We recently spoke with Akama Davies, Director of Global Solutions at digital media company Xaxis, to hear his thoughts and insights on the role of DOOH and programmatic in our changing media landscape.
As we settle into this “new normal”, there seems to be an obvious appetite for OOH media and programmatic DOOH. What would you say are the main drivers of this?
From your perspective, has DOOH made the shift from “traditional” media format to digital format? For example, do you think DOOH is increasingly being included in digital omnichannel campaign plans and digital budgets?
Outdoor ads are a powerful, one-to-many medium that brands have been utilizing for centuries. Many more digital placements have become available programmatically, catalyzing another evolution in OOH: Programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH), spurring more investment for omnichannel and digital budgets.
We typically see two distinct profiles of marketers investing in DOOH. Outdoor first and digital-first, each with their distinct use cases and expectations for their respective campaign plans. It’s increasingly imperative to provide expert guidance and solutions that serve both of these types of marketers equally.
In light of the upcoming withdrawal of third party cookies and the renewed attention to contextual advertising, what role do you see programmatic DOOH taking?
What do you think are some key barriers to advertisers incorporating DOOH as part of their campaigns?
As with any channel, there are a range of challenges that need to be navigated in DOOH. Our DOOH solutions address complexity, single scalable buying points, consistent metrics, and robust attribution among the critical barriers.
For digital-first marketers specifically, we must make DOOH have the same hallmarks from a buying, targeting, and measurement perspective as other digital channels.
Programmatic can solve several barriers for advertisers by making DOOH easier and more accessible to buy. In conjunction with bringing forward all kinds of new capabilities and opportunities in OOH, including enhanced targeting, performance optimization, responsive creativity, omnichannel integration, and outcome-driven strategies.
And what do you think the role of DOOH is in a media plan? Has that changed recently?
The role of DOOH has always been primarily to drive awareness for a brand using a rich, high-impact canvas, as this is still set to be the case. However, as the channel becomes increasingly programmatic, we can use data and technology to quantify the impact of DOOH as a stand-alone channel and, in combination with others, to demonstrate both the brand medium’s tangible and sometimes intangible benefits.
We’re also seeing an increased diversity of agency teams and brands utilizing DOOH, which opens up even more innovation and use cases for DOOH on a media plan. DOOH presents a significant opportunity for brands as consumers hold a newfound appreciation for outdoor spaces gradually being reclaimed as the market recovers from the pandemic.
