digital out of home Archives

Welcome to the Grand Visual Out of Home (OOH) Glossary, a comprehensive guide designed to familiarise you with the key terms and concepts within the dynamic world of OOH advertising. Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned professional, this glossary offers clear definitions of commonly used words, technical jargon, and GV-specific phrases. Covering everything from digital billboards to transit advertising, it’s a valuable resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of OOH media and its evolving role in today’s advertising landscape.

A

Ad Recall
A metric that measures how well an audience remembers an ad they have seen. It’s a crucial indicator of an OOH campaign’s effectiveness.

Airport Advertising
Includes internal and external displays of various sizes.

Ambient Media
Unconventional or non-traditional media that integrates advertising into the surrounding environment, often blending seamlessly into urban spaces (e.g., branded street furniture, bus stops).

Animation
Animation involves special treatment such as moving units, flashing lights, etc, used to gain added attention and awareness. It is more commonly used in rotating, permanent or spectacular sites.

Anamorphic DOOH
DOOH creative with 3D illusionary effects to make content appear as if it’s leaping out from the screen. These designs often leverage forced perspective and are typically displayed on large curved or angled digital screens, creating a highly engaging and immersive visual experience for viewers.

Asset
An individual site of any particular OOH format.

Audience
A group of people that an advertising message is aimed towards. This group can be defined by age, gender or any other grouping specified by the advertiser.

Audience Impressions
Audience Impressions are calculated by taking the won impression and multiplying it by the impression multiplier passed by the exchange. This allows advertisers to understand the potential number of viewers of our OOH campaign and not just the number of times the ad was shown.

Audience Reach
A term that provides a count of the total number of people who were likely to be exposed to the message.

Augmented Reality (AR)
A technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view.

Augmented Reality OOH (AR OOH)
A blend of digital and physical environments, where OOH ads use augmented reality to create interactive and immersive experiences. Often involves mobile apps or digital screens to bring the creative to life in a new dimension.

B

Backlit Billboard
A billboard illuminated from behind by lights, ensuring visibility in low-light conditions, such as at night.

Beacon Technology
Small wireless devices that use Bluetooth to communicate with nearby smartphones and deliver personalized messages or ads, used in proximity-based OOH campaigns.

Billboard
Large format advertising displays intended for viewing from extended distances, generally more than 50 feet. Billboard displays include, but not limited to: bulletins, junior posters, posters, and spectaculars.

Brand Awareness
The extent to which a brand is recognized by potential customers, often a key objective in OOH campaigns.

Bulletin
The largest standardized OOH format; typically measuring 14’ x 48’ in overall size. Sold either as permanent displays or in rotary packages.

Bus Shelter
A curbside structure located at regular stopping points along urban bus routes.

Bus Wrap
An advertisement site which covers the whole of a single or double deck bus. Effectively ‘wrapping’ the entire bus.

C

Campaign
The interval of time when an OOH advertising campaign is run.

Campaign Amplification
Strategies used to increase the impact of OOH campaigns, such as integrating social media, PR stunts, or experiential elements to extend the campaign’s reach beyond traditional OOH placements.

Campaign Flight
The duration or scheduled period in which an OOH ad runs.

Client Services
Our client services team are responsible for bringing your campaign to life. They are your point of contact, overseeing the campaign’s progress from start to finish.

Contextual Advertising
OOH campaigns that are tailored to the specific environment or moment in which they appear, enhancing relevance and impact. Based on audience demographics, location, or behavioural data.

Cost Per Thousand (CPM)
The cost of reaching one thousand viewers or impressions of an OOH ad. It’s a common pricing model for buying media space.

Creative Development
The process of conceptualising and producing creative assets specifically tailored for OOH campaigns. This includes everything from artwork to motion design, ensuring the visuals align with the brand message and the environment.

Creative
The design and content of an advertisement, which could include images, graphics, or text.

Custom Builds
Unique OOH installations created specifically for a campaign, often incorporating physical structures, interactive elements, or bespoke designs to enhance engagement and visibility.

D

Dayparting
The practice of scheduling OOH ad displays to run at specific times of day when the target audience is most likely to be present, commonly used in digital OOH.

Digital Billboard
Billboards that can change advertising content using digital technology. Content is static with multiple advertising message presented in rotation every few seconds.

Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH)
OOH ads that are displayed on digital screens, often allowing for dynamic and real-time updates of content.

Domination
When a campaign has a domination of an OOH format, it means that a single advertiser occupies or controls the majority, if not all, of the available advertising space in a particular OOH location or platform. This strategy is designed to create a powerful, high-impact presence by overwhelming the environment with the brand’s message, making it impossible for consumers to miss.

Dwell Time
The interval of time when a consumer is in close proximity to an OOH ad.

Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO)
The use of technology in digital OOH to change and optimize creative content in real-time based on variables like weather, time of day, or audience demographics. This allows for personalized and responsive advertising.

E

Effective Reach
The number of persons within the target audience exposed to the advertising schedule an average of three or more times.

Engagement Rate
A measure of how much an audience interacts with or responds to an OOH advertisement. This can include direct actions like scanning a QR code or engaging in social media.

Experiential OOH
A form of advertising that focuses on creating an interactive, immersive experience for the audience. This can include live events, pop-up installations, or digital interactions that engage passersby in a memorable and meaningful way.

Exposure
As derived from TAB’s visibility research, a physiological or behavioural measure of actual eye contact with an OOH media unit and its advertising. TAB OOH Ratings are derived from the adjustment of circulation or passing to those who notice the advertising.

Eye Tracking
A survey methodology that records the movement of the eye and its fixations in relation to what an individual is looking at. The fixations are used to determine the factors that influence a person’s Likelihood To See (LTS) an advertising face.

F

Footfall Tracking
The process of monitoring the number of people who pass by or engage with a specific OOH ad location. Often used to evaluate effectiveness.

Format
Refers to the type of OOH media: Billboards 25sqm+, Bus/Tram/Kiosk, Retail, Airport, etc.

Frequency
The average number of times an individual notices an OOH advertising message during a defined period of time. Frequency in OOH advertising is typically measured over a four week period, but can be reported for any campaign length.

G

Geographic Targeting/ Geofencing
Targeting audiences defined by their location in the real-world. Location attributes can vary from granular attributes such as mobile/GPS-enabled latitude/ longitude data to broader attributes as post code or state/province. In technical specifications, targets may simply be referred to as “geo”, “user”, “audience” without spelling out the full term.

H

High-Impact Site
A premium OOH location with high visibility and foot traffic, often commanding higher advertising rates.

Hyperlocal Targeting
The use of specific geographic targeting to reach audiences within a narrowly defined area. This is particularly effective in DOOH, where content can be customized for different locations in real-time.

I

Immersive Installations
Large-scale OOH setups designed to fully engage the senses of the audience, often incorporating visual, auditory, and sometimes tactile elements. These installations can include projection mapping, 3D builds, or other interactive features.

Impact
A unit of measure with one impact being equal to one person’s viewing of a single face. Impacts also referred to as gross impressions or contacts.

Impressions
The total number of times people are likely to notice an ad on an OOH display. Gross impressions are those delivered against a demographic audience for an advertising schedule.

Interactive OOH
These are campaigns designed to engage the audience actively, often through technology such as touchscreens, mobile integration, or augmented reality.

Interactive Kiosks
Freestanding, digital, touch-screen displays found in high-traffic areas, allowing passersby to engage directly with content or retrieve information.

J

K

L

Large-Format Digital Screens
Digital displays used in high-traffic areas like city centres or major transit hubs. Grand Visual may work with animation and motion graphics to create dynamic content that leverages the large digital format.

LED
LED’s or Light Emitting Diodes, are the lamps used in Electronic Messaging Centres (EMCs) and colour screens.

Line of Sight
Refers to the visibility of an OOH ad, meaning it is within clear view of potential viewers, unobstructed by trees, buildings, or other structures.

Location-Based Advertising
Targeting OOH ads in specific locations based on the proximity of the target audience.

Digital Creative

M

Market
Geographically defined areas used to buy and sell media. Standard markets definitions are DMAs and CBSAs.

Measurement Metrics
Data used to assess the performance of OOH campaigns. Common metrics include impressions, engagement rates, and ad recall.

Media Owner
A media owner is a company or individual who has the right to sell outdoor advertising space.

Media Plan
A plan for an advertising campaign that specifies details of the selected media, advertising content, dates and delivery goals such as reach and frequency.

Mobile Billboard
A truck equipped with one or more poster panel units. The truck can either be parked at specified venues or driven around designated localities.

Motion Graphics
Animated visual elements used in digital OOH ads to grab attention and enhance creativity.

Mural
Murals painted or attached directly onto the exterior surface of a building.

N

O

Omnichannel
This refers to the integration of OOH media with other digital and physical channels to create a seamless, consistent, and unified advertising experience for consumers. It combines traditional outdoor formats (e.g., billboards, transit ads, digital displays) with online, mobile, and in-store engagement, ensuring that the messaging across all these platforms is cohesive and enhances the consumer journey.

Out of Home Advertising (OOH)
Advertising that reaches consumers while they are outside their homes, including formats like billboards, street furniture, transit ads, and place-based ads.

OOH Tech
OOH technology refers to the application of innovative techniques, methods, and processes used to develop and advance the product offerings of the OOH advertising industry.

