(Digital) Out-of-Home effective throughout the entire customer journey

The journey we take as consumers extends from a brief first acquaintance with a brand to the moment of purchase and even the care afterwards. The trick is to reach, touch and retain the Dutch consumer at the right time with the right message. This customer journey is often visualized by means of a funnel with three different layers: Awareness, Consideration & Conversion. We discuss how to use (D)OOH in the entire customer journey with Coen Kempen Global Head of Strategy at MeMo², Bart Massa Business Manager at Validators and Ed Borsboom Brand Lead at Blauw Research.

Awareness
To be visible at the starting point of the customer journey, successful brands use awareness objectives as the starting point of their (Digital) Out-of-Home strategy. This awareness is necessary to become mentally available. In collaboration with MeMo², Global has carried out more than 450 effect measurements in which the value of (D)OOH in the contribution to awareness has been proven. Through the effective and fast reach building with a weekly medium reach that is above 85% (source: THX. Outdoor Reach), the Top of Mind awareness increases on average by 29%.

When a brand pursues an always-on media strategy to be mentally available over a longer period of time, a multi-week campaign planning is often chosen – derived from Byron Sharp’s ‘dripping’ strategy. The number of squares that you normally bet in one week is then divided over two or three weeks. MeMo²’s studies have shown that the reach reaches the same level, with the added advantage that mental availability is increased over a longer period of time during the customer journey.

“The new technological developments in cross-media research provide surprising insights: with the above-described ‘Multi-week campaign’ strategy, a brand with (Digital) Out of Home can be visible for a longer period – and at the same time the synergistic effect with other media is enhanced (source: THX.Cross Media Effect). (D)OOH is increasingly forming the foundation of effective campaigns.” (Coen Kempen, MeMo²)

Consideration
As we descend down the funnel to consideration, it is important that the (D)OOH message increases the consideration. This is possible with a Unique Selling Point, but also by telling us in which situations you should think about a brand (Category Entry Point). The more often your brand is thought of in a buying situation, the greater the chance that the consumer will go to the point of purchase for your brand.
If you’re an ice cream producer, you want people to think of you immediately when it’s warm outside, you want to be in the freezer for dessert, to be handed out during birthdays and to be eaten as a tasty snack on the weekend. The greater the relevance of these different buying situations and the consideration to your brand, the greater your mental market share. A Category Entry Point (CEP) can be incorporated into the message of a (D)OOH campaign, but can also be found in the location or time of day. Back to the ice cream example. You are only visible when it is warmer than 20 degrees or visible at a supermarket during the big shopping on Saturday. Building an association within a CEP does not happen overnight and requires a longer visibility. It is then advisable to choose locations where your target group is overrepresented, so that the budget is used efficiently.

Research has shown that CEPs in (D)OOH campaigns can increase mental market share. Because people will think of your ice cream brand more often when it is warm, the actual market share will also increase. It is essential to communicate consistently over a longer period of time to actually capture the link between warm weather and your brand in the consumer’s brain” (Bart Massa, Validators)

Conversion
Finally, we arrive at the bottom of the funnel at conversion. In this phase it is important to use the last moment of contact before the purchase takes place. A call to action on the ad is then extra tempting. The effect measurements performed by MeMo² show that the (D)OOH campaigns will increase the purchase intention by +35% on average in 2022.

“Almost all studies show that advertising works best just before the purchase moment. Why are the bus shelters around magazine stores and shopping centers full of Dutch Lottery in the run-up to the 10th of the month? Because many people still buy state lottery tickets in the loose sale. By reminding them of this, you simply sell more and you can bet that that turnover is higher than the investment of a week of visibility around the stores.” (Ed Borsboom, Blue Research)

Of course we have to add a nuance. The way you apply (D)OOH in the customer journey largely depends on the brand. For an FMCG person, 70% of the time, the moment of purchase is in the supermarket, while for a radio station, the moment of tuning is the conversion. It is therefore possible that a (D)OOH campaign by Sky Radio with a national reach creates awareness, increases consideration and immediately turns into conversion.

OOH works in the mix with short-term activation campaigns, also known as ‘bursting’, in which everyone in the market is encouraged to buy or use. In December, for example, the whole of the Netherlands is covered with posters of Sky Radio the Christmas Station and that contributes to the listening and branding of the feel-good station.” Ed Borsboom, Blue Research

However, when the locations, the moments and the creation of a (D)OOH campaign are chosen strategically, the medium is effective for every brand throughout the entire customer journey.