Start with your audience and the creative they need, then map their day and own the part of it you can afford. Choose formats by the job they do, stay flexible on timing, pair the boards with digital or radio, and agree how you will measure it before anything is booked.
That is the order we plan every out-of-home advertising campaign in. The short version is on our out-of-home advertising page.
1. Start with the audience and the creative they need
Founders usually start with a site: a bridge they drive past, a screen near the office.
We start with the person. Who are we serving, and what kind of creative do they need from you right now? A launch audience needs to hear your name. A stocked brand needs a reason to pick you off the shelf.
2. Map their day
For a fashion magazine's launch, we were thoughtful about where our reader spent her time. She used transit a lot. She went to the gym. She worked in an office tower. So from launch day, the campaign met her at each of those points with high-impact creative that picked up the themes of the magazine.
Then we went past awareness. Once she knew the name, we added consideration: content that told her about the magazine itself.
Map the moments where propensity is high, where she is most likely to notice you and act. That is where the money goes.
3. Decide what you can afford to own
You cannot afford everything. Out of home is not cheap, so the question is what you can own.
For most brands, that is a corridor: one person's journey, from the train line to the precinct to the shopping centre at the end of it. The whole map is for the biggest advertisers. With enough budget you can go further and own a whole day, taking a complete share of voice.
The smallest campaign we have run was $30,000, and only because we could target one area and plan properly around the customer's day. The rest of the numbers are in our guide to what billboard advertising costs in Sydney.
4. Pick formats by the job they do
With the day mapped, each stop has a job. Pick the format that does it.
Transit for frequency. Daily commuters see you again and again. It is also one of the few places they put their phones away.
Gyms and office towers for reaching her through the working day.
City and precinct screens for urban and B2B audiences.
Retail and point of purchase for the last nudge. If you are already stocked, seeing the board on the way in makes the purchase more immediate.
Roadside and large format for mass awareness, when you are ready to be big.
If a format has no job in her day, it does not go in the plan, however good the site looks.
5. Build in timing and flexibility
If you can move your dates and have creative ready, you can pick up distressed inventory: space that has not sold close to the date, offered at a lower price. On a government campaign for students, we used it on the buses they take, because getting on a bus means putting the phone away.
If you need precise timing instead, programmatic digital out of home lets you switch screens on by place and time of day. It costs more. For the Bondi project with Cebu Pacific, we booked it programmatically through Vistar so we could switch on when the client was ready. We planned two weekends, had to cancel one, and chose the sites on foot traffic and time of day. Foot traffic went up.
6. Pair it with digital or radio
We would never run out of home on its own. It has an accumulator effect, making your other channels work harder while it runs.
To go deep in one area, pair it with digital. To flood the zone for one audience, add radio. Then use your other channels to mop up the people the boards have warmed up, including geofenced mobile ads around the sites.
7. Plan the measurement before you book
Out of home is harder to track than digital, so decide how you will judge it first. QR codes where it is safe to scan them. Survey questions about where people saw you. Device IDs at activations, where you have that ability. The lift in brand search while the campaign runs.
If you cannot say up front how you will know it worked, you are not ready to book.
8. Write for people on the move
We see bad out-of-home advertising all the time. Most of it forgets where the reader is standing.
Be mindful of how you speak to people in transit. They are walking, driving or holding a rail. One idea, readable at a glance, does the work.
And safety comes before cleverness. On the student campaign we said no QR codes on the side of buses. Asking someone to scan a moving bus is not safe.
FAQ
How long should an out-of-home campaign run?
Precinct campaigns are usually bought in four-week flights. For an activation, it can be as short as the weekends around it, as with the Bondi project.
How far ahead should I book?
Fixed dates mean booking early. Flexible dates and ready creative let you pick up distressed inventory close to the date, for less.
Can I put a QR code on a billboard?
Only where people can scan it safely while standing still, such as a station platform or a shopping centre. Never on the side of a bus or a roadside site seen from a moving car.
Is out of home right for my brand yet?
If digital has hit a ceiling, you are stocked in a major retailer or you need fame for a launch, probably. If not, read whether out of home is worth it for a growing brand first.
Next step
Bring us your customer and her day, and we will show you the corridor we would own. See how we plan it on our out-of-home advertising page, or get in touch.
Book a free Growth Plan. Thirty minutes with the person who would do the work. No deck, no pitch.