P

Panels
An OOH unit can also be referred to and/or divided up into panels for ease of selling/buying.

Poster
A standardized poster format, typically measuring 12’3” x 24’6”; formally known as a 30-Sheet Poster.

Posting Date
The date when a poster program is scheduled to commence. A five day leeway is customary.

Posting Instructions
Detailed directions provided to an OOH company by an advertiser or agency assigning specific copy to specific locations.

Place-Based Advertising
OOH ads that are strategically placed in specific venues or environments, such as malls, airports, or gyms, where the target audience is most likely to be.

Play Length
The interval of time when a DOOH message is viewable. Also as message duration in other markets.

Point of Sale (POS)
An OOH advertising format located near retail outlets, encouraging immediate purchases.

Printed OOH Media
Any OOH display that uses a printed substrate to display advertising content.

Programmatic DOOH
The automated buying and selling of digital OOH ads using data and algorithms to deliver ads at optimal times for the target audience.

Production
The production department is responsible for the physical creation and delivery of advertising materials across various OOH media formats, such as billboards, digital signage, transit ads, and street furniture. This department ensures that the creative assets are produced to the right specifications, installed correctly, and meet the required quality standards for the chosen advertising platforms.

Projection Mapping
A technique that uses light and motion to project dynamic images onto surfaces like buildings, creating the illusion of movement and transforming structures into vibrant canvases for creative OOH executions.

Q

QR Code
Quick Response Code – a machine-readable code consisting of an array of black and white squares, typically used for storing URLs or other information for reading by the camera on a smartphone.

R

Rapid Versioning
The process of quickly creating multiple variations of OOH creative content to cater to different audiences, locations, or contexts. This method allows for fast and efficient updates across campaigns, often used in dynamic or digital OOH to ensure the messaging is relevant and timely.

Reach
The approximate percentage of a target audience’s population who notice an advertising message at least once during an OOH campaign.

Real-Time Bidding (RTB)
A digital advertising model where ad space is sold in real-time through an auction-based system, commonly used in programmatic DOOH.

Real-Time Content
Digital OOH creative that updates in real-time based on external factors such as social media trends, news updates, or live event feeds, ensuring the content is fresh and contextually relevant.

Retargeting
Targeting audiences that are defined by having recently shown interest in said advertiser, interest most often being defined as visiting the advertiser’s website or store location.

Rotation
The process of moving the advertiser’s message from one location to another at stated intervals to achieve a more balanced coverage of a market.

S

Sampling
Sampling refers to the practice of distributing free product samples or trial-size versions of a product to consumers. This technique allows advertisers to directly engage with potential customers while reinforcing the messaging seen on billboards, transit ads, or digital displays.

Share of Voice (SOV)
Amount of ad display time received out of the total display time of call advertisers and content displayed. Usually calculated over a 24 hour period or operating hours, whichever is shorter.

Sites
The exact location of the infrastructure on which the individual outdoor advertising faces are exhibited. For example, a site may represent one internal bus panel, a double-faced supersite or a scrolling bus shelter with three advertising faces.

Social Amplification
Integrating social media with OOH campaigns to encourage interaction and sharing. This may include hashtags, user-generated content, or interactive features that link the OOH experience to digital platforms.

Solutions

Special Builds
Custom OOH installations that go beyond standard billboard formats, often involving physical structures or kinetic elements to create an impactful presence in the environment. These may involve sculptures, interactive digital components, or larger-than-life installations.

Spectacular
A large-scale, often custom-built OOH installation in high-traffic locations. These are high-impact ads with a strong visual presence, often used in places like Times Square or Piccadilly Circus.

Street Furniture
Advertising displays, many that provide a public amenity, positioned at close proximity to pedestrians. Street furniture displays include, but are not limited to: transport shelters, newsstands, shopping center panels, convenience store panels and in-store signage.

T

Target Audience
Any audience reflecting the most desired consumer prospects for a product or service, defined by age, sex, race, ethnicity or income; or their combinations for any geographic definition.

U

V

Vinyl
A single-sheet substrate on which an advertising message is rendered by either computer production or hand painting. Vinyl is primarily used on the face of Bulletins and premiere products.

Our very own CCO, Dan Dawson and his Behind the Billboard co-host Hugh Todd discuss the best OOH work over the last year and which ones they believe could be Cannes Contenders including British Airways, McDonald’s, Warner Bros; Wonka and many more!

See the full article on Shots.net here!

Take a look at the latest interview from LBB with our very own Managing Director, Jay Young. This interview delves into our latest OOH campaigns, our people-first philosophy and the advancements in 3D advertising and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising.

View the article here.

`Creative Personalisation of Ads - and Scale? Dan Dawson

This piece first appeared on LBB

LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?

