Prior to their discussion at ATS London 2019, ExchangeWire joins Seun Odeneye, managing director of Cadreon UK, and Sophie Pemberton, global strategy director of Talon Outdoor, for their insight on how programmatic technologies can be applied within the Out of Home (OOH) sector.

Proliferation of data allows marketers to bring precision to OOH buying

When positioned with the question ‘What does programmatic mean for OOH?’, my assumption is that nine out of ten marketers would think of RTB and activation (and I was one of them) - because that’s a big part of our experience in programmatic digital display to date. Of course they wouldn’t be wrong in thinking that – but as the landscape becomes increasingly complex, the real question we should be asking is: ‘Where have we seen the most value in programmatic across digital display to date?’ The answer to that would be through programmatic tech and data, because with the proliferation of data, programmatic allows us to bring true precision targeting to OOH.

For a number of our clients, including Carlsberg and Fitbit, we have employed what we call Advanced DOOH to hugely positive effect. This is where we use IPG Mediabrands’ proprietary data stack (AMP), powered by Acxiom, to generate ‘High Value Audiences’ for our clients (ie audiences that will create the most meaningful connections and thus deliver the best return on investment). We then map these audiences to a device ID and layer them with DOOH locations to determine which locations to buy and when to buy them. We have further plans in place to see how we can also use data to close the loop in regards feeding into future test based sites that performed well for our brands.

The greatest challenge with adoption of programmatic across OOH is where traditional OOH companies are unable to get the right programmatic expertise to drive solutions like this, in particular when it comes to delivering the true flexibility required to reach the most valuable audiences. It is when programmatic and OOH expertise come together (eg within Mediabrands, Caderon and Rapport work closely together), that we can drive true innovation for clients in DOOH.

Seun Odeneye, managing director, Cadreon UK

Intelligent technology changing the game

It’s no surprise that given the increasing amount of digital infrastructure in Out of Home that intelligent technology is beginning to emerge and change the game. Delivering and measuring campaigns through better location and audience targeting is a welcome step forward for the industry but we should be cautious about adopting terminology designed for online and applying it to Out of Home. We need to ensure that we continue to deliver solutions that clients are demanding and that lead to more effective outcomes.

We’re at a fascinating point as an industry and at this time I believe that patience, collaboration and evidence will be needed. Other channels have evolved through this transformation in the past, some more successfully than others; there’s a lot to learn so we should be exploring solutions that will lead to long term growth rather than short term gains.

Sophie Pemberton, global strategy director, Talon Outdoor

Tickets to ATS London 2019 have sold out. Applications to join the waitlist are being accepted here.