of restaurants and other retail operations, bank queues, and similar circumstances, as well as demonstrations, such as those of recipes in food stores, among other examples.

• Navigation – with interactive screens (in the floor, for example, as with "informational footsteps" found in some tourist attractions, museums and the like) or with other means of "dynamic wayfinding".
• QR Codes - The QR codes are yet another way of interacting with the audience. For example, a exclusive app campaign to scan the QR code to install and get the app working on the go. 

Digital screens or signages are being used in shopping malls, cinemas, education institutions, and transport too. 

But that's a human task where humans are involved in changing the requirements. 

The DOOH aims to disrupt this space by interconnecting the screens across sizes, across locations and across budgets driving optimum utilization and premium experience to audience an viewers. 

Although this concept isn't been introduced yet anywhere in the world and maybe extremely tough for it to implement across the stakeholders, i.e. inventory owners, viewers, and advertisers. 

Although it may not be able to create an impact on the sides of traditional billboards which sustain over a period of time say a month but Digital boards would definitely drive actions.