If you’re looking for out of home advertising trends, look no further. We put together some of the trendiest ideas at the beginning of the year, but as the months go by, we wanted to provide an update with some new trends for the new year.
Many changes have come about during the course of 2022. The hiring market has exploded, with over 11 million available jobs in the United States. Messaging and imagery around hiring and recruiting works.
After COVID-19, health-conscious messaging also works. People are still living after the pandemic with the reminder that health is important, so messaging around trying to protect what’s most valuable to us (our health and our loved ones) also works.
Read more to learn about more ideas you can use for your next campaign.
Use Seasonal Imagery & Messaging
When a billboard stays up for too long, it becomes stale and much less effective. However, when you use seasonal language, messaging, and imagery, it sends an immediate signal to your audience: you are intentionally making this billboard for the moment. Audiences appreciate when a brand puts effort in their marketing.
Take a look at Deljo Heating and Cooling’s OOH campaign. The messaging and imagery is all about the upcoming baseball season, using phrases like, “We knock it out of the park every time.” While these phrases can be corny, they get the point across.
But they didn’t stop with the messaging. We helped Deljo find specific locations where their ads would be more effective, like outside big hardware stores where people might eventually get frustrated trying to fix something in their home and turn to a local HVAC company to help them.
As we get deeper into the Fall and Winter, plan on a campaign that uses common tropes of the weather changing in Chicago. A seasonal messaging strategy, coupled with a targeted hyperlocal approach, makes OOH better.
Build Brand Awareness
It’s easy to forget that brand awareness is often the biggest result that comes from setting up an OOH campaign. In marketing, we talk a lot about calls to action and what we want people to do when they see your billboard, but the reality is you’re already doing so much for your brand by leveraging a big vinyl board in the middle of the 3rd largest marketing in the United States.
This is why Foxtrot’s brand awareness campaign was so successful. With their minimalistic black and white branding, Foxtrot’s Wild Postings and Wallscapes stood apart from the rest, providing a refreshing experience for their audiences which mirrors the experience they provide at their stores and on their app.
Another great example of branding and increasing brand awareness in Chicago is Sugaring NYC’s store launch campaign. Opening a new location means you need to let people know you’re now in the neighborhood. By getting two Hotspots just blocks away from their new location in Lincoln Park, Sugaring NYC can make a big brand awareness splash with a small investment. Their bright pink HotSpots aren’t easy to forget!
Airtable is an example of a company that opted not to feature a call-to-action on their out-of-home ads, but instead focus on brand awareness and location targeting with their placements:
OOH is all about being top of mind. People might not see your billboard and make a purchase that day, but the next time they need a service or product you provide, they’ll remember you and give your business a chance.
Improve Hiring and Recruiting Campaigns
The job market is booming in 2022. Economists predicted 250,000 new jobs would be posted in July. Instead, over 520,000 jobs were added, making the total number of jobs available 11.2 million. What does this mean for your OOH campaign?
You can easily use billboards to recruit, whether you’re looking to grow your workforce or your student body. For example, in Northeastern Illinois University’s recent campaign, they packaged ten HotSpots in really highly-concentrated neighborhoods and high-traffic intersections to gain maximum attention. The HotSpot package ultimately did result in an increase to their enrollment over the year.
The same can be done with job opportunities. Give people a reason why they should work for your company, and make your business stand out. Make it easy for people to apply from their phone or schedule an interview using a QR code. It’s a great way to gain a better first impression as an employer.
Leverage Technology
Billboards aren’t just images and text. You can use technology, like QR codes, to enhance your audiences’ experience as they pass by your billboard.
PayPal was very effective at pairing interactive technology with our Wild Postings. Each billboard had a QR code that the audiences could go up and scan, which would then bring them to the landing page of the PayPal app. That was a very effective use of tying out-of-home with QR code technology.
We’re always looking to drive audiences to your website or to your stores or to your restaurants, so with PayPal using QR codes, it was a very effective way to really drive audiences to their platform and convert users.
Health-Conscious Messaging
In the post pandemic 2022, health messaging is still important. People are now more aware of health insurance features like open enrollment and they’re more aware of their choices in the marketplace.
When Ambetter came to us with a campaign idea, we were able to meet with them and really help them find a way to get their brand message next to (or very close) to their focus hospitals to make sure that Ambetter's name was top-of-mind through this open enrollment period.
This also falls under picking the right timing. Advertising on OOH during open enrollment is a great way to stand out from your competition, so picking the right time to create a new campaign is of the utmost importance.
These are the types of ideas we can help generate for your next OOH campaign. Come to us with a budget and what you’d like to promote, and we can help you find the best time and locations for your messaging to hit your target audience.