The strength of the implicit

Programmatic, real-time communication, dynamic cross-media advertising media playout, geo-targeting, data-driven campaigns – these were the keywords with which the outdoor advertising genre started the year. Prof. Dr. Kai-Marcus Thäsler, Managing Director of the German Outdoor Advertising Association, explains why out-of-home is the medium of choice after Covid-19.

with the tailwind of steady growth and the driving force of digital out of home advertising, the year 2020 actually got off to a good start for the out-of-home advertising industry. Then: the reset. Then: the shutdown of public life and the resulting change in mobility. Then: intimidated consumers, insecure advertisers, often helpless media agencies, creative people looking for an adequate tonality. Finally, there was the wait for the New Normal, for the rediscovery of public space.

Surprisingly, Out-of-Home is the media that, according to Nielsen, has performed best of all classic media during Corona lockdown. Probably also because advertisers have realized that they have to show attitude through their campaigns, that they have to be consumer’s companions, that they have to be visible on the last remaining mass medium. The mobility, which is now increasing again with the easing of the lockdown, is leading consumers to a new appreciation of public space, to smart post-COVID19 media strategies, to specific creation and appropriate implicit design, as the Fachverband Aussenwerbung (FAW) also noted in a podcast series.

Outdoor advertising is particularly well suited for communication in times of uncertainty because it does not disturb, is unobtrusive and has an implicit – i.e. unconscious – effect, thus (re)charging brands and products with relevance. A recent study by the FAW shows that OoH has a long-term effect, sustainably plants images in our consciousness and thus gives meaning to the advertised product. This applies to all out-of-home media. Whoever communicates in public space is important in the perception of consumers. Anyone who does not do so loses relevance in the long run.

Digital out-of-home (DooH) advertising visibly benefits from the spring awakening of the „real world“. There they are again, the buzzwords: real time playout that makes it possible to react to current developments. Enabling brands to communicate messages programmatically at short notice. Also to give brands an explicit twist within the framework of classic OoH reach campaigns that seem implicit – in other words, a call to action.

Out-of-Home advertising provides everything that brands need now to position themselves relevantly in the New Normal and to accompany consumers: immediacy, reach, targeting, 24/7 presence, visibility and lasting impact.