Thursday, March 4, 2010

What are the main categories of out of home advertising?

Out of home advertising or OOH advertising is any type of promotion that reaches customers who are outside the home. Out of home advertising primarily focuses on marketing to potential customers when they are on the move in public places, in transit or in specific commercial locations like in a retail venue.

There are four main categories of outdoor advertising-

- Billboard advertising

- street furniture advertising

- transit advertising

- alternatives

Billboards come under traditional out of home advertising plan. However, there has been a significant growth in digital out of home billboard advertising in recent years. Customary roadside billboards are the leading form of outdoor advertising.

Street furniture outdoor ad campaigns include bus shelters, mail kiosks, news racks, telephone booths etc. Street furniture advertising is mainly seen in urban area. Street furniture advertising companies are usually involved in building and maintaining shelters people usually occupy while waiting for buses.

Transit Advertising comprises of any ad about a brand, service or business placed on anything which is mobile in nature such as buses, subway, truck side, taxis. Fixed static and electronic ads at train, bus stations and platforms are also grouped under transit advertising. Airport Advertising also comes under this type of advertising. Transit advertising is widely adopted by municipalities as this type of advertising provides revenue to city and port authorities.

Alternative outdoor advertising includes those types of ads which are placed in the stadiums, bike racks, rest areas, gas pumps etc. This type of advertising provides consumers the brand knowledge or information in places they may not expect.

One of the latest formats of outdoor advertising is digital out of home advertising. DOOH advertising is not limited to coffee shops, bars, restaurants, colleges, health clubs, public spaces etc. This type of advertising features autonomously addressable screens, jukeboxes, kiosks, LED, LCD screens etc. Digital displays allow consumers to avail of additional information at the moment of decision making.

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