Engage Audiences In Public Spaces with Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Advertising
From high-traffic digital billboards in urban areas to waiting room screens in clinics, Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising is empowering businesses to reach people with timely, relevant messaging beyond the confines of their personal spaces and devices.
To understand DOOH, it helps to start with Out of Home (OOH) advertising, the traditional placements like static billboards and signage seen in public spaces. DOOH takes that foundation and layers in digital technology, allowing ads to be dynamic and data-driven. These digital formats enable more precise targeting, creative flexibility, programmatic buying and the ability to update messaging in near real-time.
As more advertisers look to engage audiences in real life, DOOH is emerging as a proven channel that blends creativity, technology and data to drive performance. Whether you’re building brand awareness or promoting limited-time offers, DOOH deserves a place in your marketing mix.
Smarter Reach Through Programmatic Buying
Programmatic ad buying is transforming how advertisers access and deliver DOOH campaigns. Instead of negotiating each placement manually, programmatic platforms use real-time data to automate where and when your ads appear, making campaigns more precise, efficient and scalable.
Through programmatic DOOH, you can:
- Target specific audiences based on geography and the locations they frequent
- Scale efficiently across screens and formats in multiple markets and environments
- Bid more or less for different locations or placements, depending on the value to your business
- Launch, schedule or day part ads so they run at the most optimal times. For example, change messages for daytime versus nighttime, only run an ad during open business hours or promote a restaurant’s new dinner menu only during dinner hours.
- Update ad creative much faster than traditional signage, allowing for greater flexibility
This approach helps you optimize ad spend by focusing on the screens and settings that align with your audience and goals. It also makes it easier to run multi-location campaigns and adjust targeting parameters quickly. As we’ve outlined in our article on when to use programmatic advertising, this method is especially useful for campaigns that need flexibility, real-time control and smarter targeting across both metro and regional markets.
Geographic Precision That Drives Relevance
Location targeting with DOOH goes beyond general placement. You can tailor campaigns by ZIP code, neighborhood or even proximity to specific businesses or events. That geographic flexibility ensures messages are timely and relevant, whether you’re targeting busy metro intersections or smaller regional hubs.
With tools that allow for real-time adjustments, advertisers can:
- Serve dynamic content that changes by location
- Match messaging to local events or promotions
- Avoid markets that aren’t part of the strategy
Reaching People Across Daily Routines
The power of DOOH comes from showing up in places people already frequent and delivering a relevant message where audiences are paying attention and open to influence.
Common placements include:
- Outdoor: large format digital billboards on highways, digital posters on city streets
- Transit: digital signage in airports, buses, train stations and taxi/rideshare vehicles
- Retail and Entertainment: in-store retail displays, grocery screens, movie theater displays, gas station pump-top video screens, table-side screens in restaurants and bars
- Health & Wellness: screens in doctors’ offices, gyms and salons
An ad for a new food product shown to grocery store shoppers is more likely to influence them, since they are actively in the process of purchasing goods. An ad about rental car deals at the airport is more likely to convert customers because it’s delivered to travelers in a hyper-relevant context.
When these types of DOOH ads are a part of a multi-channel marketing campaign across other digital and traditional channels, it enriches the campaign’s impact by delivering a coordinated message to targeted audiences at multiple touchpoints throughout their routines.
Flexible, Timely Creative That Works Harder
Creative flexibility is one of DOOH’s biggest strengths. Unlike static billboards or posters, DOOH creative can be changed quickly to respond to shifting conditions like inventory, pricing or events. With digital formats, there’s no printing or production delay, making it easier to stay agile. Plus, unlike many other digital ad formats, DOOH ad formats aren’t skippable or scrollable, giving you a greater chance at engaging viewers with an eye-catching message.
With DOOH, advertisers benefit from the ability to:
- Launch and revise campaigns without long lead times
- Run multiple versions of creative simultaneously
- Align messaging across major geographic areas while maintaining local relevance
Results Without the Complexity
DOOH has come a long way in both accessibility and impact. With advancements in buying platforms and measurement tools, campaigns can be optimized faster and evaluated with clear performance metrics.
Whether you’re working with a national budget or testing the waters in a few select markets, DOOH offers a blend of visibility, targeting and efficiency that’s hard to match with traditional OOH media and coordinates well with other cross-channel marketing efforts.
To get the most value, DOOH should be integrated into a full, cohesive marketing plan that may also include channels like CTV, programmatic display and streaming audio. Data gathered from these campaigns can inform creative choices and messaging for DOOH placements. For example, programmatic display campaigns can quickly test and refine headlines or visuals, with the best-performing concepts then applied to DOOH for stronger, more efficient impact. This cross-channel alignment ensures every tactic builds on the others for greater overall results.
How We Help Businesses Get More From DOOH
At Callis, we support clients in building and managing DOOH campaigns that align with business goals. From strategy to placement to creative support, our team ensures that campaigns are planned smartly, executed smoothly and evaluated effectively.
We work across both metro and rural markets, helping brands grow awareness and drive action wherever their audience is. If you’re exploring how DOOH can fit into your next campaign, we’re here to help you get started.
SOURCES
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/internet-of-things/iot-solutions/digital-signage/dooh.html
