Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer behavior trends continue to shift dramatically as more people spend time at home. This abrupt shift in consumer behavior means that advertisers will need to step up their understanding of what their audiences are interested in the real world. There are two big challenges facing the digital out of home (DOOH) advertising market: where to place ads and how to increase ad reach without breaking the bank. With consumer foot traffic shifting, it is crucial for DOOH advertisers to know where consumers are spending their time.

Ad budgets are tight and consumer foot traffic isn’t as predictable as it used to be, but that doesn’t mean that advertisers shouldn’t consider DOOH advertising. A successful digital out of home ad campaign must not only be data-driven, but it also should use real-world data like location intelligence. While the type of data is important, data delivery and flexibility are also factors, which digital out of home advertising companies need to consider as they plan out data-driven campaigns.

To illustrate the benefits of data flexibility with Gravy DaaS, let’s consider a scenario where a digital out of home campaign has gone awry without access to flexible data delivery. A DOOH company is working with a brand on a digital billboard campaign to reach consumers interested in a series of virtual panels and tastings with a celebrity chef. The advertising agency works with their client to select the best site for the digital advertisements. Foodies are obviously being considered as the main audience. The digital out of home company helps their client to identify select areas where foodies visit. 

As the ad campaign messaging is being built out, there is a host change. The replacement chef, also known for being a musician, is followed by both foodies and music lovers. The agency’s analysts will have to go back and request new data, but it’ll take a few weeks to do so. This leaves both the brand and agency in a lurch as they can’t launch the campaign without the data. This scenario could have been avoided if the agency and brand were able to quickly access the data that they need. 

If the digital out of home company mentioned in this scenario had access to location intelligence via APIs, they would have been able to adjust the ad campaign quickly to reach the target audiences. With API access, they would be able to query the data directly from the source, and only pay for what they needed. In addition, the agency could also integrate the API with their own system in order to enrich their current datasets.  By getting location intelligence via an API, the agency can determine where the highest traffic areas are based on their campaign’s personas, and work with their client to acquire digital billboard spaces in those locations. After the campaign is done, the DOOH company can prove ad campaign effectiveness, and retarget consumers who were exposed to the ads in a timely manner. 

With Gravy APIs, digital out of home advertising companies can access the data that they need without having to waste time sorting through data that isn’t needed for a particular ad campaign. Batch data delivery is also another option which provides DOOH advertisers with access to the data they need without having to interact with an API. At Gravy, we provide different batch delivery options, depending on the size of the data file, from AWS S3 buckets to standard CSV files. The result is a more successful DOOH ad campaign driven by real-world data.

Which Gravy APIs and applications are best suited for DOOH advertising?

• Area Visitors API
• Area Personas API

To learn more, check out our industry solutions page for digital advertising.

Digital out of home advertisers might not consider flexible data delivery right out of the gate, but it should be at the top of their list. Without this flexibility, a digital out of home company could run into a timing problem with its client’s ad campaign. When it comes to advertising campaigns, especially DOOH, timing is everything. As more time spent is spent on data delivery, advertisers risk getting data which is no longer relevant to them, and this can be costly in terms of resources. This is why digital out of home companies should always include real world-data like location intelligence in their data-driven advertising campaigns.