Let’s Talk About Digital Out-of-Home
Going digital is a natural evolution for the outdoor advertising industry. Hand painted signs gave way to paper posters, later to printed vinyl, and now digital display technology. Each step forward has significantly improved lead time, production costs, and environmental impact. Today you can go from Photoshop to digital billboard almost instantly. In this post, we’ll cover the basics behind Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH).
Size and technology
A standard digital billboard is 14’ tall, 48’ wide, and covered with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). LEDs are the same technology that power HDTVs and smartphone screens. Just like traditional vinyl billboards, digital units are illuminated, weatherproof, resistant to UV & vandalism damage.
Sales strategy
Traditional billboards are sold on a monthly basis and display a single ad.
Digital billboard advertising is sold in ‘slots’, akin to TV commercials. Each billboard has 8-10 slots which run in a continuous loop. Slots are roughly 10 seconds long, giving passing motorists plenty of time to view and process the ad.
In some markets, operators may also sell 'digital network’ slots. With a network slot, ads air across several digital billboards simultaneously. This is a great way to create a market-wide presence without printing and installing multiple vinyl posters.
Creative opportunities
Digital billboards offer incredible creative freedom:
- Push tighter deadlines and eliminate delays due to printing/installation - email ads directly to the board!
- Purchase two adjacent slots to create eye catching multi-faceted ads - promote a local restaurant and the evening’s specials.
- Optimize your campaign by revising creative on-the-fly based on consumer response.
- Pull in dynamic content via Twitter/RSS/Facebook/HTML and tailor the ad to a specific market or time of day.
(Photos courtesy of Snap Orlando and OAAA)
Try it out
Whether you’re starting a new campaign or you want to add flexibility to your current media mix, DOOH is a great fit. It’s affordable, easy to implement, and dynamic.
The ADstruc team can help you find the best DOOH opportunities that complement your advertising goals. Get started today by signing up at ADstruc.com/register!