Missing People Digital OOH. Missing Man Tim Beardsley.
The out-of-home campaign for charity Missing People is returning to cities across the UK from today (Monday), with a series of regionally targeted weekly appeals.

This first appeared in Campaign UK on 16th September 2019.

Missing People Digital OOH

The executions, which will run across transit, city centre and roadside locations, feature the name, age and photo of a missing person, along with the date and location they went missing, plus the free number to call or text for sightings – 116 000.

Missing People DIgital OOH

The push is organised by adtech group QDOT and supported by media owners including JCDecaux, Maxx Media, Limited Space and Perfect Fit Media. It makes use of OpenLoop, QDOT’s dynamic creative optimisation ad server, and its measurement platform PlayTrack, which will provide independent third-party verification for the campaign.

Ross Miller, director of fundraising and communications at Missing People, said: “OOH visibility is so important in our search to find useful information that helps families reconnect with loved ones. OpenLoop allows us to run regionally targeted searches that we can update in a moment and PlayTrack provides full feedback, so we can understand exactly what presence we had across all inventory.

“Digital billboards have proven to be an immensely powerful tool in the search for missing people and we are enormously grateful to the outdoor media owners involved for their incredible support.”

The campaign first launched in 2012 and was conceived by the Outdoor Media Centre (now Outsmart). It last ran about 18 months ago.

Escape the cape roadside DOOH News
Welcome back to our DOOH News for September 2019. This month we’ve been exploring Gen Z’s feelings on OOH, we produced a fantastic dynamic campaign for jetBlue and we went behind the scenes of digital OOH production. Enjoy!
This month… we ‘Escaped the Cape’ with jetBlue! ✈️

jetBlue airlines targeted vacationers driving to Cape Cod with this roadside digital OOH campaign. The dynamic campaign encouraged vacationers to explore different vacation destinations with similar travel times.

In other news…

Gen Z Digital OOH Hyundai BTS DOOH News

Grand Visual’s very own Gen Z’er Charlotte, explores the power of Gen Z and digital OOH. 

 

Google Pixel 3 Retail DOOH News

The busiest quarter of the year is just getting started! Here are our top tips on how to prepare your digital OOH for the busiest period in retail.

DOOH News Adam Stephenson Production

Ever wanted to see behind the scenes at Grand Visual? Adam our producer gives us a peek into the life of digital OOH production.

With our latest promo for Google, we highlighted the data triggers used to ‘Make the Most of Summer!’

DOOH news OreoEclipse

For this month’s insights, we discussed how food & beverage brands can connect with consumers through digital OOH.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our DOOH News for September 2019. If you would like to start receiving our monthly DOOH Newsletters in your mailbox, then please sign up here.

Voice activation creative technology testing for digital OOH. Grand Visual.
We’re always trying to learn new things and experiment with new technologies. Often projects come about by a question being asked that we don’t know the answer to. Our latest project stemmed from such a question, will voice activation work for OOH?

Voice recognition/activation is a technology that is growing exponentially. According to ComScore, 50% of all searches will be completed via voice by 2020. That’s a figure that becomes less surprising as time moves on and more people have an Alexa or Google Home. With voice commands seamlessly assisting with the day to day running of households, why wouldn’t it be able to be used in OOH as well?

To find out how possible it is, we thought we should start by buying a few different types of microphones to test what was going to be the most suitable in the OOH environment. We opted for two little mics, one stage and one shotgun mic. We thought this would provide a decent range of sizes and multi-directional options to at least give us a starting point.

The actual process for testing a microphone isn’t remarkably scientific. Our creative technologist Jon Jones attached various mics to an easyVR module for testing. And by attaching, it is literally getting the old soldering iron out and sticking the parts together. Then someone stands a metre or so away from it to see whether easyVR can understand what they’re saying without being affected by irrelevant noises.

We found that while the easyVR module was trainable to a particular voice, it would struggle to accurately understand the same phrase being said by someone else. As it’s primarily designed as a hobbyist item, we had to explore different software options for speech recognition. Writing some software to interface with Microsoft Azure’s Cognitive voice services proved hugely successful and accurate in transcribing what a user was saying.

In our tests, we found that all of the microphones performed well but the directional shotgun mic gave us the greatest flexibility, but being realistic, it wouldn’t be practical for digital OOH. We would likely need something much smaller and more compact, that could deliver us the same accuracy with results.

We decided to see how far we could push the compactness of the microphone and invested in a small USB lapel mic, which would be perfect for hiding in a digital OOH installation. A couple of test trips down Regent Street and at bus stops later … Success! This combination of hardware and software was performing brilliantly.

