Thinking Outside the Home

Out of Home has surpassed people’s wildest dreams. The industry has taken advertising from traditional to non-traditional and now it is presenting itself on buildings and in windows. Its presence is still considered more traditional in nature with billboards, walls, posters, malls and transit, but guerilla marketers are playing a huge part in the medium’s next generation. Some of these types of OOH options include sidewalk art, removable imprints on currency, street teams and interactive sites plus anything else that an advertiser can conceive creatively. Out of Home vendors are very adept at creating niche advertising opportunities to achieve the presence desired in any market or at any venue.

For the third year in a row, Out of Home growth is more than 8% and advertisers spend approximately $7 billion annually in this medium. New business continues to grow in double digits with new advertising partners putting dollars into the many new forms. This year alone has over 3 dozen new vendors and technologies some of which will lead the way for advertiser superiority in a variety of venues. AAAA (American Association of Advertising Agencies) anticipates new entries on a regular basis, but the type of entries this year has provided advertisers new dimensions to work within.

High fashion, retail, investment banking and automotive continues to outspend most other entries in Out of Home. Calvin Klein, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, and Bulgari have become top airport advertisers as well as using the newer and more outlandish types of guerilla advertising to gain attention. Merrill Lynch, Chase, Citibank (just to name a few) also find airports, wall wraps, and street art to their benefit and buy within the top markets to build their name and image. Auto makers continue to direct their agencies to buy up stadium and arena advertising and create 3-dimesional executions to promote new vehicles and line extensions and to reach the consumer. It becomes a very competitive world when advertisers like these are buying OOH in yearly increments (annual contracts) to lock in the most superior locations. They outspend the other categories by more than $3M and look for the truly spectacular. Hotels and the entertainment categories have put tremendous demands on the OOH industry to provide venues that cater to many different audiences such as teens, alternate lifestyles, African-Americans, Asians and high lifestyle seekers. Competition in every area of business makes advertisers want more “bang for their buck” and OOH does not disappoint.

" Out of Home lets
imagination take the lead."

Continuing to forge relationships with the suppliers to provide as much detail on the target ability of venues, and to be able to measure and embrace the new options is every advertiser’s desire. The Traffic Audit Bureau and OAAA (Outdoor Advertising Association of America) forge ahead and measure the new forms of Outdoor. They continue to develop new measurement models to factor in the pedestrian value so they can properly define impressions. Outdoor measures the number of vehicles viewing the advertising, but with so many new options for the pedestrian, we continue to struggle with providing accurate numbers to report the huge viewership of these great new alternatives. Out of Home continues to be a media form that allows imagination to take the lead. The reach and deliverables for OOH continue to be far below what other media delivers as the measurements are based on vehicles, not “eyeballs”. We, the Out of Home leaders are working diligently with vendors, and committees to bring the OOH circulation numbers into line with other measured media.

Options continue to grow as targets expand and there is virtually nothing that cannot be conceptualized by most Out of Home specialists. Some new trends include:

:: Branding money with removable and usable stickers
:: Vehicle wrapping
:: Interactive mall and street kiosks with Bluetooth technology
:: 3-dimensional holographic window displays
:: Steam cleaning sidewalks as part of a public service with branded stenciled messages
:: Wrapping buildings, airplanes, blimps and vehicles with a variety of materials

Targeting is infinite, even right down to a certain street or zip code. Billboards, walls, buses, trains, malls, and stadiums continue to be the standards that drive traditional Out of Home. Demographic groups can be targeted by location, not by type of medium. Lead time for Out of Home is longer so that creative can be specifically designed to meet the form. It is a balancing act to work with so many variables in order to create the perfect message. Out of Home creative is sharper and more defined, and new technologies are factored in to create a unique message.

There is a new twist on using vacant store windows for large-scale poster ads with the additional use of video projection and audio. Now passerby’s can watch full motion video and listen to a product jingle while running errands or just window shopping. This urban signage program has taken a step beyond plastering posters on empty window to create giant, street level billboards with the capability of making them 3-dimensional with full audio.
Ads are printed on vinyl film that covers the windows and facades of vacant, permitted store fronts. These are called Storescapes, a window dressing application which takes advantage of the architecture, and builds an interactive campaign. It gives the appearance that creative is painted on the windows with logo and contact information included. Billboards at eye level create an interactive impact as people stop and actually inspect creative and read the message. Creative can be changed throughout the campaign to tie into other types of OOH that are being used in a variety of markets. The programs are designed for single advertisers to brand a message or promote a product. This technology is available in NYC, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. This window technology can be used on its own, or be used as a backdrop for street promotions. It is also an incredibly effective way to introduce a new product or event.

The dressing up of buildings and wrapping their facades has also taken on a designer-like image. Selected buildings are bathed in material or in light to create any image possible. The projection media process has taken on cinema quality, and the ability to transform a building has proven breathtaking. Buildings are morphed into illusive pieces of art for special events or for sheer advertising presence.

The use of these types of building wraps has grown by over 33% from 2005 as corporations are using them to gain media exposure from television and radio. Building wraps are more than just Out of Home; they are a public relations spectacle that CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox use for their new television seasons and sweeps. They have continuously used wraps to enhance their awards shows and events in the top markets. The creative is usually tied into the television advertising in order to fully brand all mediums. Movie studios also use these building wraps in the Los Angeles markets on a regular basis to draw attention to their latest upcoming summer and holiday movies. We have come a very long way from just draping columns on buildings with traditional vinyl, and are hoping that technology and advancements can keep up with our imaginations.

Vicky Frank, Out-of-Home Supervisor
Cheil Communications New Jersey