The Rise of Content and the Opportunities in OOH

Since the dawn of the digital era, content advertising has been bubbling under, but in recent years it has soared online – eclipsing traditional digital methods such as SEO, paid search and native advertising. We are now at the beginning of an evolution of how digital advertisers operate, pulling back from more generic broadcast messaging and shifting towards more organic, engaging and relevant content.

Brands are changing the way in which they communicate and transmit their messages. They want to not only ‘talk to’ their consumers, they want to build a relationship with them. Branded content offers this, allowing people to personally connect and converse with a brand in exchange for something useful and meaningful for them.

The use of content advertising in OOH provides a compelling opportunity to effectively utilise the medium’s vast landscape of possibilities in a more informative way to drive information, relevance and a more personal, dynamic and engaging connection with people.

The development of digital OOH infrastructure in recent years has mirrored the desire and hunger from advertisers for organic and tailored branded content communications. Digital OOH offers fame, stand-out, impact and real noticeability and particularly thrives around the use of contextual messaging, incorporating the real pillars of Out of Home – real time and location-based connections that can drive greater degrees of personal relevance. To feed this desire, alongside increased long-term investment in infrastructure, major media owners have developed ‘content-focused’ sub-divisions to further propel digital OOH content advertising opportunities.

At Talon, we have extensively researched the value of context and content in OOH proving that it drives an incremental effect across awareness, consideration, behavioural change and perception shifts. For example, Time Out’s usage of XTPs on the London Underground to promote local and relevant content towards the end of the week drove a 45% increase in website traffic alone.

Other recent examples of great OOH content initiatives include the English Cricket Board delivering live updates and social media feeds during Test Matches, the British Fashion Council streaming London Fashion Week catwalks on digital screens, and Cadbury’s playfully providing real-time Wimbledon scores alongside promoting their limited edition Strawberries and Crme chocolate bar.

All serve to elevate the communications we experience as we move around. Making our OOH infrastructure more useful and valuable, elevates the commercial value of the medium itself keeping people personally connected in their busy lives.

And as clients become smarter in generating ideas to activate OOH and digital OOH, an equally compelling content opportunity is using the landscape of OOH to foster a more informative, relevant, personal, dynamic and engaging connection with people.

Enhancing Brand Engagement

There are significant opportunities for brand advertisers and sponsors to engage with the Olympics, key UK events and social media landmarks across 2016 and beyond whilst adding a new dimension to the opportunities around Out of Home.

For more information on how the use of branded content can enrich a campaign and the opportunities across the OOH landscape, please take a look at our recent Generator offering on the subject.