Global brands: Where it all starts

DPAA, the global trade association that promotes the digitisation of the out of home medium, regularly talks with brands and agencies, finds out what is on their minds, their challenges, their views on today’s media landscape, and of course what they like, and would like to see more of in OOH and DOOH.

These conversations lead to a greater understanding of brands’ needs and help to promote the use of digital out of home as a media channel. June had been a busy time at DPAA with our Canada Summit, the DPAA Cannes Lions Curated Experience, our Women’s Empowerment (WE.DOOH) webinar and our Research, Retail & Tech session – leading to many of these conversations.  DPAA members have had the distinct opportunity to sit in on these activities, and hear from and engage directly with leaders in the advertising space. 

Here’s what’s on the mind of brands and agencies.

Retail Media. GroupM estimates 2024 global retail media ad spend to be a US$120 Billion + sector.  Other holding companies have similar estimates, yet when brands talk about the sector they mostly mean online and e-commerce sites. Because of the work of DPAA and others, brands are starting to recognise the powerful opportunity with physical screens in real life a) on the consumer’s daily journey, b) on the path to purchase, and c) right at the point of purchase in all parts of the store.  DPAA members globally are taking advantage of this opportunity as we are beginning to reshape the definition – Retail Media is Digital Out of Home Media! 

Environment & Sustainability. With increased focus on carbon emissions, brands are looking to minimise their carbon footprint and partner with media companies that do the same.  DOOH displays account for approximately 3% of the world’s screens. Moreover, out of home is a one-to-many medium, making us a more eco-friendly media partner than other choices. Additionally, innovative solutions such as e-printing, energy saving technologies, including solar power are being introduced to make out of home a more sustainable solution and important partner to agencies and brands.  

Consumer Privacy. Marketers are seeing new challenges and opportunities as cookies are dissipating around the world. Of course, in the forthcoming “no cookie age”, the power of context rises swiftly up the media consideration ladder.  And who offers better context than OOH and DOOH?  And now with many attribution companies showcasing the power of our medium to drive ROI, we can act in privacy compliant fashion. 

Social media and OOH. Increasingly, some brands are introducing new products via social media. And they are pairing it with digital out of home to amplify the effect. In today’s digital world it is physical signs and screens in the real world that are attracting ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ – and brands are noticing. 

Attention, engagement, and measurement. As marketers’ needs for measurement and ROI grow, DOOH is keeping up. As many media buyers look to attention metrics, DOOH networks are looking at working with various data sets that will get advertisers closer to the ROI they seek. 

These are just some of the conversations we’ve had in the month of June. DPAA’s regular communication with brands and agencies helps our members stay on top of the needs of decision makers and allows us to keep showcasing and promoting the medium.