Dan> One of my earliest professional mentors was a creative director called Jon Laurie. Jon is a fantastic leader for many reasons, but foremost from a creative and guidance perspective. He provided me with active experiences around making the most of a creative brief, exploring avenues and allowed the whole team to develop skills while answering the briefs. This leadership is something that has been priceless to me as I forged my own path and offered me a sound foundation for creative leadership in the professional world.

LBB> How did you figure out what kind of leader you wanted to be – or what kind of leader you didn’t want to be?

Dan> I think it’s simple. Be the leader you’d like to be led by and start from there. I really do think that leadership is about evolution, rolling with the changes, people, tides and times. Fundamentally though, I try to lead and communicate with people in the way I’d like to be led or communicated with. I always aim to provide my team with an environment where they too can challenge me and each other in a pragmatic, calm and candid way, while respecting each other’s boundaries, beliefs and skills.

LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?

Dan> I have spent the majority of my career working with one of the best leaders in our industry, Neil Morris. Over the last 17 years of Grand Visual Neil taught me so many lessons in team building, bonding and growth. There’s not one big lesson… everyday was a school day!

LBB> Did you know you always wanted to take on a leadership role? If so how did you work towards it and if not, when did you start realising that you had it in you?

Dan> No. It kind of fell on me as our company grew. In order to scale effectively we really need to build a team that shares our company vision and culture…. And I’d be lying if I said it was plain sailing. I think we failed on lots of efforts, and finally found our flow through being more self critical. For me that’s one of the most important things about leading in anything. You need to prepare to fail, fail fast, learn from it and move forward using those failures as lessons.

LBB> When it comes to ‘leadership’ as a skill, how much do you think is a natural part of personality, how much can be taught and learned?

Dan> I’d say it’s got to be equal. I think good leaders get lots of their skills naturally…. However as with anything the more you open your mind to learning and education the better you get at it. EG I’m a keen golfer… I’ve always had natural hand eye coordination so when I first picked up a golf club I was able to connect with the ball. However my game only really turned a corner after hours and hours of practice, watching lessons online and working on my game in the range and then the course. There are natural, emotional and physiological skills everyone possesses and with some extra effort, and some craft those skills can be forged into a real tangible asset if you put that effort in.

LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?

Dan> I’ve a tendency to think and act fast. I think it’s a product of the work we do and the fast paced environment that a busy creative studio gives you. I’ve been working on slowing down and trying to separate creative executive decision mode from business and people mode. But obviously in our world those lines are often quite blurred.

LBB> Have you ever felt like you’ve failed whilst in charge? How did you address the issue and what did you learn from it?

Dan> EVERYDAY! I’m my own worst critic and enemy. But I think that’s ok. Self assessment is part of growing and understanding yourself.

LBB> In terms of leadership and openness, what’s your approach there? Do you think it’s important to be as transparent as possible in the service of being authentic? Or is there a value in being careful and considered?

Dan> I’m open, honest and candid as can be…. But there will always be parameters to the information that could be shared and that needs to be shared… and the effect it may have on people in your team.

LBB> As you developed your leadership skills did you have a mentor, if so who were/are they and what have you learned? And on the flip side, do you mentor any aspiring leaders and how do you approach that relationship?

Dan> I’ve had many unofficial mentors [see above for examples], and only one official mentor. Although my official mentor claims he was never my mentor… we just had some ‘chats’. I think that’s what made him a good mentor for me… it never felt forced, I never took notes, just two humans talking about making the world a better place to work in.

LBB> It’s been a really challenging year – and that’s an understatement. How do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through such difficult waters?

Dan> In some ways this has been the most difficult 18 months of my career… some of the decisions we’ve had to make from a commercial perspective have had a profound effect on the people in our care, our colleagues and our friends…. as well as us as leaders. I think with anything you need to give yourselves the oxygen away from the office to keep the fire burning in the office. For me that’s my family life, sports and sometimes just getting outside and enjoying the great outdoors on my mountain bike.

LBB> This year has seen the industry confronted with its lack of action/progress on diversity and inclusion. As a leader how have you dealt with this?

Dan> We must always be doing more in this area. Our work will never be done, or done fast enough. Always learning and ever evolving… as people and as an industry. Coming from a mixed race family, and experiencing first hand some of the worst sides of our fellow humans, I have always and will always ensure my team, and place of work puts a lot of emphasis on making sure our work environment is reflective of our great community. In the creative industry I think this is most important. When we work on briefs at Grand Visual and Talon Outdoor, we pull ideas from all over our business, with input from our people from all over the world, with different beliefs, backgrounds and from different cultures. I believe, having a diverse workforce offers us greater insight, knowledge, research and experience which ultimately helps our creative output.

