Optimise your Out of Home

Out of Home is predominantly an ‘at a glance’ medium, demanding the very best from creatives. Messages must be distilled down to their purest form; focused, succinct, and powerful, demanding to be easily consumed and digested as audiences go about their everyday lives.

Taking a one size fits all approach to Out of Home creative may not unlock the full potential of the creative or the channel, as each format has a unique set of strengths and is consumed in different ways, so we've put together a Creative Best Practice Guide that looks at; how formats are consumed, what to consider when designing for the various formats and how to use technology and innovation to amplify campaigns.

 

Identify

Is the product clearly visible, and can you easily see the advertiser’s name and brand logo? Try to use a website or a phone number, but not both – it adds clutter.

Simplify

Is your idea focused on one key message? Less is always more when using Out of Home advertising to communicate a message.

Shorten

Is your message short? Does it still pack a strong punch? Copy in Out of Home advertising should be no more than 10 words in total, with 5 of those words in the headline. Are the words short, so the message gets through quickly?

Readable

Is the copy legible, even while moving? Have you used bold, non-serif fonts? Avoid decorative, italic or thin serif fonts. Thin fonts disappear, along with your message, when viewed at a distance.

Visible

Are your illustrations clearly visible from a distance? Does the background, or any other visual element distract viewers from the main message?

 

Bold

Are your colours bold and contrasting? Do they have impact? Out of Home advertising is not the place for subtle colours. Forget about white space; this isn’t print. For the strongest contrast in Out of Home design, choose colours that are different in both hue and value, such as a yellow background with black writing, or a white background with black writing. Combinations of complementary colours, such as red and green, should not be used together; their similar colour values make them unreadable from a distance.

Test

View your creative for 5 seconds. If you can’t read the entire message in those 5 seconds, your audience won’t be able to either. Now view your design from a distance; can it be easily read from 4-5 metres away?

 

Other secrets of Out of Home

The more innovative, intriguing, and humorous the execution is, the less media weight is required. However, the more mundane, serious or predictable the execution, the greater the media weight required.
(Source: Mediacom, Canada).

Research has also revealed that:

  • single-minded, focused ads deliver more impact

  • a positive angle is more effective than a negative approach

  • illustration can deliver higher awareness than photography

  • puffed-up product benefits lose credibility

  • readability is critical in effectiveness

  • seasonality is not a factor – people are out of their homes year-round

  • brand icons create immediate high awareness due to familiarity.