How to win at out-of-home

Out-of-home is experiencing an exciting rebirth as digital innovation puts it front and centre of the advertising conversation.

Last year’s great summer of sport, combined with continued investment in digital sites, tools and data, have paid off for the sector which is in rude health, according to Mark Smith, UK sales director at Clear Channel. OOH saw around 7.5% growth in 2024, he says, “and we’re predicting similar growth for 2025. It’s been another strong year.”

And, as the industry’s premier showcase of outdoor’s power - the Outdoor Media Awards - open for entries this week, Clear Channel’s client partnership director Aimee McKay predicts that submissions are likely to reflect brands’ and agencies’ increased focus on refining their out-of-home strategy - and performance. 

Winning work from 2024 that “Outshines Ordinary” will be celebrated and rewarded on June 12 at an awards ceremony of the 2025 OMAs, run by Clear Channel in partnership with Campaign.

The OMAs have now been officially recognised by RECMA, the research company which evaluates media agencies quantitatively and qualitatively, and are included in their evaluated events. So winning an OMA can now contribute to agencies’ RECMA scores. 

For advertisers looking to lean into the most of what outdoor now offers, here are some key points to inform an OOH strategy for the year ahead.

More power to OOH

As Les Binet, group head of effectiveness at Adam & Eve/DDB, noted on a podcast this month: “Outdoor has now overtaken TV as the medium that has the broadest reach and the highest number of exposures.” Outdoor, he said, “is the only way you can reach everyone.”

The medium’s traditional superpowers – quality national reach, creative impact, and physical presence in communities – have been augmented in recent years with the additional heft that digital brings to the party. OOH now delivers to 98% of all adults across the UK and digital inventory accounts for around 70% of outdoor revenue, according to Route figures.

“You can do things that are scalable, that can complement and enhance what you might be doing in other media channels,” Smith says. “There’s something incredibly powerful about doing that in such a public space as out-of-home.”

Smart planning

But it’s not just about the screen count. Industry investment has gone into both inventory and increasingly sophisticated tools to help media planners develop audience insight by understanding variables such as consumers’ location, points of interest, brand affinity, and online browsing behaviours and connecting them to the physical world of OOH for more effective, flexible, data-driven campaign planning.

The huge amount of first and third-party data available to brands provides a more comprehensive understanding of customers, and brands can also act on triggers such as weather which may affect the probability of purchase.

Right choice, responsible choice

Despite its digital credentials, OOH inhabits a unique space within media, where its physical nature as a channel provides a reassuring role in building public trust, says McKay. And that’s invaluable at a time when there is so much cynicism.

“Outdoor does a brilliant job of driving trust and brand awareness and that’s why a lot of brands will use it,” she says. “Outdoor is a great complement to one-to-one channels. It gives them a turbo boost to enable those messages to land a lot better.” 

Outdoor’s presence in communities around the UK is also a unique characteristic of the medium. Almost 50p in every pound of OOH spend goes back to local communities in some way.

Clear Channel works with 180 councils in long-term partnerships, helping meet sustainability targets and promote biodiversity with initiatives such as Living Roofs, solar panels on bus shelters, urban meadows, and edible playgrounds to encourage healthy eating in schools.

“At a time when advertising gets a bad press on what and how it contributes to society, just by spending on out-of-home, brands are helping to bring more funding to councils, providing public infrastructure, and supporting local communities,” says Smith.

“We’re an infrastructure business as well as a media business,” McKay adds. “Our workforce is out maintaining 22,000 bus shelters. It gives so much back.”

IRL to URL

The role of retail media is one of the big topics of conversation in advertising. Whether brands have a retail presence or are online pure-plays, OOH can help connect the dots with other channels wherever consumers are on the purchase journey.

At a time when many retailers are trying to up their retail media game, [and] building their own networks, OOH is a ready-made proposition, says McKay.

“It’s scalable, in the right locations, and also has data behind it to understand audiences and their purchasing habits. Then there’s the flexibility to decide when to turn on and off.” 

Powerful posters

OOH is the most visual media and incredibly powerful when used correctly but the creative execution has to be fit for the medium. 

There’s a temptation to say several different things in an ad - but that’s not how OOH works best. 

Clear Channel works closely with a range of brands across sectors on how best to create for OOH. Its “Powerful Posters” series is designed to guide advertisers in better understanding the role of outdoor and its techniques, particularly given the ever-expanding digital toolkit available. 

The creative options are varied: from being able to activate as and when required with data triggers, through to the use of subtle motion or full motion. And innovations continue to arrive, such as 3D and AR campaigns, and interactive touchscreens.

A new innovation for 2025 is ROADBLOCK–- a creative opportunity that gives brands the ability to take 100% ownership of up to 4,000 digital screens for an hour.

Creatively, it’s a huge innovation “and a new opportunity to engage at scale and to own the conversation’” says McKay. 

“Brands will be able to tap into cultural moments like never before.”

Entries for the 2025 OMAs close on February 28th, 2025. If you have OOH work that “Outshines Ordinary,” enter here.