#FDTOOH: Making out of home work

17 Feb 2017

The reality of out of home (OOH) is that it is much more complex than targeting consumers travelling from home to work and back, and how OOH taps into that complexity to determine its success.

With clients demanding more and more innovation in the OOH space, Graham Deneys, Group Strategy Director at Carat SA, says the OOH response needs to be tailored to ensure it is adding value over and above what is expected.

OOH needs to assist in solving the overall issue faced by the client and strategist. “The objectives of a strategist are reach, frequency, impact and business objectives. “It is more than OOH delivering on these; it is about how it can deliver better than other mediums on these.

“You must strike with the right message at the right time and then complement the journey, not force it. The magic word is relevance.”

This can be achieved by picking out unique nuances from the consumer journey. “This will create innovative campaigns for your clients and moments for the consumer.” He suggests finding and utilising the things that standard research does not tell you, and opening up the touchpoints for OOH in that way.

However, he warns to check yourself when doing this. “The solution must always tie back to the business problem. Ask yourself if this ties back to the strategy being put forward, and if it solves the business problem.”

OOH also needs to be the correct option among all the other channel considerations. “As a strategist, I live and breathe multiple channels – not only OOH. Therefore, you as an OOH operator have to think beyond OOH.”

He urged OOH companies to understand that the channels strategists choose are those that will reach their clients objectives. “Instead of coming to us with a list of site, rather tell us about OOH and its ability to achieve these.”

OOH should fit offering seamlessly into the overall ecosystem and consumer journey thinking. “For OOH to facilitate or enhance a consumer’s experience, first we need to understand the journey. By understanding our customers’ everyday actions, we can adjust our communication to suit.”

This comes back to his earlier point about reaching the client objectives. “Just as a medium must meet the objectives of the clients, so the medium needs to fit into the consumer journey. It does not matter if you have a big impact billboard, if it does not fit into the consumer journey and their life at that time, then it will not work.”

You would not create a TVC for the sake of it, and it is the same with OOH.

Deneys was addressing delegates at Posterscope's Future Defining Themes of OOH Conference held at the Venue Green Park in Sandton.

Danette Breitenbach

About Danette Breitenbach

Danette Breitenbach is a marketing & media editor at Bizcommunity.com. Previously she freelanced in the marketing and media sector, including for Bizcommunity. She was editor and publisher of AdVantage, the publication that served the marketing, media and advertising industry in southern Africa. She has worked extensively in print media, mainly B2B. She has a Masters in Financial Journalism from Wits.