Top 8 Holiday Out-of-Home (OOH) Media Tactics to Implement Now
September 20, 2024
Soon, pumpkins will disappear from porches, and the faux spider webs will come down as Americans prepare for the holiday season. With the holiday season comes travel planning, organizing social events, and gift shopping.
Shoppers will search for the best electronics and gadgets for their tech-savvy friends or cozy sweaters and outerwear for their loved ones. Since Americans are actively spending, brands need to advertise — not only to promote special promotions and collections, but to emphasize the value of their products to customers.
But what about the non-obvious brands, do they have a story to tell during the holiday season? Yes. Every brand should be advertising in Q4; it’s all about finding contextual relevancy considering the context of the time of year and what your target audience is doing during this time of year.
In this article, you will learn best practices for OOH advertisers during Q4 and the holiday season.
Top 8 Tips for Holiday OOH Advertisers:
Out-of-Home campaigns, including billboards, street furniture advertising, bus advertising, and more, can raise awareness and excite your audience about your brand. By implementing the following tactics, you can create a successful holiday OOH media campaign to help you reach your target audience and boost sales. Here are the top 8 tips for brands who want to advertise on billboards and beyond during the holiday season:
Use Airport Advertising to Remind Customers to Use Your Brand
With many flying for Thanksgiving and Christmas, brands can tap into airport inventory to reach audiences. There are digital billboards and signage throughout the airport, and even an opportunity to use the security trays through TSA. Beauty brand Summer Fridays leveraged security trays and digital billboards within airports to remind travelers to take care of their skin during the summer travel season. Could your brand remind your audience to use your product during the holiday travel season?
2. Use OOH to Present Your Brand as a Gift Idea
Celebrations are abundant during the holidays. Roscato used billboards and bus wraps with simple but clear copy, “it’s sweet season” to remind customers that Roscato is the perfect gift, especially for your hosts.
3. Understand Your Customer’s Mindset with OOH
While not a holiday campaign, this campaign brilliantly used the context of the time and place to reach their ideal audience. The holiday season is a popular time of year for couples to get engaged. PJX Media supported wedding website Zola in developing a OOH strategy to reach the New York market. Digital billboards, a subway station takeover, digital taxi tops, and high-impact wallscapes were leveraged to promote the website and all its tools to simplify all aspects of wedding planning.
4. Use OOH to Get Audiences to Think Beyond the Holidays
Considering the OOH format and location combined with understanding your customers’ mindset will lead to an effective OOH campaign. Some other ideas for a bit of inspiration;
As December approaches January, many are starting to think about their resolutions for the new year. Dry January has become a popular movement to counterbalance the excess of holiday parties. Does your brand offer non-alcoholic drinks? Activities, food, or beverages that could replace social drinking?
Many people will make New Year’s resolutions that involve changing their eating and exercise habits. If your brand offers plant-based meat replacements, or anything related to health and fitness, you could look into ways that your product or service makes a healthy lifestyle easier.
Overall health includes mental health. Companies like Calm can use OOH to remind folks that there are tools to help them prioritize their mental well-being. People make New Year's resolutions to work on their health, so brands in both mental & physical fitness should use OOH to stay top of mind.
Beyond thinking about the campaign context, you’ll want to consider timing, budget, and messaging. Here are a few tips that can help set you up for success.
5. Get Started on your Campaigns Early
While PJX and vendors/media owners will hustle to make things happen, the earlier you can come to us with an idea, the better. Because many brands advertise during the holiday season, it is a very popular time. If you wait too long, then the inventory you want may already be sold out. A good time to start planning Q4 campaigns is during Q3, but some brands will book their Q4 media up to a year in advance.
6. Prepare for Competitive Rates
The holidays create an increased captive audience as people are out and about either traveling, spending time with loved ones, or shopping. Prepare for some competitive rates when it comes to traditional out-of-home inventory. Static OOH inventory gives you a 100% share of voice for a specific unit, i.e., your ad will be the only one shown on that face of the billboard.
7. Consider Using Programmatic Buying
You will have to spend more for premium inventory during this season, which may not be in the budget. Digital OOH inventory, and more specifically, Programmatic DOOH, could be an option if you have a tight budget but still want to try OOH. Digital OOH ads allow you to change your messaging on the fly and target your ads to specific audiences. This is a great way to promote time-sensitive offers and promotions. One advantage of pDOOH is that you can specify triggers for when your ad will run. For example, if you are a QSR brand, you could run ads with your holiday food specials during meal times, or have an ad for hot beverages that runs when temperatures go below a certain point. Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) can put your ad where your audience is more likely to see it.
8. Have a Sense of Urgency
Trying to reach sales targets by the end of the year? Add a sense of urgency to your messaging. Use OOH ads to promote your holiday sales and promotions. Be sure to highlight your best deals and discounts to entice people to shop with you before time runs out.The holidays are a busy time of year, so people are more likely to act on ads that create a sense of urgency. Use words like "limited time offer" and "shop now" to encourage people to act quickly. OOH media is proven to swiftly convert visual engagement into tangible purchases.
Additional OOH Best Practices For Any Time of Year:
Target your audience. OOH media is highly targeted, so you can reach your ideal customers where they live, work, and play. Use data and insights to target your campaigns by demographics, interests, and location.
Use eye-catching visuals. OOH ads are all about visuals, so make sure your ads are visually appealing and attention-grabbing. Use bright colors, bold fonts, and clear messaging to capture people's attention.
Use a mix of static and digital OOH ads. Static OOH ads convey a persistent message 24/7, while digital OOH ads offer more flexibility and targeting options.
Be creative with your OOH ads. Many types of OOH ads are available, so get creative and think outside the box. Using 2D extensions off the top and sides of billboards is a quick way to extend the size of your billboard and add eye-catching elements.
Use humor and emotion in your OOH ads. People are more likely to remember ads that are funny or emotional. Photos conveying emotions add a “feel-good” element to any OOH ad.
Test different OOH ad formats and placements. Try different formats and placements to see what works best for your target audience and budget.
The range of OOH formats and possibilities is truly limitless. If you can imagine it, then it can likely be done. At PJX Media, we care about your OOH campaign like its our own. We know where your audience is, what OOH inventory is in the market, and have the tools to prove the effectiveness of your campaign. Say ‘Hello’ to get started and let us help you end the year strong.