With the mic sorted, the next phase was training the AI to recognise what people are trying to say. People generally veer away from the script if the question is too vague or open-ended.

Entering a bit more code enabled us to not only hear what a user was saying but also understanding, in-depth, the meaning and intent of what they were saying. For example, saying “I’m hungry” or “What’s for lunch?” has the same intent – it’s a request to find somewhere to eat. With voice activation/detection in OOH, simplicity is the key, so minimise the options available as potential answers or actions.

To train the device, we had our colleagues talk to the computer and answer the set question. We ended up with some rather rogue responses… But it was all a learning curve and really reinforced the need to ask simple questions that couldn’t be misinterpreted.

Overall it’s been an incredibly interesting project, and certainly the potential for bringing voice activation to digital out of home is there. It will be exciting to see how voice technology evolves and becomes a more prominent feature in people’s lives.

This month, the topic is “food, glorious food” and how food and beverage brands can connect with consumers through meaningful digital OOH.

With Pumpkin Spice season officially here, many consumers are already starting to plan for their holiday feasts. According to research from Deloitte, 82% of these consumers’ feasts will be influenced by promotional offers. So in the messy food fight for seasonal sales, how do great brands stay relevant and cut through the noise?

Food and Digital OOH

With consumers on high alert for the best deals, digital OOH has the ability to engage these consumers on-location and at a personal level. Here are some food and beverage brands who used digital OOH to showcase their product in eye-catching and engaging ways.

Oreo

Oreo leveraged the biggest solar eclipse in over a decade with this incredibly clever linear, digital OOH campaign.

McDonald’s

McDonald’s celebrated its iconic Big Mac with this innovative, interactive digital OOH stunt.

Walker’s

Here’s an interactive campaign we produced for the famous chip brand to entertain shoppers and give them the chance to win a vacation!

Volvic

Volvic launched this campaign in a busy mall, encouraging shoppers to “get juiced” for the chance to win refreshing prizes.

Want to discuss your upcoming digital OOH plans? Get in touch!

As Grand Visual’s resident Gen Z’er, Digital Marketing Apprentice, Charlotte Jones explores the power of Gen Z and digital OOH.

You wouldn’t be wrong to think that Gen Z came into the world with an iPhone in one hand and a MacBook in the other. We basically did. Born between 1995 and 2015, we’ve seen mobile phones go from this funny old Nokia to this technicolour dream…

Basically, a lot can change in 20 years.

As a generation obsessed with technology (not our fault btw), it surprised me to discover that 55% of Gen Z’ers favour OOH advertising because “it’s relaxing.” Theoretically, wouldn’t it make more sense to prefer online ads, given we’re life-long internet junkies?

According to another study, around 82% of Gen Z’ers are actually skipping online ads – and to be honest I’m not really that shocked, given how annoying they can be… So as a generation who regularly skip ads, why do we prefer OOH – a medium that we can’t skip?

I think Gen Z are drawn to billboards because digital OOH isn’t intrusive. It doesn’t pop up every time we watch a YouTube video or use the internet. We can choose to look at it or choose to ignore it. Plus it doesn’t know everything about us. It may be able to direct us to the nearest shop or inform us about the local weather, but it doesn’t know personal details like where we live or our online search history.

Digital OOH also makes for great social content. Seeing your favourite celebrity, on an enormous screen in a location as iconic as Times Square definitely calls for a picture or social post, doesn’t it? Also, have you ever seen somebody post a picture in front of an internet ad? No, that would be totally uncool.

Here are a few of my favourite examples of digital OOH campaigns which have gained massive Gen Z traction.

Netflix: Stranger Things 3

For one of Gen Z’s favourite, “bingeable” TV shows, Netflix decided to choose digital OOH to target the ad-blocking generation. With huge billboards in iconic locations such as Times Square, the campaign earned huge traction across social media; with fans snapping selfies and one fan even tweeting how “big” the show must be because of its Times Square billboards.

Little Mix

With over 30 million followers on their combined social media accounts, you could say that the British girl band Little Mix are popular! In fact, they’re so popular that over the Summer their US fans bought them a billboard in Times Square to promote their latest single. They used the ad to catch the girls’ attention online… which they did!

Hyundai X BTS

Personally, I’m not too keen on BTS but I cannot deny that their influence on Gen Z is anything short of phenomenal! In May 2019, the latest Hyundai X BTS advert premiered on the iconic digital OOH site, Piccadilly Lights. 

Hundreds of fans gathered around the famous London landmark to get a glimpse of the campaign. Photos and videos from the reveal were posted to social media, accumulating thousands of interactions from fans worldwide.

