Refresh and Reset for 2021: Why OOH is Best for Reaching Audiences Seeking a Fresh Start

With the festive season kicking into gear, the “fresh start” mindset associated with the end of a year has also started to come to front of people’s minds. Although New Year’s resolutions are something that we consider every year, after a challenging 2020, the anticipation to make 2021 as full and as happy as it can be, will be a top priority for many people. 

Unsurprisingly, the top New Year’s resolutions for 4 in 5 Brits are all health related. The pandemic and our overall health have especially been a top subject this year, which is no surprise why a lot of people are planning to do something about it in the new year.

Other popular resolutions such as, travelling more, learning new skills and improving our mental health, will also take on a renewed focus this new year as people been prevented from doing these activities for most of 2020.

2021 presents a huge opportunity to engage with consumers

For advertisers, 2021 presents a huge opportunity to engage with consumers as they seek ways to ensure that their health & wellbeing goals will be successful this year. In the first few months of the year, there are lots of events taking place that generated huge traction in 2020. For example, Veganuary saw a huge 50% increase in participants this year, with over 400,000 people taking part. During lockdown, this lifestyle change showed no signs of stopping, with 1 in 5 people turning vegetarian or vegan since March.

Dry January is also another popular event, with over 4 million people participating in 2020. The 0.3 billion litre resulting decrease in alcohol consumption increases the January popularity of soft drink brands, with the industry seeing a 2.224 million rise in soft drinks value across the last 5 years. Other key dates in Q1, include the “most depressing day of the year” – Blue Monday, No Smoking Day and World Cancer Day.

With a COVID vaccine on the horizon, people are setting their sights on 2021 as they look to start afresh and move on from 2020. For brands looking to contextualise messaging to deliver relevancy, OOH has never been more prepared to deliver broadcast audiences, amplify stories and prove the worth of communication spend through actionable insight.

We have several flexible and high-quality digital inventory packs available, all delivering the reach, location, and context to talk to audiences. From 1-day DOOH activations to OOH within gyms and point of sale OOH outside of stores, there’s something for everyone to deliver real creative innovation that stands out to audiences on the move.

For any brands wanting to understand the impact that OOH has had during one of the periods of biggest change we have experienced in recent years, the OOH industry pooled together results from 65 campaigns between March and September 2020. This study revealed that brands who continued to invest in OOH during the restrictions; saw a +51% shift in ad recall and top of mind awareness, as well as a +16% increase for purchase intent.

Brands willing to be bold in the new year and tap into the fresh start mindset for consumers in 2021, will ultimately reap the rewards.

For more information about the opportunities available in the New Year, please see our Health & Wellbeing Generator.