Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising is becoming non-negotiable in the 2025 marketing landscape, offering a powerful way to capture the attention of diverse audiences.
From the Las Vegas Sphere, Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing, Times Square, or Piccadilly Circus, OOH is strategically placed in high-traffic areas where people live, work, shop, and socialize, offering unmatched visibility and engagement, driving immediate talkability and lasting impact. With measurable ROI, extensive reach, and cutting-edge technology like programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH), OOH is a dynamic platform that complements digital strategies, boosts brand awareness, and fuels business growth.
OOH’s unique superpower lies in its ability to connect with diverse demographics in real-world settings. By placing ads in high-traffic locations, brands achieve maximum exposure, enhancing recognition and recall. According to a study by the Out-of-Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA), 73% of consumers view DOOH favourably, strengthening its role in building credibility and positive brand associations. Darren McKinon, Commercial Sales Director at Epic Outdoor, often highlights that attention is not the same as intention and that this distinction needs consideration when determining campaign objectives. Attention might involve having eyes glued to a screen while waiting for an ad to finish playing, but the intention at that point might be to get back to a game. These two concepts are distinct yet equally important. When it comes to OOH, particularly DOOH, there’s a significant opportunity to bridge this gap and deliver both intention and attention.
Whether it’s a billboard on a busy highway or a digital screen at a padel court, OOH drives foot traffic, boosts sales, and amplifies online activity, as demonstrated in-depth by neuroscience case studies from Ocean Outdoor. Its seamless integration with other platforms allows for effective omnichannel strategies, making it imperative for marketers navigating today’s digital landscape.
DOOH: The New Digital?
One step further than DOOH is programmatic DOOH (pDOOH), which advances data-driven personalisation, enabling real-time dynamic content optimisation, mobile integration, and precise audience targeting – _all familiar aspects of the digital realm. This allows brands to deliver contextually relevant ads without wastage, embodying the principle of reaching the right person on the right platform at the right time.
The flexibility of pDOOH helps it stand out, while dynamic creative optimisation enables ads to be tailored to specific conditions like weather or time of day. With location-based targeting, cross-screen integration, and advanced analytics, brands can drive foot traffic, create seamless experiences, and measure ROI, ultimately increasing dwell time and engagement with their target audience.
Brand Safety: A Critical Priority
With the incredible opportunities presented by DOOH come concerns. At Epic, brand safety in DOOH is a significant concern, particularly in South Africa’s booming market. Unlike online platforms with safeguards, DOOH often lacks consistent standards, leaving brands exposed to poor-quality displays or inadequate content management that can affect trust in the platform. Given the lower barrier to entry compared to other platforms, issues like blinding nighttime brightness due to low-quality screens without dimmers or power outages can erode brand and consumer trust and damage brand identity.
High-quality screens and advanced systems are essential to protect brand integrity, ensuring ads are displayed as intended, following brand CI and reinforcing OOH’s credibility as a premium medium.
Opportunities and Challenges
As traditional media declines and digital continues to rise, OOH emerges as a resilient and forward-thinking choice for brands and agencies. pDOOH is revolutionising the industry, empowering advertisers and media owners with data-driven insights that enable smarter campaigns. However, the industry must navigate challenges like market oversaturation and inconsistent governance, adhering to bylaws to ensure continued growth. The influx of new players brings opportunities but also risks further fragmentation if quality and delivery aren’t prioritised. Investing in reliable inventory and cutting-edge technology is crucial for maintaining brand safety and elevating industry standards.
OOH advertising offers flexibility and impact, cutting through clutter while remaining cost-effective. With media inflation at 5% (MIW Index 2024), OOH stands out as a smart investment compared to other media types facing significant cost-per-thousand (CPM) increases of up to 25%. By leveraging these strengths, brands can achieve their goals without sacrificing quality or return on investment (ROI).
Despite its benefits, OOH receives only 5% of annual ad spend. This raises questions: Is it due to a lack of understanding, or are clients and agencies stuck in traditional ways of thinking? What are we missing that’s preventing OOH from realizing its full potential?
Epic’s Vision for OOH’s Future
At Epic Outdoor, we envision OOH as a transformative force in advertising—a medium that connects the physical and digital worlds to deliver unparalleled value. To unlock its full potential, the industry must tackle brand safety, invest in premium technology, and educate media agencies and brands on OOH’s capabilities. By prioritising governance, quality screens, and strategic innovation, OOH can solidify its role as a cornerstone of modern marketing.
From driving foot traffic to boosting brand recall, OOH is not just an advertising tool—i_t_’s_ _a_ _p_o_w_e_r_h_o_u_s_e_ _t_h_a_t_ _d_e_l_i_v_e_r_s_ _i_m_p_a_c_t_f_u_l_ _r_e_s_u_l_t_s_,_ _s_t_r_e_n_g_t_h_e_n_s_ _c_o_n_s_u_m_e_r_ _c_o_n_n_e_c_t_i_o_n_s_,_ _and propels brands forward in 2025. We look forward to seeing what the future holds.