If you compare the BTS premiere to the Lights’ first-ever live stream from Victoria Beckham last year, the results are clearly visible. 

BTS:

Victoria Beckham:

Whenever Gen Z is involved, a brand has a bigger influence on digital OOH than ever before!

Adam Stephenson. Grand Visual Digital OOH Producer.
Ever wanted to see behind the scenes at Grand Visual? Producer, Adam Stephenson gives us a rare peek into the life of digital OOH production.

I think it takes a certain type of person to be a producer in digital OOH. Much like a good coffee, you have to be a subtle blend of calm, collected, smart and completely insane all at the same time. My past year working at Grand Visual has been all of these things, and damn it’s a good coffee.

There is no real ‘typical day’ in the GV office. Sure, there are daily tasks and structures in place, but the journey from initial conception through to when a project goes live is unique to each producer, and each campaign. 

During my time at GV, I’ve been fortunate enough to work on a plethora of campaigns, each with their own idiosyncrasies, and I may have even given each their own celebration dance once everything is live. Whilst no project is the same, like Liam Neeson in Taken, as producers we’ve managed to acquire a specific set of skills to help us deliver any type of DOOH campaign. In my time I have helped shape the messages of various campaigns, such as the screens of Heathrow Terminals, and created a completely unique AR experience in Times Square – it’s been a wild ride pushing great work out into the world.

Into The Spider-Verse: Combined a technically complex and visually engaging campaign with actual user engagement from the streets of Times Square, a personal favourite of mine.

Unlike Liam Neeson, as producers, we can’t tackle the whole campaign single-handedly. We need a carefully crafted team of intelligent, experienced, intuitive and often maniacal people to carry a campaign from concept to delivery. My role as producer, means I manage the assigning of tasks, client expectations, status calls, quality control, delivery documents, timeline reviews, internal stakeholder catch-ups and stand-ups (…to name a few). I told you that I had to be somewhat insane for this. 

At GV I have the privilege of working with really great people who are very good at what they do, and in turn, this only makes me better at what I do. Everyone is keen to push boundaries, make better systems, win awards and exceed expectations every time. The energy is infectious and really helps when new tasks are added to the list as quickly as I’m ticking them off. Within a week, I can see a project evolve from a simple idea to an award-winning campaign.

Pepsi Max: A super cool campaign which really shows just how far we can push DOOH, on both a technical and social scale. Interesting, creative, impactful.

When we have some downtime, you’ll often find us around the pool table or chatting on the breakout bench. There’s a really nice family vibe to GV, generating enough content to give Modern Family a run for its money. It’s great for the rare times a project isn’t going smoothly, we can always take a breather and get a game of pool in.

Overall, the life of a producer at GV is intense yet rewarding. I’ve found myself placed in scenarios I had never even thought of, working on campaigns that continually amaze me, and growing faster than I would at most other agencies. So I’m going to go ahead and drink the perfectly blended coffee, I might just need it.

You may be reading this whilst relaxing on your Summer holidays, but for consumers, the busiest quarter of the year is just getting started! 

With 28% of shoppers completing their Halloween shopping in September¹

And research from eBay showing that shoppers made two searches for “Christmas” every second on its site in August last year ²… it’s never too early for brands to start thinking about their outdoor campaigns for Q4.

Digital OOH Retail Insights

Consumers are constantly on the lookout for the best deals, and digital OOH has the ability to engage shoppers on-location, showcasing products and displaying offers in real-time.

Let us show you a few examples…

eBay Fill Your Cart With Colour

eBay brought shopping inspiration to the streets of the UK, with this colourful, weather-activated digital OOH campaign.

Estée Lauder Clinique Chubby Plump & Shine

An interactive digital OOH campaign for clinique's new chubby, plump & shine liquid lipstick

Here’s an engaging Augmented Reality experience we created for Clinique to promote the launch of its latest product.

Topshop Autumn/Winter 2015

Here’s a linear digital OOH campaign we produced for Topshop to promote their highly anticipated Autumn/Winter collection.

Marmite Love It or Hate It

Controversial condiment brand, Marmite, enabled shoppers to join in with its interactive Christmas digital OOH campaign.

Want to discuss your upcoming digital OOH plans? Get in touch!

Google Multi App Old Street digital OOH
Welcome to our DOOH News for August 2019. This month, we’ve been busy working hard on a brand new campaign for Google, exploring new technology for augmented & mixed reality and much more. Enjoy!
This month… Google owned British Summertime!