LBB> How important is your company culture to the success of your business? And how have you managed to keep it alive with staff working remotely in 2020?

Dan> It’s everything. The Grand Visual trajectory as market leader was only possible through the people who powered it and the culture they subscribed to from initial contact to exit. We had lots of remote sessions while we were all locked in… but there’s no real substitute for getting the team back together and being a bunch of humans interacting.

LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?

Dan> Talk and listen to others. There’s not always a book, a course, a roleplay or one pager to answer your leadership issue. I think I’ve learned more from talking and listening to others than from any organised session.

Shocking new data on air pollution reveals that nearly 8 million (25%) addresses in the United Kingdom have air pollution levels above World Health Organization limits. The data comes from addresspollution.org, which has today rolled its London pilot out nationally. Air quality reports are now freely available for every UK address.

The initiative, by AMV BBDO and policy activist group Central Office of Public Interest (COPI), is also attempting to drive legal action to force the disclosure of air pollution ratings within the property industry. This would mean estate agents, property websites, surveyors and conveyancers are obliged to disclose air pollution, in the same way they have to disclose other deadly substances, such as asbestos. An explosive 20-page Queen’s Counsel legal opinion, released with the campaign, reveals a ‘strong legal argument’ estate agents will be negligent for not doing so.

Originally launched in 2019 as a London pilot, addresspollution.org received nearly one million visits at launch. Off the back of that success, funding was secured to commission 1.5 billion new data points from university Imperial College London.

addresspollution.org can now reveal the levels of three toxic pollutants anywhere in the UK in an easy to understand Air Quality Report (AQR). The health implications for living at the address are also given. People are then urged to sign a petition demanding that estate agents and property websites disclose air quality to buyers and renters.

The rating system, approved by experts at the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London, needed to be simple. It combines information design, brand identity and graphic design to make an invisible killer visible.

Scott, Art Director at AMV BBDO, says: “We’re dealing with concentrations of pollutants measured in micrograms per cubic metre. On top of that, there are three different pollutants and they’re all invisible. We had to communicate complicated information quickly and efficiently, while nodding to the toxicity.”

Designer Director Mario Kerkstra adds, “Air pollution exists on a microscopic scale but its effect on lungs, the brain, heart and even the womb is profound. We needed a visceral way of expressing the different levels of air pollution in more than a coloured banded system. Spikes exist in nature as a warning sign, a sign of danger. They felt right for this.”

The agency has created a hard-hitting national campaign launching the system which visualizes the damage invisible air pollution causes. The campaign centres on geo-targeted animated digital ads featuring spiky typography which ‘breathes’ according to the air pollution at that location The ads are running across 651 digital out of home screens around the UK. The media sites were donated by Open Media, Foris Outdoor, City Outdoor, BlowUp!, JCDecaux, Clear Channel Outdoor, Alight Media and Global Outdoor.

A blitz on Instagram will also see a number of posts exposing the high levels of pollution in different sites in the UK. The strong, eye-catching social media pieces also feature different organs, such as breathing lungs covered with spikes. Funds to get the addresspollution.org pilot live were originally raised through a successful Crowdfunder campaign, making this a truly people-powered campaign.

Humphrey Milles, founder of the Central Office of Public Interest, said: “Air pollution affects everyone. It is a dangerous, invisible killer. With this national roll out, it would be shameful for the property industry to not start acting in an honest, transparent way. Lives depend on it. Everyone has a right to know what they’re breathing. And with the public finally able to see this invisible problem, the government will need to swiftly act to bring air pollution levels down.”

The data-driven approach breaks new ground for AMV BBDO. Copywriter Ben Polkinghorne says, “Back in 2019 we were asked to come up with an idea that tackles inaction on air pollution. Little did we know we’d end up spending our time developing a rating system with scientists and uncovering legal loopholes. We’ve literally been living and breathing the stuff for years, so it’s fantastic to get this next phase of the project out into the world.”

To get a free air quality report for your address and sign the petition, visit addresspollution.org.

Cephas Williams, founder of the Black British Network, has launched an inspirational campaign, which features on Out of Home (OOH) digital screens throughout November and December, publicising his moving Letter to his son Zion written in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. The move is currently supported by 19 UK industry leaders including Phil Thomas, Keith Weed, Stephen Woodford, Jude Kelly, Barry Cupples and Paul Polman.

The campaign, which is to support Williams’ crowdfunder initiative to support the Black British Network, aims to promote change and a dialogue not restricted to October’s Black History Month. The OOH campaign uses creative including the introductory line “I want to see a world where…” and includes subsequent copy such as “…people respect each other’s differences”, “…black history is not just celebrated in a single month”, and “…where black people are treated fairly”. All taken from Williams’ letter as seen on LetterToZion.com.

