By using data and automation, programmatic digital OOH has transformed the OOH landscape by allowing advertisers purchase, activate and customize their ads when and where they’re most likely to reach the relevant audience. It’s future looks even more promising, writes Eoin Carroll, programmatic lead with Talon.
2023 has been a very positive year for OOH’s renaissance and there are no signs of slowing in 2024. The channel continues to evolve with digitisation of inventory, new capabilities and technological advancements fostering growth and driving OOH to become one of the fastest growing channels globally.
Ever since conversations began about programmatic DOOH in Ireland, Talon has been at the forefront of pioneering this new technology. We have continually pushed the boundaries of OOH and challenged ourselves and the industry to leverage these new capabilities, with the ultimate goal of helping businesses reap the rewards and champion the channel’s effectiveness.
In 2023, we witnessed a major increase in appetite from brands, with curiosity peaking around what it could deliver for their business objectives. There are now 640 screens available to trade programmatically in Ireland.
Programmatic DOOH is a powerful tool for Irish advertisers, fundamentally transforming the way we connect with our target audiences. It empowers us to be more precise, efficient, and agile. We can react at a moment’s notice whilst the visibility delivers increased measurement and analytics around campaign performance. But with a long list of benefits, a question has been lingering on every marketer’s mind –why are we not buying all DOOH this way?
While the list of benefits for programmatic OOH is extensive, its crucial to remember the timeless strength of the OOH channel: its capacity to build broadcast awareness, engage an audience, and its capability to steal share of mind, ultimately enhancing mental availability for a brand.
Campaign effectiveness studies conducted by our colleagues at Talon UK have shown that programmatic DOOH can achieve a 3x increase in purchase intent compared to a traditional OOH buy.
However, when evaluating spontaneous brand awareness, it’s clear that a classic broadcast campaign excels in driving that shift. These findings have been corroborated by our own campaign effectiveness studies in Ireland, and they have significantly influenced the role that programmatic has in the overall OOH media mix.
So, to circle back to our marketeer’s question – programmatic’s strength lies in its ability to enhance media plans by harnessing data around audiences and create visibility for a brand in front of an optimised group at an optimised time of day. It is hyper targeted and is most effective at engaging consumers at the lower stages of the purchasing funnel, with a primary focus on driving consideration and purchase intent. However, if our aim is to shift brand metrics such as awareness, the classic OOH campaign remains the steadfast cornerstone of our media mix.
While programmatic’s introduction in Ireland brought some level of uncertainty, the continuously growing brand count and expanding capabilities provide us with greater confidence that it will continue to play an important role in achieving results for many advertisers in 2024. Moreover, other media channels have also shown interest in the opportunities that PROOH offers.
It’s essential to bear in mind that while programmatic may be more automated than a regular media buy, the importance of experience and knowledge regarding inventory, the influence of various environments, familiarity of rules and regulations, and its overall contribution to the broader OOH media mix remains crucial for maximising the technology’s effectiveness. “Eoin Carroll, Programmatic lead
So, what’s next for programmatic?
For any marketeer or media planner well-versed in executing OOH campaigns, demographic targeting capabilities have long been a familiar tool. However, the advent of data and programmatic trading has taken targeting to a whole new level, allowing us to delve deeper into our audience’s behaviour and leverage it to create more precise audience profiles.
As part of our endeavour to lead and shape the programmatic landscape in Ireland, we’ve partnered with Orb to unlock a new precision targeting capability focused on behaviour. This data empowers us to scrutinise audience behavioural traits by analysing the journeys and search data of aggregated consumer groups. Subsequently, we can then layer this information against specific screens and times of day to activate an optimized, audience-led purchase using our demand-side platform buying function.
Programmatic DOOH is opening up exciting possibilities in the Irish OOH landscape. With the power to engage audiences at a deeper level and drive consideration and purchases, it’s reshaping the OOH media mix. Our partnership with Talon serves as a catalyst, continuously pushing advertisers to embrace this transformative technology and in turn, improve campaign results” – Callum Mathieson, CEO, Orb
In summary, the evolving landscape of programmatic in OOH opens up exciting possibilities. With these new capabilities, advertisers can seamlessly bridge online and offline strategies. This transformation has repositioned OOH, traditionally recognised as an awareness builder, further down the purchasing funnel, enabling us to activate audiences, driving consideration and purchase. It has big potential but realising it requires the support of the industry to educate, position and attract new advertisers into the channel.
