Unboxing The Billboard: Omni-Channel Engagement In A Post-Covid-19 World

Thought Leadership | Author: Isaline Duminil, JC Decaux Singapore

The lifting of restrictions in recent weeks has brought about a welcome bout of optimism. As societies emerge from lockdowns and activity picks up, audiences would inevitably be stepping out of their homes more frequently. For brands that have successfully gained mindshare through online channels during a period of confinement, the next step would be to sustain engagement when consumers resume activities outside their homes.

Marketers were ready to adapt to sudden changes in consumer habits and behaviours since the pandemic forced everyone indoors. Achieving a consistent brand voice across online and offline channels is the next crucial step to building upon successful audience engagement and translating purchases to long-term brand loyalty. A fully aligned approach that binds all touchpoints seamlessly is a vital consideration for marketers refining their strategies.

The unboxing: How mobile complements OOH media

The compatibility of OOH (out-of-home) and mobile provides much potential for marketers to tap on, given the versatility of both mediums. Brands can achieve high awareness with OOH while conveying tactical messages one-to-one via mobile. In other instances, strategic OOH placement indicates where nearby stores are and location-based mobile ads drive customers to the point of purchase. With stores reopening after being shuttered for months, brands may be allocating more budgets for sales activations to address immediate concerns about clearing stocks.

Outdoor media has been demonstrated to be a strong driver of brand actions, prompting 48% of audiences to search for information about a brand on their mobile devices, and 23% to visit its physicalstore after ad exposure. If billboards act as signposts to inform consumers’ buying decisions in what is termed the “Last Window of Influence”, the 30 minutes prior to purchase, then mobile display functions as a roving billboard with the power to amplify these messages, ultimately boosting store visits that convert to purchases.

Singapore is the first market in Asia where advertisers can benefit from this dual-screen strategy through the latest drive-to-store solution offered by JCDecaux in partnership with S4M. Brands will be able to adopt a data-driven approach to capture the attention of large audiences on-the-go and amplify campaign messages without the confines of the outdoor advertising panel’s frames. This also meets the need for accountability by producing results attributed to both the online and offline media.

Pilot studies conducted with major brands have revealed that audiences who were exposed to both the OOH and mobile campaigns were more likely to visit stores than if they were exposed to either media alone. H&M ran an outdoor and mobile campaign in Singapore in late 2019, retargeting audiences exposed to bus shelter ads with ads on their mobile devices. At the end of the 2-week campaign, the number of impressions, unique audiences and store visits were measured.

In fact, the numbers showed that the visitation rate of audiences exposed to both media exceeded the combined visitation rates of audiences exposed to either media, demonstrating an incremental effect when combining offline and online media.

Let’s face it. Budgets have been slashed as part of companies’ austerity measures in recent months. Valuable data informs business strategy during an uncertain time. With a pressing need to ensure that each ad dollar is maximised, an effective media mix is also one that delivers on accountability through measurable outcomes to prove marketing ROI.

Wider access to media inventory through programmatic

Building on these possibilities of OOH and mobile campaigns, it would be a natural progression to make OOH and mobile inventory available on the same selling platforms. Advertisers used to mobile campaigns can now enjoy greater flexibility and easier access to premium OOH inventory available on programmatic platforms while ensuring synergy across brand messaging.

The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of the OOH industry as it makes it foray into programmatic media. As JCDecaux launches its programmatic offer in Singapore later this year, it is the last piece in the puzzle for a seamless integration between traditional media like OOH into the modern media landscape.