The OOH industry is supporting the initiative in a campaign worth over £1 million, with the project led, planned and coordinated by Talon. The distinctive black and white creative copy-led messaging, which includes the iconic end-frame image of Cephas holding his son, Zion, has been developed and created by Grand Visual. It will run in November and December, and into 2021, across sites donated by Blow Up Media, Clear Channel Outdoor, JCDecaux, Ocean Outdoor, Open Media, Maxx Media and Smart Outdoor.

The Letter to Zion, written to his son as a vehicle to bring about continuous dialog and tangible change regarding the black community and wider landscape, followed the birth of his son around the time of George Floyd’s killing in the US. Cephas spent months writing this timely letter and released the letter on October 9th, his birthday.

As Cephas Williams explains,

“Unfortunately, it took the killing of George Floyd to bring about this awakening and now with companies and leaders going back into the cooler, my concern is that we have not yet successfully created something that exists independent of corporate frameworks that can be used as a tool to help bring about the change we need to see. This stance, supported by a variety of industry leaders and now the Out of Home industry in bringing my message to the wider community and beyond a single reference point, such a s Black History Month, will reinforce the message of the Black British Network, that ‘Together We Are Stronger’. The hope is to create a ‘unified knock’ that goes beyond lip service and tokenistic gestures and starts to look at primary behavioural and systemic change, to support a mission that prioritises a more reflective approach and response to the black conversation than a reactive and opportunistic one.”

Barry Cupples, Group CEO of Talon, who’s team planned and coordinated the OOH activity, adds:

“This is an unbelievably important cause that we’re very proud to be involved with alongside some amazing Out of Home media owner partners. Bringing the message to a wider audience, highlighting its importance and showcasing some extremely powerful ad content, will really stand out in this period ahead and drive the desired effect of delivering impact, action and change.”

Commitments to the Letter to Zion and the further ambitions of the BBN so far includes the support of the OOH industry through media space, plus companies like Alfa Systems, O2, Ernst & Young and Clear Channel committing to the BBN Round Table Conversations and other key deliverables proposed by the Black British Network to bring about long lasting change in this area. Clear Channel, who initially worked with Williams to amplify the ground breaking 56 Black Men ‘I am not my stereotype’ campaign in 2019 and the ‘Let’s Not Forget’ campaign in 2020, connected Talon to Cephas as part of an ongoing ambition to further unite the OOH industry in support of Williams’ message and vision for change. This is the start of an ongoing and powerful relationship that will be committed to supporting the BBN in driving the change we need to see in this country and the wider world.

Dan Dawson, Chief Creative Officer, Grand Visual

Dan Dawson, CCO Grand Visual

With travel restrictions still in place across much of the world and varying degrees of lockdown hindering our out of home movement and daily lives, the impact on the OOH medium has been significant. Arguably the biggest media win of the lockdown is the nationwide embracing of various digital technologies to help us stay connected. Connected to colleagues, connected to family and friends, our education and healthcare systems, and even connected to my local fruit and veg store who now offer online shopping – unheard of before Covid-19, this really is creative innovation.

Lockdown has also been a time of reflection and space to think about what comes next. When social distancing measures are relaxed, how will the OOH medium be used creatively? OOH, media will likely be at the highest occupancy level and space will be at a premium. Advertisers may need to consider inventory outside of the traditional main players.

Budgets and timelines for creative production will also be hit hard as companies prepare for what the media suggest might be a global recession. With these conditions, advertisers will need outstanding creativity now more than ever. Creative that cuts through the noise and engages the audience in a memorable way as they reacquaint themselves with the great outdoors.

Resonate with Mindset

Consequently, brands need to ensure that the money they spend on OOH media works harder than ever. Creative needs to stand out through timely delivery, with messages that align to the time of day, location, and consumer purpose to be useful. By resonating with the audience mindset it is possible to create deeper emotional connections with people as they go about their ‘new normal’.

There have been massive advancements in smart audience planning over the last few years, data tools that not only helps OOH to get tactical with behavioural targeting but also informs the right creative message, tone or brand to prioritise from a subset. Linking your smart media planning to smart creative will drive media effectiveness, as we deliver the messages at the right moments for your audience’s mindset.

Get Scalable

With budgets inevitably constrained, the need for production efficiency on large OOH media plans is immediate. Advertisers need to work with digital OOH production partners who offer scalable content mastering and creative re-versioning for OOH, to capitalise on the efficiencies for delivering DOOH creative to multiple formats, environments, durations and ratios. One that has the ability to act for local, regional, continental or global markets, potentially requiring thousands of pieces of creative for each campaign.