Google Multi App EC1

Google extended its “Make the Most of Summer” campaign with a responsive, data-driven digital OOH push, demonstrating how Google is there to help you enjoy the Summer.

In other news…

Want to find out how some of the world’s biggest entertainment brands are using digital OOH to bring their shows to life?

Entertainment Digital OOH

Our Creative Technologist shares a behind-the-scenes look at Mo-Sy’s StarTracker technology for Augmented & Mixed Reality.

Technology for Augmented and Mixed Reality

Here’s our latest showreel, showcasing the creative possibilities of dynamic for digital OOH. Enjoy!

Want to know what campaigns made our Top 5 Dynamic Digital OOH Campaigns?

Google Outside Dynamic DIgital OOH

It was amazing to see our key digital OOH moments highlighted in this piece from Campaign Mag.

Pepsi MAX Augmented Reality digital OOH

Our CCO Dan Dawson gave us a backstage view of Outdoor Cannes Lions 2019, plus a look at Digital’s progress within the category.

cannes outdoor lions

Here’s our tips for successfully rolling out global digital OOH campaigns.

Dufry Global DOOH

We hope you’ve enjoyed our DOOH News for August 2019. If you would like to start receiving our monthly DOOH Newsletters in your mailbox, then please sign up here.

Google Outside Dynamic Digital OOH
Welcome back to another Top 5 countdown! Today we’ve narrowed down our favourite dynamic campaigns to just five (plus some honourable mentions). 

If you missed the last countdown, where we picked our favourite augmented reality campaigns, you should definitely check that out.

So drum roll please… in no particular order, here are our top 5 dynamic digital OOH campaigns. 

1. Spotify: 2018 Wrapped

To celebrate the end of another great year, Spotify revamped its popular campaign “Wrapped” with a dynamic, digital OOH twist! Spotify’s premium users were encouraged to sign up for a breakdown of their year in music – for the chance to appear on iconic billboards including Times Square and Piccadilly Lights. The campaign gave over 7000 ordinary people the chance to see their name in the famous lights. What an awesome way to wrap up a year!

2. Google: Introducing Explore

To encourage New Yorkers to explore their exciting city, Google launched this contextual, digital OOH campaign. Based on Google Maps’ latest features, the campaign made the public aware of new places and even reminded residents to check out places that they haven’t visited in a while! We love this campaign as it’s messaging continuously evolved based on what was going on at the time. Live in the Summer of 2018, “Introducing Explore” went on to win a silver OBIE!

3. Hiscox: Cyber Live

In a digital OOH first, cybercriminals were unknowingly behind this unique campaign for Hiscox Cyber Live. To drive awareness of cybercrime to small businesses, the campaign creative was responsive to real-life cyber attacks. As each attack took place, a spot on the poster would flash and pulse. A dynamic campaign that was truly unique, Cyber Live went on to win numerous awards including “Campaign of the Year” at the Campaign Media Awards 2019.

4. McDonald’s: The Iconic Weather Forecast

McDonald's McWeather Dynamic Digital OOH

We’ve seen a few dynamic weather campaigns over the years, but none as innovative as the Iconic Weather Forecast. Taking advantage of the ever-changing UK weather, McDonald’s decided to forecast the weather with a savoury twist. Overturned fries became rain, cheese-burgers became sunshine and chicken nuggets became snow… A chip dipped in sauce became the nation’s thermometer! The dynamic campaign was so popular in fact, that it ran for a second year in 2019.

5. Benadryl: Pollen Counts

Benadryl came to the rescue for hay fever sufferers with this clever, dynamic campaign. When pollen counts across the UK were irritatingly high, the reactive-creative alerted sufferers, prompting them to take action with Benadryl. Winning multiple awards, including a COOH award, the successful campaign was re-booked every summer for three years.

Honourable Mentions

It was so hard to pick just 5 dynamic campaigns, that we had to add these honourable mentions as well… Enjoy!

Top Dynamic Digital OOH Campaigns

Specsavers owned trending news and gossip with this hilarious campaign; prompting consumers to ask themselves if a leaking phone was more important than regular eye tests…

Exploring London was made easier than ever with this data-rich campaign for Google Outside. The digital OOH campaign went on to win two Cannes Lions later that year.

The out-of-home industry’s leaders encouraged other industries to “Get Out of Home,” with this tactical campaign.

Who would have ever thought that a camera-wearing cow would make for pure digital OOH gold…

We hope that you’ve enjoyed these campaigns as much as we do; stay tuned for our next countdown!

Dufry Global DOOH Heathrow terminal
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.

Spotify Global DOOH

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.

Dufry Global DOOH

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.

Google Pixel 3 Global DOOH

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.