Due to lockdowns and lack of travel, out-of-home advertising has taken a large hit over the past two years. As the world begins to open back up again, we expect to see the OOH industry bounce back. In fact, it is estimated that OOH will grow a whopping 11% by the end of 2022!

To get the most out of digital signage, marketers need to understand the nuances and plan around current trends. In this blog post, we cover some interesting trends and tips for planning your digital signage media for 2022.

How DOOH Was Used

Common usage of digital signage and out-of-home media throughout 2020/2021 included the rapid deployment of health-related PSA’s, introduction of QR codes, and simple advertisements. This was mostly due to the nature of the pandemic, and companies focusing efforts on other digital platforms.

Another form of DOOH that started to gain traction was 3D billboards, such as the Piccadilly Circus billboard and Cross Shinjuku Vision screen. These billboards continuously made news and had thousands of people viewing them at any given time.

Leading up to 2020/2021, digital out-of-home was on the rise and the type of content being showcased was unique. Many of these creatives used the environment and external data triggers, such as the Pepsi Max - Unbelievable Bus Shelter campaign.

These innovations were becoming the norm for digital signage, but due to cost and lack of viewers, stopped being used as frequently. As the world starts to return to normal, marketers and advertising agencies should look to plan their 2022 DOOH media accordingly.

How Marketers Should Use DOOH In 2022

Now that the streets are opening up and people are travelling, the out-of-home advertising industry is set to bounce back. It’s also an ideal time of year to start planning your 2022 media and advertising campaigns.

Going forward, the old method of repurposing digital content won’t cut it, viewers have been privy to revolutionary creatives. To maximise the use of DOOH, specific campaigns and content will need to be developed. It’s also important to note that in-person events have returned, and bring with them huge crowds.

More marketers than ever before are taking notice of DOOH and the effectiveness of advertising through unskippable, unmissable methods. To stand out in such a competitive market, taking advantage of all the unique features of DOOH is a must.

Planning Tips For 2022

External Data Triggers

We’ve previously outlined external data triggers and their place in the evolving digital signage space in this article. In essence, by making use of these external triggers, campaigns can become much more contextually relevant.

Planning marketing campaigns around digital signage networks that make use of external data triggers is a must for 2022. By making use of these triggers, the type of content that can be developed is limited only by imagination.

Common data triggers include date, time, weather and presence detection, allowing creatives to become contextually relevant. Imagine you’re a real estate agent, on one hand, you could have a simple poster outlining what makes you special. Or, you could use contextually relevant digital signage. For example; you could have four or five creatives that change based on the time of day and weather. On days that the temperature reaches over 25°C, you could advertise houses with pools. Or at night, you could advertise how safe certain areas you sell in are.

What this means for marketers and media planners is that specific content that matches these criteria will need to be created. Forethought into where you’re advertising and at what times will need to be considered.

Combining Technologies

Whilst QR codes were already widely used, the COVID pandemic bought them into most people’s everyday lives. People see a QR code and know exactly what to do and what the result will be. Marketers can start to make use of this by combining QR technology with digital signage on a regular basis.

By encouraging viewers to become part of the experience they’ll feel more connected to the brand and the advertising will be much more effective. The more unique and compelling this interaction is, the more impactful the creative will be.

A common use of this technology combination is to have users scan the code and be redirected to a webpage. The difference is what this webpage shows and does, it could be a landing page, or something more interactive. We are seeing more and more brands embrace interactivity and have things like games or other CTAs.

When planning interactive creatives it’s important to ensure that as many devices as possible are supported. Your audience isn’t necessarily going to have the latest and greatest phone, so support for older devices is a must.

Keep in mind is that these experiences shouldn’t be long and drawn out, short and to the point is key. Ensure they’re on brand and make sense, trying to stay relevant by simply following this trend can have disastrous repercussions.

Tradeshows, Expos & Conventions Return

With the return of tradeshows, expos and conventions, planning your media for these events will be highly valuable. These events have already started back up and looking into events your target audience is likely to attend could be a golden opportunity. With the correct planning and forethought, you could reach new numbers you’ve never seen before.

Planning for these events is time-consuming, but the results will be worth it. One way to make use of these large scale events is to look at how people will be getting to them. You could advertise not only at the event but along the way too.

This is a high effort use case as physically scouting locations and tracking them via map software is required. Not only will you have to track the potential paths, but the available screens will have to be noted.

This trend is still emerging as the events industry recovers, so inventory is both readily available and affordable in venues. A large portion of marketers aren’t aware of the positive impact that this direct advertising has, so it’s easy to get ahead of the curve here.

More Measurable Than Ever Before

The DOOH industry has been working towards creating better and more ways to measure audience metrics. Data collection has improved a lot over the past few years, in particular, due to reporting guidelines slowly being introduced. For marketers, this means they can gather and collate collected information much more easily.

Marketers can use this information to find out which campaigns are doing well, and which may need to be updated or changed. This data can also be used to ensure that campaigns are played when and where they are supposed to be. By being trackable and having guidelines, inventory owners are reporting back honestly and to an industry-standard that is comparable.

Making Use of pDOOH

The above trends and tips are valuable and worth keeping in mind for marketers and advertising agencies, as is the rise of programmatic DOOH. Programmatic advertising is common in the digital advertising space, ensuring that advertisements are hitting the target market.

DOOH has been evolving and programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) is becoming a major part of operations. Like current online advertising, pDOOH ensures that the right content is played at the right time to the right people.

When planning the advertising campaigns for 2022, marketers and advertising agencies should consider and employ DOOH advertising. DOOH allows them to make use of new technology and stand out among competitors, whilst providing measurable and comparable success.

To get started with DOOH advertising, contact us today!