Be Contextual

With occupancy on OOH expected to be high as soon as the global lockdown begins to ease, only a finite amount of space will be available, so being smart about your creative and ensuring it is topical to the environment will be more important than ever.

A recent study from Clear Channel revealed that creative OOH executions were 32% more effective if they are contextually relevant. We know from experience that dynamic creative delivers effectiveness – for creative as well as media. Contextual messaging is not just for the big digital and technology brands of the world, we’ve worked on campaigns for airlines, retail, food, beverage, automotive and FMCG brands that all prove the same incredible results.

Go Bespoke

With standard OOH and DOOH media space selling fast, advertisers will have the chance to broaden their reach in the OOH space by looking at locations, formats or experiences that they would not usually have considered. Immersive experiences and ambient outdoor activations help brands stand out in a cluttered environment and create deeper emotional connections with audiences.

Recent neuroscience research led by Ocean Outdoor found that engaging with consumers through interactive experiences on DOOH creates deeper, more memorable connections to your brand. As a big AR enthusiast one of their key stats stood out to me: “The use of augmented reality using image detection equated to a four times stronger impact of memory encoding.”

Get Social

We don’t need to actually be outdoors to appreciate outdoor work. Social and OOH are natural bedfellows, platforms helping other platforms. Interactive experiences help to spread the message beyond the OOH medium it’s initially displayed on as participants share their experience online with friends and family. So the ability to ‘socialise’ special builds, murals, interactive experiences into incredible multi-format campaigns will be a real winner in the second half of 2020 and beyond. Again some interesting findings from the same Ocean research noted that adding social media capabilities to your campaign can make it 4 times more memorable for consumers.

As lockdown restrictions continue to relax, and people reacquaint themselves with the great outdoors, those advertisers who invest in OOH media but underinvest in creativity risk missing the mark in terms of brand stand out, campaign effectiveness and ultimately ROI. As an industry, we have a duty to these advertisers to help them navigate what will likely be a crazy H2 for 2020. We face some tough economic and emotional times ahead, as we endeavour to get ‘back to normal’. As life OOH starts to open up there will undoubtedly be challenges, so it is vital for advertisers to ensure they have the right creative support for their brand, agency, budget, timeline and ambition.

Brothers John and Stephen Skelton who were born and raised in Dunston, Gateshead have used digital billboards in Newcastle and Perth to send each other the biggest message of Love during the COVID-19 Lockdown.

John moved to Australia from Newcastle nearly 20 years ago and lives in Perth with Wife Judith and daughter Sarah. They couldn’t believe it when they saw a billboard in downtown Perth with Stephen sending Love from their hometown and decided to reciprocate with a billboard of their own in Newcastle!

Stephen said “We talk every other day on the phone but I wanted to do something really special to say I’m constantly thinking of them and how they are coping as a family in these difficult times – and it doesn’t get more special than a huge billboard!”

John said “It was such a great surprise to see Stephen on a billboard in Perth, he explained how he achieved it and we decided to send our own love back with a billboard of our own in Newcastle. It really is amazing and has put a huge smile on our faces!”

This is all part of a wider advertising campaign by London agencies Talon Outdoor and Grand Visual.

The campaign encourages participants to send love to those in places they cannot travel to, by getting creative with the heart-hand symbol and uploading their pictures and locations to www.sending love.to. Participants are then invited to donate to the global COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund before receiving a photo of their picture playing on-screen in their chosen city to share with friends and family across social channels.

Zevi Tilles, Account Director, shares his thoughts and feedback from last weeks Ad Club of New York’s annual Conference, OOH Now 2019.

Every year, I look forward to attending The AD Club of New York’s end of year conference. Getting to Pier 60 by the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan in December is a cold trip. However, once inside I’m always reminded of why the event is worth travelling to.

This year was no exception, and it was better than ever. The agenda centered around how data, technology, creativity, and the experience of OOH specialist teams, are leading growth and expansion across the industry. The view presented at the event promoted more focus on digital OOH and how the medium should move to utilize real-time triggers from time of day or weather to dynamic creative optimization at a greater scale. We also heard from brands using ad tech solutions that are giving their planners the ability to find locations where their audience over indexes and that allows them to optimize their digital OOH plans and creative accordingly, to drive contextual relevance and impact by using real-time conditions.

There was an amazing session on THE CREATIVE CANVAS led by Dan Brill, Group Creative Director, Spotify, Travis Sterner, Director of Media, United Artists Releasing, Robin Tilotta, Director of Consumer Marketing, Twitter and Paul Woolmington, CEO, Canvas Worldwide. It was moderated by, Ed Herty, National Creative Director, Outfront Media. The panel was in agreement, creative storytelling is now informing the buy. Advertisers are looking to make DOOH interactive, contextual, and they want to personalize their messages to specific audiences based on time of day and in the moments that matter to the viewer. This was exactly the sentiment I was hoping for and it was coming directly from the brands! This is the type of ambition that will lead our channel to new heights in 2020.

