Out-of-home (OOH) media has a long history of creating impact on the high street. For retailers, it’s a proven channel for creating brand fame and directing shoppers through the door. In this piece for RetailTechNews, Nicole Lonsdale (pictured below), chief planning officer, Kinetic, explains that, while that power remains undiminished today, there are several factors combining to shift the advertising landscape in retail – and the driving force among them is mobile.

From an almost standing start ten years ago, mobile has been on a seemingly unstoppable rocket-like trajectory. By last year, adults in the UK spent an average of 9 hours 31 minutes per day with major media, according to eMarketer, and 1 hour 59 minutes of that was spent on a smartphone – leading the time spent on desktops and laptops by a minute. And that figure is only set to grow.

At the same time, consumers are spending a greater amount of time away from home and exposed to outdoor media. Figures from the latest IPA touchpoints study show that adults in the UK spend an average of 3 hours and 28 minutes out of home – representing 21% of millennials’ waking time.

Influencing mindset

Where these two growth channels collide is the sweet spot of location. It’s no secret that our behaviour changes when we are out of home – our decisions and mindset are immediately influenced by where we are and what is going on around us. We quickly categorise a location as good or bad, expensive or cheap, safe or scary, often subconsciously assigning labels to help us order and understand a place’s purpose and relevance.

OOH’s influence on that environment is well-understood; but mobile now brings another layer, augmenting our subconscious activity and enabling us to find out more than ever about our situation and surroundings. This is evidenced by the fact that ‘near me’ searches on mobile have skyrocketed 130% in the past year alone.

Nicole Lonsdale, Chief Planning Officer, Kinetic

The combined power of the two mediums, therefore, provides a greater contextual understanding of shoppers and their point in the purchasing journey, introducing the potential for a ‘targeted broadcast approach’.

Mobile targeting

This brings retail advertisers new possibilities for OOH campaigns, with aggregated and anonymised mobile carrier data layered over data from out-of-home planning systems to provide more in-depth understanding of consumer movements and behaviours.

This is most effective when extending an OOH campaign where consumers have a high dwell-time and are likely to be active on their mobile phones – and shopping centres are a clear example of where this approach works well. Such spaces provide a sufficient area of scale and levels of footfall to link consumers’ exposure to an OOH campaign with mobile targeting.

By linking data from mobile ad exchanges, or by using SDK (app) data, advertisers can also analyse consumer movement post campaign exposure to assess the impact on footfall. For one retail client, for example, we found there was a 37% uplift in the chances of a consumer appearing in-store after being exposed to the out-of-home campaign creative.

In addition, hyper-local WiFi networks, such as Messh, allow brands to push highly engaging, rich content, including video, directly to consumers within 15 metres of an OOH frame. Crucially, the user experience here is almost seamless, with no requirement for apps, or even 4G connectivity, to obstruct the connection between the physical world and a virtual interaction.

From offline to online

Beyond brick-and-mortar, OOH is increasingly playing the role of a physical shopfront for many online-only brands and combining with mobile to drive sales. Research from our own Alfresco Life consumer panel shows that two-thirds of the population make monthly purchases with digital retailers; and offline advertising is key in stimulating mobile purchasing behaviour.

The research findings show that a large proportion (41%) of people research digital brands when outdoors, while a third (31%) make purchases from online-only brands when on-the-go. And these figures are all significantly higher among younger audiences, urban audiences, and commuter audiences.

Evidence such as this shows how OOH is shaking off any lingering perceptions of being a passive medium. For today’s digitally savvy shopper, the combined power of OOH and mobile are activating audiences and delivering impact for retailers – both in the real world and on the virtual high street.