Three-year Study Proves #OOH Effectiveness

Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief

Leading out-of-home agency Kinetic Worldwide this week launches the findings of new research carried out in partnership with Clear Channel, Global and JCDecaux designed to definitively pinpoint the effectiveness and impact of the rich variety of OOH advertising formats and environments on audiences.

The project creates the first true OOH Playbook providing planners with data to demonstrate the role different elements in the OOH media mix can play.

The three-year study of £2.2bn of media investment across 46 brands was analysed against YouGov Brand Index data. It was further underpinned by week-by-week Route audience impact data and used machine learning to quantify the brand uplift outcomes at a granular level with key trends. A meta-analysis identified key trends and behavioural science underpins the strategic framework.

Aimed at advertisers that wish to improve the effectiveness of their OOH media plans, the OOH Playbook demonstrates that OOH is particularly strong at driving five core brand outcomes: brand awareness, positive brand impression, enhancing impression of brand quality, enhancing propensity to recommend and projecting brand value for money.

The OOH Playbook demonstrates that:

  • Ad awareness is all about long-term memorability. Large format and small format with contextual messaging are key to driving this brand outcome.
  • Positive Brand Impression is linked to frequency of messaging and is driven by high-frequency environments like roadside, bus and transport.
  • Quality is influenced by the company you keep – media plans that want to drive quality metrics need to include premium sites, premium environments or premium production techniques.
  • Recommendation is driven by high dwell-time environments and is understood through Confirmation Bias – we spend more time with things we like.
  • Value for Money is about making people feel that what they’re paying for something is worth it. This is driven by high dwell-time and premium environments.

Jennie Roper, Head of Insight at Kinetic told us “The OOH Playbook proves that OOH works first and foremost. And it confirms a lot of the received wisdom that the OOH industry has traded on over the years. For example, if you want to drive quality it is all about the company that you keep and you need to invest in quality formats and environments.  There are some findings that raise the importance of different facets of media planning that have often been underplayed. For example, the importance for planners to look at frequency levels and the role that dwell time plays in the purchase funnel. By understanding the role of OOH beyond a CPT raises the bar of OOH media planning.” 

Analysis for the OOH Playbook was conducted by MediaCom and Wavemaker.


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