The MEDIA BUYER SPOTLIGHT featuring: Andrew Weinstein, Manager, Rapport Worldwide, Fatima Winfrey, Group Director, OOH, Horizon Media, led me to believe that the agencies were coming to the same conclusions. Better creative and smarter standards drive superior outcomes.

Throughout the day, a recurring theme was discussed by the speakers. The sentiment being, OOH faces challenges as it moves towards a programmatic future, and how we collectively handle them will have an important impact in our industry. Particularly as omnichannel platforms are moving into digital OOH. It was highlighted that we need to make sure there is consistency in how impressions are reported. For digital OOH there needs to be independent third-party verification of campaign playout, including interactions and other campaign-specific metrics. We must provide advertisers with a level of transparency and accountability, to realize the full potential of programmatic digital OOH.

Furthermore, advertisers and agencies need better workflow tools for the management and trafficking of digital OOH campaigns. These tools should be dedicated to quality assurance, distribution, and auditing of digital OOH creative. This will, in turn, accelerate the path from creative producers to media owners simplifying the management and delivery of DOOH creative across networks and platforms.

In conclusion, a digital-first OOH mindset and added experiences through touch, gesture, recognition, mobile, social and experiential have marketers and brands excited! They are spending more time, measuring the outcomes, and investing more budget into the channel.

I can’t wait to see what happens as we transition to the next decade for OOH in 2020!

Once upon a time, all digital out-of-home (DOOH) campaigns were “linear.” No live data feeds, contextual content or interactive elements. Simply motion creative delivered as movie files to the media owner.

Smarter, contextual and dynamic advertising is infiltrating the world of DOOH at a pace, evolving the medium beyond the simple creative efficiency it began with. However, linear campaigns aren’t going anywhere and as DOOH proceeds with its expansion across the world stage, linear creative will continue as the content that drives this growth.

Linear creativity has advanced over the years; it’s no longer an afterthought. DOOH adverts are no longer simply repurposed print or TV content… they are now filmed, designed and developed specifically for outdoor ads. And as more markets begin to adopt DOOH as a media standard, we’re starting to see brands deliver this bespoke content across multiple territories.

DOOH continues to bring ever-growing challenges to the creative table: a myriad of formats, shapes, sizes, durations and environments to consider. With the increase in demand & complexity for linear ad content, how can we remain effective as an industry where global rollouts are becoming a new standard?

Other media channels, such as online banner advertising, have already faced these obstacles within their own field and have developed tools to cope with the challenges. Toolkits containing master layouts, animation guides and designs to standardised sizes (MPUs, Leaderboards, Skyscrapers etc) are now commonplace, helping to define the creative for the wider rollout. In fact, HTML5 ads can now be built as responsive content using these master standardisation techniques.

Grand Visual has been at the forefront of international DOOH creative execution for several years: we currently deliver linear creative to over 55 markets for a major entertainment client (across Europe and the US and as far afield as Kazakhstan and Guatemala). A wide range of localisations, formats, durations and creative options have become commonplace in our production process.

The constant growth that we have seen with this global rollout for our entertainment client has mirrored the adoption and expansion of DOOH as a medium across the world. It has enabled their smaller international markets to take advantage of what is being created for the larger ones and it has unified the production process so that campaigns retain the same creative quality across the world, regardless of format.

To meet the challenges of delivering market-specific, format-specific, environment-specific linear creative at volume, Grand Visual’s production process has taken a leaf out of other media channels and developed a DOOH toolkit. Once the creative masters are developed, we adapt these to a selection of standardised shapes: Portrait, Landscape, Super Landscape and Ultra Landscape. Multiple durations, subtle and full-motion animation options are made available. There will always be bespoke formats to deal with, but these master files give the market’s flexibility in their media booking and give us the foundation to deliver across a multitude of territories under the pressure of tight timescales.

An additional supply of textless copies extends localisation options and gives added value as the supply of animated elements means they can be used across other media such as online banners, social content and even broadcast. After all, it’s important that we bridge the gap between online and DOOH – there is an opportunity to unify certain assets, layouts and animations, especially as HTML5 signage becomes more prevalent.

Globally, DOOH offers a vast and amazing canvas to work with. In order to capitalise on that opportunity, we must look to establish new production processes to manage the massive format variations and copy volumes. Grand Visual’s experience at successfully fulfilling international campaigns has led us to pioneer an approach to master campaign rollouts across the world. DOOH toolkits have proven to be invaluable in facilitating delivery at scale for global digital out-of-home production whilst ensuring quality and value for our clients.

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