The rapid growth of digital out-of-home advertising continues and we spoke about the revenue growth specifically in our blog a few weeks ago (definitely check it out if haven’t already done so) and with the future looking bright for the industry we decided to jot down a few trends that we feel may play a huge role in the outdoor advertising industry within the next couple of years.
Identification Technology
Digital OOH displays are becoming increasingly sophisticated and effective at targeting members of the public. This allows the tailoring of messages towards them. The ability to identify an individual based on their gender or the vehicle they are driving is becoming more and more common.
Recognition technology is the key and it will play a huge role in outdoor advertising for many years to come. We are even beginning to see recognition technology that can identify emotions (think Xbox’s Kinect but bigger). As such we don’t think it will be too long before products are being directed towards you based on your facial expression. Watch this space.
Mobile Integration
Everyone is on mobile. It is a simple fact and sooner or later digital OOH displays will begin to interact with your mobile device while you are out and about. Modern outdoor advertising is much more than just displaying a message and hoping that someone buys your product. It’s about engaging and interacting with your audience with the hope that this will encourage them into a call to action.
Emerging technologies will soon enable digital OOH displays to interact with you and your mobile. Augmented reality is a key component that we have seen gain prominence this year (Pokemon Go) and it is only a matter of time before marketers tap into this market. We can just imagine members of the public scrambling to turn off their Bluetooth before they get bombarded with messages on a busy street.
Inventory Magnitude
With the rapid expansion of the industry in full flow and with the constant lowering of costs for LCD and LED technologies, outdoor advertising systems are falling in price but increasing in demand. This makes for a pretty formidable combination and new outdoor screens are popping up every day from New York to Glasgow there is no escaping it.
Outdoor advertising specialists Ocean recently announced that it had doubled its portfolio for outdoor advertising screens in city centres with the company expecting its products to sprout up in new locations all over the globe. More screens = more opportunities.
The Environment
Infrastructure is another key component. Being able to blend into the environment in a way that is not overbearing is key to producing successful advertising. As digital OOH becomes a more prolific feature within major cities, the advertiser has to provide content that is of use to the reader.
Brand messages, in particular, have to be relevant to those walking by them and for the right company, a wealth of opportunities exist. All you have to do is get the content spot on. Not as easy as it sounds unfortunately!
Everything is better in HD
Creating immersive messages really grab the attention of your audience and with the technology available this is becoming easier than ever. Looking towards the future, we fully expect images to become ever more sophisticated, with touchscreen and gesture recognition adding new dimensions of interactivity to digital OOH.
These are round the corner and all this points towards immersive displays with high levels of interaction that companies will use to engage with consumers on a deeper level.
So there you have it! Just a few ways in which we think the digital OOH advertising industry is heading. We expect plenty of interesting developments in the very near future and as always if you need some help or would like to do a little outdoor advertising yourself, then we should be your first port of call. Get in touch!