This year’s Outdoor Media Awards is fast approaching, and the 30-strong panel of judges is looking forward to celebrating the wide range of incredible out of home campaigns the industry has delivered in another competitive year.
Across 14 awards, the contest, which is run in partnership with Campaign, looks to celebrate all aspects that make OOH such a standout medium, from creative and talent to planning and effectiveness.
During another tough 12 months, social injustice, inclusivity, and community have all proved strong themes in the wider world, and it’s expected those things will be reflected in this year's entries too.
As a medium that is unique in its ability to reach diverse and marginalised audiences on a national scale, Clear Channel believes giving this aspect of OOH even more consideration when plotting campaigns should be a key focus going forward.
The IPA’s 2022 report, Making sense: the commercial media landscape, found that post-lockdown out of home remained the single broadest channel that can, as Aimee McKay, Clear Channel’s client partnership director, puts it: “reach everyone, everywhere”.
This, plus new research, Real World Planning, commissioned by Kinetic, Clear Channel, Global and JCDecaux, shows out of home campaigns that carry inclusive ads drive stronger brand uplifts than those that don’t.
The research “told us what we’ve known for a long time,” McKay says. "OOH is not only one of the strongest channels for delivering inclusive messages, but also one of the best at reaching diverse audiences.”
“That’s because we are public infrastructure first – we provide public utility and the advertising is secondary. So, by our nature, we are in the places that people are, from big cities to small towns.”
The latest Route figures show OOH reaches more than 98% of the adult population and over-indexes against a range of diverse audiences across all OOH locations.
Diversity & inclusion will likely be prominent across all aspects of the OOH campaigns up for prizes in this year’s awards but there are also categories specifically designed to showcase social impact (under Platform for Good) and the industry’s diverse talent.
The ability to be wherever the public is has never been more important than in the past two years. With the pandemic continuing to impact how and where people are working, travelling and socialising, reaching people wherever they are is key. However, it goes much deeper than simply getting eyes on ads.
“From a diversity & inclusion perspective, brands and advertisers have thought more in recent years about what ads are saying, as well as who's making them, and there's been some good progress made in that area,” acknowledges Mark Smith, Clear Channel’s UK sales director.
“But of course, you also need to think about where you're putting the ads too, and that’s becoming a huge consideration. Trying to find another medium that doesn’t naturally exclude certain groups is almost impossible. There is always a target audience. And while that’s traditionally what advertising has been about, inadvertently excluding big sections of people no longer sits right with brands from both a moral and commercial perspective.”
OOH “really does reach everyone,” Smith adds. “By its nature, being ubiquitous, being across the UK, being local, being city centre. Take a billboard by the side of a busy road. It targets the people that live nearby, it targets the people that drive past it on their commute, it targets people that are just visiting the area or passing through.
“All of those people will be from all walks of life; all colours, all creeds and all backgrounds. And that's what's quite different compared with any other medium. It's very much a shared experience. I think it'd be hard to find any channel that could be more naturally inclusive.”
When planning a great OOH campaign, then, McKay continues, “the important thing is that it is inclusive to everyone. You plan it properly, you make sure the right message is executed and that the creative is impactful for a wide audience.”
Many advertisers are already taking this on board and submissions to the 2022 OMAs will be campaigns that have reflected public sentiment at a time of important social movement.
“Movements like Black Lives Matter have caused a lot of businesses to take a look at themselves, to take a look at what they're doing in this space and the messages they’re portraying. And that’s everything to do with social responsibility, from sustainability and community, all the way through to D&I,” Smith says.
“Consumers will always vote with their feet, and we know from the research that there was a 22% uplift in purchase intent among 18-34 year olds when they were exposed to an inclusive OOH ad. So it isn't just the right thing to do; it's the right thing to do from a commercial sense as well - and that’s going to show in the entries.”
Last year’s Grand Prix winner, HSBC UK’s campaign with Shelter – “Addressing the ‘No Fixed Address’ problem” – was a fantastic execution of all of that, adds McKay.
“It really was a phenomenal campaign for so many different reasons. It was raising awareness of a real societal issue but the creative execution of that could not have worked anywhere else but OOH. This was all about the environment, because this is where [homelessness] really happens. It was planned brilliantly and executed in a way that really brought home what the campaign was about.”
After a busy year for OOH, McKay and Smith are both looking forward to what the OMAs have in store – including an awards ceremony that will hopefully bring the industry together, in person, for the first time in a couple of years.
“Every year we say we've had the most creative year ever, but this year really has been brilliant,” says Smith. “What’s been really encouraging to see is a shift away from the more delicate and sensitive tone from the depths of the pandemic, and a return to humour and playfulness, which is hopefully a reflection of a lighter public mood.
“It’s an exciting time for the industry as a whole. After a tough period, OOH is back, and it’s in rude health.”
