Does Outdoor Advertising have a place in your Black Friday campaign?
Black Friday has become the ‘superbowl for marketers’ as of recent years, with most brands competing for attention across all channels to ensure their promotions & offers will be heard.
This is no surprise, with recent figures reporting spending in the UK alone reaching up to 6.4bn across the Black Friday weekend (Why Matters) - there’s a clear appetite for consumers on all products/ services to hold off purchasing until these dates, when they know brands will offer promotions.
The average spend per consumer jumps from £124 to £262, with men seeing the biggest increase from £147 to £309 - In short, men are tighter.
There’s no doubt that consumers are active within this period - But the main question marketers are asking is what offers do we run, and then how do we promote it?
A strong digital strategy is essential, but how can marketers use offline channels to make sure their Black Friday campaign gets seen?
Location Matters
As always with any offline advertising - where you choose to run campaigns is important. For retail offers and discounts, shopping centres and high streets will capture more attention than roadside advertising. This is mainly due to the frame of mind of the consumer - 80% of shopping centre visitors report that they enter a shopping centre intending to make at least one purchase (OAAA / Nielsen). Therefore, they are in the mindset to shop and on the hunt for promotions and discounts.
Fierce Competition
On social media alone, the average person sees approximately 150-500 digital ads per day (Manochi), this is outside Black Friday where the consumer is actively looking and brand activity is higher. As a brand, Black Friday is where CPMs rise and cost per click metrics reach an unsettling number.
For a brand reaching a local market - Out of Home advertising is a secret power. There’s a set amount of inventory available in each specified location.
Digital Ad Effectiveness
Billboard Advertising is seen to increase the effectiveness of online advertising by 31% (Vistar). An understandable statistic, with the trust and familiarity of the brand being built in real life - and then the digital ads is the element that encourages the conversion, pushing people to act when they’re at home, browsing and ready to purchase.
OOH along with mobile retargeting ensures your digital campaigns are being seen by the same people who have seen your outdoor advertising campaigns. Set-up through a simple datafeed, you can retarget this audience when they are in more of a state to purchase or enquire.
Creative Comes First
As always, the outdoor advertising creatives matter the most. Ensure the offer is simple and easy to digest and the brand comes across clearly. The outdoor advert needs to capture the attention, whilst ensuring the offer is available so the audience knows where to go to claim it.
Don’t worry too much about call-to-actions (definitely not QR codes, that’s another blog post entirely), but if your ad copy is good enough it’s not needed. An example, ad copy that states “20% off online” with the brand clearly visible, people will go to the website via search to claim the offer. Ensure it’s accessible when they land on the website, and the customer journey will be seamless. If the objective is to increase in-store visits, a clear instruction on where to go will work just as well.
A Black Friday superpower?
With the fierce competition of' Black Friday upcoming, it’s important that each brand finds its place to stand out.
Out-of-home advertising can offer brands a platform to showcase their deals and discounts through extremely limited inventory. If you know where your audience is located, planning media around their habits can unlock consistent engagement through multiple creatives without receiving ad fatigue.
With strong creative, brands can communicate their offers in the real-world, directly to their target audience multiple times a day. It’s then up to the digital teams to ensure the journey to purchase is seamless once the consumer is online. If the offer is claimed in-person, location matters even more and brands can direct the audience on where to find it.
References
Adexposure - When deciding where to spend your advertising
Manochi - Global Digital Reports
