Following the recently published piece about how to turbocharge digital out-of-home creative, ExchangeWire were keen to delve into another powerful way of transforming DOOH – data. Here, Mick Ridley (pictured below), head of data and technology, Exterion Media, explains to ExchangeWire how leveraging advanced data insight is key to successful OOH campaign planning, execution and measurement, and how Londoners should see a difference in the OOH media they consume throughout the city, thanks to data.

Increasingly, sophisticated use of data is changing the way that Out of Home (OOH) is bought, sold, and consumed. We are no longer restricted to selling a specific format, or time period, but are making a fundamental shift to selling audiences.

By fusing locational intelligence with modelled, qualitative, and behavioural data, in addition to a shift towards real-time data, we can better understand audiences in the round – helping advertisers to plan, execute, and measure campaigns more effectively.

As the industry transitions, it will radically change the market, allowing OOH media owners to underpin their investments with revenue growth and enable the medium to take market share from other media channels.

Digital channels have raised advertiser’s expectations, so that they now demand a deep level of audience insight that is increasingly used to justify their creative, channel, and media decisions. OOH is ideally placed to take advantage of the increased insight that is available to deliver more intelligent campaigns, allowing it to compete on a level playing field against online, as well as more traditional media.

OOH is becoming a more attractive medium because it can fulfil both the large broadcast-scale needs of advertisers, whilst also having the ability to segment audiences, making it more targeted, relevant, and contextual. It is now a targeted broadcast medium.

However, with so many disparate sources of data, it is only companies with the power to access and layer these effectively who can build a truly accurate picture of their audience.

Partnerships are fundamental to OOH media owners leveraging advanced data insight.

A key example of this came with last month’s announcement that Transport for London (TfL) selected Exterion Media as its media partner for the world’s largest outdoor advertising contract. The partnership provides advertising spaces across the entire Rail and Underground estate, which includes over 400 stations supporting over 30 million journeys a day.

Alongside our work with other partners, the reach and exposure of the ground-breaking partnership with TfL will transform customers’ journeys and the wider industry as a whole, utilising data to make strategic shifts.

For example, we recently introduced Abi with Telefónica (short for Audience Behavioural Insights) a new insight and planning tool for marketers that draws the anonymous aggregated data from Telefónica UK’s mobile network O2, to generate actionable demographic and behavioural detail about crowd data on London Underground (users never see the identification of the individual) and the journeys they make.

The dashboard allows brands to plan campaigns around the behaviours of aggregated groups from three core sources: mobile activity from devices within the network, CRM data from the O2 network, and interests derived from web and app usage – all anonymised and aggregated at source to ensure privacy.

The level of insight to be gained from analysing behavioural data such as this just does not exist in the highly modelled, static data that has, until now, been applied to dynamic environments like the London Underground.

Not only does it help marketers to better use digital screens to target audiences with relevant and well-timed messages, it also helps planners to understand how to deliver to valuable audiences in outer zone stations in a smart, context-relevant way.

And mobile data is not the only rich source of audience insight – payment data is as well. To this end, we recently partnered with big data insight organisation Beyond Analysis. Working together will allow us to understand where people spend, when they spend, and the brands they spend with – all tied back to the journeys they make.

Ultimately, the goal is to help advertisers to surface ads, content, and offers that are relevant and timely; in essence, to target the right customers for our brands based on real data, rather than simple demographics. This makes advertising more effective for brands and more engaging for consumers.

Partnering with the right people to gain access to ‘best in class’ data, the OOH industry now has the capability to transform ordinary journeys into extraordinary experiences.

We are also increasingly looking at how consumers behave, think, and engage with advertising throughout their journeys on public transport, by using techniques such as understanding where customers look (eye tracking) and insight from our online work.shop.play. consumer panel members.

Layering multiple data sources, building on existing TfL passenger data, thanks to our ground-breaking new partnership, allows us to create a complete picture of how Londoners behave in the real world.

The future of OOH lies in focusing on the consumer experience, not on the screen – start with the person on the street, on the Tube, or on the bus. Campaigns need to be built around a connected, technology-enabled experience – that way they’re guaranteed to make an impact.