Times are a Changin (for OOH that is)

I was encouraged to see the news that global ad spend is expected to rebound for 2011. If you missed the news, WARC--marketing intelligence service—figures that the growth is to be around +5.1%, up from the +4.5% figure published in November. Not to mention, these stats are still down from an industry average of 6.8%. However, considering it all the news is welcomed.

The angle of this post is not so much on global ad spend and what I took away from those stats, but rather the rise of OOH and what WARC reported on outdoor. The report noted that spending broken up as per media was as follows: online advertising is expected in around 13% in the next year versus a 5.7% rise for TV ad spend in 2011 and a 6.2% jump for outdoor.

I think it is safe to say that much of the outdoor spending is derived from digital content, especially in transit and retail. Nonetheless, with these new avenues opening up and the inclusion of OOH as a tool to drive consumers into integrated social campaigns, I fully expect this stat to continue to rise.

OOH certainly represents a new way to connect with people who no longer want the ‘push it into your face’ approach of traditional media. The allure of ‘pulling people in’ and having fun with innovative media seems to be a new trend that many advertisers and agencies are playing, with whether this be calls to action via QR codes, AR or just flat out engaging creative. For the companies who are not exploring this track, they are doing do so at their own peril as 'OOH times are a changin.'