The long and the short of Out of Home

Out of Home, thanks to its iconic stature and unrivalled scale is a broadcast medium that reaches Australians countless times throughout their everyday lives. Iconic sites and mass reach can create brand fame, wow factor and deliver on those ever-important long-term brand metrics. The diversity of our medium also enables brands to target audiences on a granular scale to effectively deliver on short-term brand campaigns and promotions. And, as one of the most well-known measures of advertising states – a desired 60:40 ratio of long-term and short-term investments.

We attest to the value in both.

More on mass awareness and brand fame

Long-term brand marketing builds on your core brand metrics and brand loyalty. It’s the familiarity of your brand in market, how memorable you are to a consumer, and the reason that they’re primed to pick up your product. It also puts your brand at the core and display your USPs to ensure memorability. Byron Sharp’s How brands grow quotes ‘An ad cannot build memory structures if it is not processed; memory structures cannot generate sales if they are not associated with the brand that is being advertised. Most advertising exposures fail these two hurdles, so money spent is wasted.’ Your long-term brand marketing positions you with your consumers of the now and those consumers of the future and Out of Home plays a crucial role in the journey. Our ROI research notes that when it comes to site performance, long-term sites deliver almost 1.3 times the impact of short-term sites, offering the opportunity for ongoing creative engagement for consumers.

So how can Out of Home make your long-term memorable?

• High exposure signature sites should be leveraged across multiple formats and environments to leverage the broadcast reach of Out of Home
• Brand positioning and value should be clearly defined. What makes you, you? Connect with the consumer on this.
• Distinctive brand design is crucial. Crucial. Keep it simple, ensure your brand is prominent and can be seen from short and long distances.
• Don’t give your creative an expiry date. Stick to your core brand positioning for this to give your creative longevity in market
• If you took off the logo, is it still you?

Let’s not forget the role of short-term planning

Short-term planning should be thought of as the avo to your toast. Les Binet quotes that marketing works in different ways – the long and the short term. Your short-term activation is generally sales-driven and evokes a near-immediate response from the consumer. To activate this effectively, your messaging needs to be attention-grabbing with tight targeting towards those category buyers who are looking to buy and respond now. The result is short-term spikes in sales to meet performance and activation-based results. This activity done correctly, works in collaboration with your long-term branding, not against it.

A few keys to success

• Targeting is your golden nugget here. Optimise the location of your campaign based on where your buyer audience is
• Consider context that your creative is viewed to make for a tailored experience that drives results
• Jump on the QR code bandwagon – this is a great way to engage and drive immediate action with your audience. Fad or not – we’re all very susceptible to a QR code.

The benefits of finding balance between your long-term and short-term marketing will deliver the results of now, while paving the way for your business in the future. A medium like Out of Home is the perfect medium to deliver on this, with its high impact and broadcast reach combined with audience targeting capabilities.

Closing out, there’s too much temptation not to quote said Byron Sharp title How brands grow and the recipe for effective advertising.

• Reach all the category buyers
• Don’t have long lapses in advertising (this is where your long-term branding comes into play)
• Get noticed, not screened out by consumers. ICYMI Out of Home can’t be blocked, skipped or turned off
• Use clear brand links
• Refresh and build memory structures that make a brand easier to notice

Most importantly and this one is from us .. be uniquely you.